Do I really need an upgrade?

[RADCOM]

I have an X58 Asus Sabertooth, 16Gb ram and i7980, am I missing anything by not upgrading to Asus Sabertooth Z77 and i73770K apart from electricity savings? The comparisson at Toms hardware doesn't look like it's an overwhelming upgrade. Will the incoming Haswell be a better investment in 3 /4 months?

[Ket]

I wouldn't upgrade unless you want USB3 and PCI-E 3.0. Haswell probably won't be what a lot of people are expecting either, a better integrated IGP, some architectural refinements here and there - maybe 15% faster than IB. Thats not performance spending hundreds on warrants IMO.

[RADCOM]

Thaks Ket I'll put the money towards the electricity bill and new camera/lense lol. X58 does have USB 3.0 I just wanted something new to play with I expect. I have some empty cases to build PC's in :-)

[zanzabar]

I wouldn't upgrade unless you want USB3 and PCI-E 3.0. Haswell probably won't be what a lot of people are expecting either, a better integrated IGP, some architectural refinements here and there - maybe 15% faster than IB. Thats not performance spending hundreds on warrants IMO.

do you really think 15% over the IB for the CPU only.

Thaks Ket I'll put the money towards the electricity bill and new camera/lense lol. X58 does have USB 3.0 I just wanted something new to play with I expect. I have some empty cases to build PC's in :-)

the IB is good for cutting power consumption down and that is about it over the 1366 right now for most things. i was also wondering why you have 16GB.

[Ket]

Currently, yes, I'm not expecting Haswell to give performance above +15% over IB. Apart from anything else intel have no need to release a product with monumental performance gains because AMD can't and aren't really competing on the desktop CPU front. This is why you read so much about Haswell and its IGP - intel want to threaten nvidia and AMD in the mainstream GPU arena, great for consumers because of the competition, but actual CPU performance? I'll stick with my expectations of 15% better than IB.

[RADCOM]

Apologies it's not 16GB it's 12GB....doh! I am a budding photographer and Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom eats RAM. My take sees Intel ramping up performance by no more than 10% per itteration nowadays that may be a direct result of no competition and no software that brings hardware to it's knees.

[Ket]

Actual CPU performance might only be +10%, but I figure intel still want to sell CPUs and to do that they need to entice. The IGP alone might cut it for casual users but other users (not just enthusiasts) will want to see more than a measly 10% performance gain - hence my estimate of +15%. Way things are right now if you have a IB CPU I can well imagine there won't be any need to upgrade it for a good 4 years as CPU performance increases will be very marginal over that period unless AMD pull a rabbit out the hat and frighten intel.

Roll on quantum computing

[KGB7]

I honestly see no point at this time.

Best upgrade i have done and have recommended to my friends, is to install an SSD drive.

Few weeks ago, i installed an SSD drive in to a +4 year old Dell laptop for my friend. He has Sata II and i installed Crucial M4 SSD drive, and it made a HUGE over all improvement, much better then his old 5400rpm drive. 10 word documents would open in under 10 seconds.

On my PC, BF3 levels load much faster on SSD compared to WD Black 7200rpm drive. On WD Black, im the last person to enter in to a game. With SSD, im always first, unless some one has a RAID of SSD drives.

I have a Crucial C300 128GB ssd drive for several years now, best money i have ever spent to this day on a PC.

If you have an SSD drive, then get a better one unless you have a good fast SSD, otherwise there is not much else you can buy thats worth it.

[Ket]

I think all the SSD vs HDD is circumstantial really. I use a WD Black and any game I play loads very quickly and level load times are never very long. My W7 system can also boot to desktop in about 15 seconds, not even a SSD could substantially improve upon that. My take is that load times heavily depend on how many background applications your system runs, in my case its almost none. If I want to upgrade software I'll do it myself I don't need those bloody auto update "services" starting with Windows taking my resources and slowing things down. Same situation applies to such things as the CCC, why the hell would I need a icon for it in the system tray when all I have to do is right-click the desktop then click "catalyst control center". What I'm waiting for is CAM (Content Addressable Memory) I think we'll start to see it in about a year.

[NoX]

Personally on my 3770k/sabertooth z77 system I also noticed a huge difference when I switched the OS and the Games from a WD black 1TB to SSD drives. Windows 8 loads/reboots in about 9 seconds. D3 stutter upon loading of new maps disappeared. Enough for me to recommend the upgrade to anybody

[RADCOM]

Well I bought an 3770K/Asus Sabertooth Z77 IB system anyway :-) I convinced myself I needed a pure gaming system. The X58 system in now an editing system. although I still cant get the full 6GBs out of it. Haswell tock for me then :-)

[KGB7]

I think all the SSD vs HDD is circumstantial really. I use a WD Black and any game I play loads very quickly and level load times are never very long. My W7 system can also boot to desktop in about 15 seconds, not even a SSD could substantially improve upon that. My take is that load times heavily depend on how many background applications your system runs, in my case its almost none. If I want to upgrade software I'll do it myself I don't need those bloody auto update "services" starting with Windows taking my resources and slowing things down. Same situation applies to such things as the CCC, why the hell would I need a icon for it in the system tray when all I have to do is right-click the desktop then click "catalyst control center". What I'm waiting for is CAM (Content Addressable Memory) I think we'll start to see it in about a year.

Here is a small example in my system and BF3. If you do play BF3 then you will know what i mean.

When a level is loading, and you see a picture of a Map/Level, at the bottom of the pic you see Hints on weapons and vehicles and game play. When i use an SSD, i dont even have the time to read one Hint, thats how fast the map loads. When the game is installed on WD drive, i have time to read 3 different Hints as they change every so often.

Both drives are connected to same Intel controller on my Asus Sabertooth P67 mobo, and i know the WD drive is not dead, as i use it as storage and move files from SSD and to other drives.

[Ket]

I don't play BF3, so bad example for me No doubt I'll eventually pick up a SSD, most likely a Crucial M4, but only when I deem the prices to be worth what they offer. Currently a 256GB M4 is 130 (pound sterling, for some retarded reason the pound sign isn't working on XS, its being replaced with a "?"), and that just represents poor value for money IMO, especially as I would likely go with 2x256 as I would outright replace my HDD and theres no way I can live with much less than 640GB storage. Its another reason why I'm willing CAM to arrive sooner rather than later it'll help push SSD prices (on older generations at least) down.

[Mungri]

No you didnt need that upgrade at all for gaming, but its ok if you just like having new shiny things to play with.

[sin0822]

wait for haswell, it prob wont disappoint.

[LedHed]

Haswell is all about IGP, by the way OP, want to sell your old rig?

[RADCOM]

Not selling just yet and North Carolina is too far :-) SSD prices are extremely low compared to a few years ago and they do make a big big difference in how the machine handles.They should be even cheaper in the coming month though. The M4's are highly recommended I just RMA'd a crucial CT225 and they sent me an M4 as a replacement...... now I have 3. Props to crucial btw they made the process painless. Newer SSD's are getting faster though I wonder at what point we stop noticing the speed diff in the real world not benching?

[sin0822]

Haswell is all about IGP, by the way OP, want to sell your old rig?

ok....

[zanzabar]

Haswell is all about IGP, by the way OP, want to sell your old rig?

it also has a hardware based task scheduler