Hey guys. I got an email this morning from newegg saying that the Sandy Bridge E-Series has been announced and is now available.
I've been looking at getting an i7 2600k. So my question is this... for those of you that follow these items, do prices of previous CPU's tend to drop when the new models come out?
The 3.4 GHz is $319 currently, so should I wait to see if it goes down in price, or does Intel tend to keep these prices the same even with new models out? I thought I read about that somewhere, but thought I would double check with some of you PC enthusiasts.
When new processors in the same market come out, generally the older ones will either go down in price, or a newer faster offering will be offered at the same price point. What i've seen of the sandy bridge E processors though is that the newly released models are all top of the line models, the 2600K is more of a mainstream model. These new ones will make the 990X obsolete(finally) and occupy a much higher price point than the 2600K. In Q1 2012, the 3820 quad-core model will be released and this will likely push the 2600K down in price. I'd either buy now if you can't wait, or wait until maybe February to get the newer model. Keep in mind the sandy bridge E uses a new socket and different motherboard, so you can't upgrade to it later without a major overhaul. For now, the 2600K is still the chip to beat if you are going for the most bang for your buck. Even the cheaper i5-2500K is an awesome deal, and only lacks hyperthreading compared to the i7 2600K, offering even more value, and nearly the same performance.
Cool, thanks for the quick and thorough response. I only have a dual core right now... and if the new CPU might cost the same as the 2600k than I might as well just wait. I can play bf3 on ultra settings currently with limited graphics lag, so I should be fine for the wait. Thanks again!
Cool, thanks for the quick and thorough response. I only have a dual core right now... and if the new CPU might cost the same as the 2600k than I might as well just wait. I can play bf3 on ultra settings currently with limited graphics lag, so I should be fine for the wait. Thanks again!
One other thing to keep in mind about the new sandy bridge E-series, is that they use quad channel memory. So instead of buying memory in pairs, you have to buy them in sets of 4, and may be considerably more expensive, the benefit being most boards have 8 memory slots so you can have a lot more total memory.
I've been thinking that I will get 16Gb of ram anyway. Most people say that is too much, but I'd rather have too much than too little. I went from 2Gb (it was hell!) to 4Gb when I built my last computer and friends said "4Gb is plenty," but I always find myself running low on memory when multitasking.
So I think 4x4 would actually be perfect for what I'm looking for. Now the trouble will be finding a new motherboard to go with a new CPU. Any recs?
An alternative is waiting even a bit further for Ivy Bridge which is basically Sandy Bridge with improvements and 22 nanometer chip which likely will result in less power consumption (which also means lower temperatures).
Sandy Bridge-E is mostly targeted for higher end CPU intensive applications which doesn't really include gaming. They are quite expensive and the current 6-core ones performs more or less equally vs the 2600k in games, yes you'll get slightly better performance, but for the extra FPS vs the extra price it is simply not worth it unless you swim in money.. They are more aimed towards customers who are heavy into video and 3D rendering and similar CPU heavy tasks. For gaming the GPU is the bottle neck.
We have yet to see how the 4Core SB-E will perform and what price it ends up getting. My guess is that it won't be much of an upgrade from 2600k (for gaming purposes) at all. I'm more interested in how Ivy Bridge will look, even though it's not a major update from Sandy Bridge the new 22nm chip may bring new opportunities for overclocking and such :).
As for RAM, it's so cheap nowadays that I have to agree with you on rather too much than too little. You can run 4x4 on dual channel mobos as well.
I've been thinking that I will get 16Gb of ram anyway. Most people say that is too much, but I'd rather have too much than too little. I went from 2Gb (it was hell!) to 4Gb when I built my last computer and friends said "4Gb is plenty," but I always find myself running low on memory when multitasking.
So I think 4x4 would actually be perfect for what I'm looking for. Now the trouble will be finding a new motherboard to go with a new CPU. Any recs?
I'm right there with you on the more ram is better idea. 4GB is max with a 32-bit version of windows, so that's one reason its such a popular amount to have. One other issue though, even when running a 64-bit OS is that a lot of applications(especially games!) are still 32-bit code and can't address make use of more than 4gb.
I run 8gb in my laptop and desktop and it runs like a champ(both do).
If you want motherboard recommendations, thats a lot harder since they are all brand new with a new chip set so reviews are still trickling in. Also there aren't any real "user" reviews, only the big boys who's opinion sometimes differ from enthusiasts.
If you are looking for nice snappy fast multi-tasking, invest in a solid state system drive. Go for 120gb minimum for the OS and a couple apps that you want loading up quick. A good SSD makes a bigger difference than just about any other upgrade you can do for system responsiveness, boot times, application start times, etc...
As mentioned by Verity, waiting for Ivy Bridge is also an option, it will use the mainstream socket that the regular sandy bridge uses now. After that there's Ivy Bridge E-series. There's always something bigger, better, cheaper just around the corner and makes buying hardware difficult at times. Good luck!
I might as well just wait for the Ivy Bridge then. I looked up the release date and it's estimated at March 2012, so that's not too far off. I don't do any rendering or graphics design, just gaming, but I would like to have a great gaming rig.
I'm not "swimming in money" so can't afford the top of the line CPU's, but I am saving money right now by living at home, so have some extra cash right now to splurge.
I might as well just wait for the Ivy Bridge then. I looked up the release date and it's estimated at March 2012, so that's not too far off. I don't do any rendering or graphics design, just gaming, but I would like to have a great gaming rig.
I'm not "swimming in money" so can't afford the top of the line CPU's, but I am saving money right now by living at home, so have some extra cash right now to splurge.
Aye. That's probably what I'm doing as well :)!
New graphics card generation coming out early 2012 as well (at least from AMD, Nvidia is a bit later).
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I've been looking at getting an i7 2600k. So my question is this... for those of you that follow these items, do prices of previous CPU's tend to drop when the new models come out?
The 3.4 GHz is $319 currently, so should I wait to see if it goes down in price, or does Intel tend to keep these prices the same even with new models out? I thought I read about that somewhere, but thought I would double check with some of you PC enthusiasts.
Thanks!
One other thing to keep in mind about the new sandy bridge E-series, is that they use quad channel memory. So instead of buying memory in pairs, you have to buy them in sets of 4, and may be considerably more expensive, the benefit being most boards have 8 memory slots so you can have a lot more total memory.
So I think 4x4 would actually be perfect for what I'm looking for. Now the trouble will be finding a new motherboard to go with a new CPU. Any recs?
Sandy Bridge-E is mostly targeted for higher end CPU intensive applications which doesn't really include gaming. They are quite expensive and the current 6-core ones performs more or less equally vs the 2600k in games, yes you'll get slightly better performance, but for the extra FPS vs the extra price it is simply not worth it unless you swim in money.. They are more aimed towards customers who are heavy into video and 3D rendering and similar CPU heavy tasks. For gaming the GPU is the bottle neck.
We have yet to see how the 4Core SB-E will perform and what price it ends up getting. My guess is that it won't be much of an upgrade from 2600k (for gaming purposes) at all. I'm more interested in how Ivy Bridge will look, even though it's not a major update from Sandy Bridge the new 22nm chip may bring new opportunities for overclocking and such :).
As for RAM, it's so cheap nowadays that I have to agree with you on rather too much than too little. You can run 4x4 on dual channel mobos as well.
I'm right there with you on the more ram is better idea. 4GB is max with a 32-bit version of windows, so that's one reason its such a popular amount to have. One other issue though, even when running a 64-bit OS is that a lot of applications(especially games!) are still 32-bit code and can't address make use of more than 4gb.
I run 8gb in my laptop and desktop and it runs like a champ(both do).
If you want motherboard recommendations, thats a lot harder since they are all brand new with a new chip set so reviews are still trickling in. Also there aren't any real "user" reviews, only the big boys who's opinion sometimes differ from enthusiasts.
If you are looking for nice snappy fast multi-tasking, invest in a solid state system drive. Go for 120gb minimum for the OS and a couple apps that you want loading up quick. A good SSD makes a bigger difference than just about any other upgrade you can do for system responsiveness, boot times, application start times, etc...
As mentioned by Verity, waiting for Ivy Bridge is also an option, it will use the mainstream socket that the regular sandy bridge uses now. After that there's Ivy Bridge E-series. There's always something bigger, better, cheaper just around the corner and makes buying hardware difficult at times. Good luck!
I'm not "swimming in money" so can't afford the top of the line CPU's, but I am saving money right now by living at home, so have some extra cash right now to splurge.
Aye. That's probably what I'm doing as well :)!
New graphics card generation coming out early 2012 as well (at least from AMD, Nvidia is a bit later).