Is it stupid to buy into IVB?

[Terbinator]

I'm thinking of going IVB and down the uATX route but I'm wondering if it will be worth it.

AFAIK, 1155 is a dead platform after IVB and outside of USB3, PCI-e 3 and power savings, there isn't really much more.

Would it really be worth me "upgrading" form what i have now - given the actual cost as well? I'm starting to have doubts.

Edit: Consensus seems to be that on the CPU side of things it will stay at 4cores max as well.

[kalniel]

What are you currently being limited in?

[Terbinator]

What are you currently being limited in?

Nothing, really - at least not that i can tell outside of review bar-charts.

Its more a case of me wanting to downsize, and with that comes the draw of a quite/cool 77W quad-core. At the same time, buying new and not really getting much seems a bit meh.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think you have a case of upgradetittus!!

You could always pick up a smaller case an AM3+ mATX motherboard.

[Terbinator]

I think you have a case of upgradetittus!!

You could always pick up a smaller case an AM3+ mATX motherboard.

That's probably true to an extent. Only after seeing Alienware's console thingy did i want to downsize, that and our new house isn't too welcoming to my XL-ATX case.

The reason i don't want to go AM3+ uATX is because that really would be pointless in terms of spending money on a lesser board than i have now and for possibly equal/marginally better performance should i go BD sometime. The 1155 path just seems to trump the am3+ at all angles.

I guess there is a while yet though between now and IVB's release date for me to make my mind up. I'm also set on a GENE board [maybe MSI's ED55 - not a massive Asus fan] so I'm taking some solace in the fact that when Z77 lanuches, i cant see the Z68 board dropping too much in price, if at all.

[kalniel]

Nothing, really - at least not that i can tell outside of review bar-charts.

Its more a case of me wanting to downsize, and with that comes the draw of a quite/cool 77W quad-core. At the same time, buying new and not really getting much seems a bit meh.

Well you'll get a little bit snappier general performance, and significantly better gaming if CPU limited (Skyrim, The Witcher 2) if not CPU limited you'll gain a little extra lifespan in terms of how many GPU upgrades you can do before you become CPU limited.

If you're downsizing anyway then you might as well get the best bang for buck, which will almost certainly be ivy bridge, but I'd make the decision on that primarily, rather than upgrading for its own sake.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

That's probably true to an extent. Only after seeing Alienware's console thingy did i want to downsize, that and our new house isn't too welcoming to my XL-ATX case.

The reason i don't want to go AM3+ uATX is because that really would be pointless in terms of spending money on a lesser board than i have now and for possibly equal/marginally better performance should i go BD sometime. The 1155 path just seems to trump the am3+ at all angles.

I guess there is a while yet though between now and IVB's release date for me to make my mind up. I'm also set on a GENE board [maybe MSI's ED55 - not a massive Asus fan] so I'm taking some solace in the fact that when Z77 lanuches, i cant see the Z68 board dropping too much in price, if at all.

How about a much smaller ATX case then??

For example this case:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...oogle+shopping

IIRC,the Lian Li PC-A05NB is meant to be one of the smallest ATX cases ATM.

TBH,I tend to only upgrade when I really need to or if it is most financially efficient time to upgrade.

I also think you should try going mini-ITX too. The lower TDP of IB will be of boon especially for such systems even when overclocking.

[scaryjim]

Don't forget many AMD processors are very partial to some under-volting at stock clock speeds to keep power draw down. There are one or two decent matx AM3+ (mostly 880G / SB850 based) boards out there, adn according to AMD's recent analysts day slides it looks like the AM3+ platform will be kept alive at least through 2012 and into 2013 as a low-end server platform, which means piledriver-based Opterons will be available as an upgrade route...

of course, looking at those slides it does appear that AMD have pretty much abandoned discrete CPUs in the consumer-desktop market: It looks like the current FX series may be the last non-APU consumer products that AMD release... I wonder if they're relying on enthusiasts buying entry-level server chips, and if they'll provide enthusiast-class boards in that server space to support that...

[Terbinator]

...

I also think you should try going mini-ITX too. The lower TDP of IB will be of boon especially for such systems even when overclocking.

I do like the look of the Lian-Li.

I have looked into ITX builds but it would mean sacrificing my D2X and perhaps more pressingly, my cooler for the GTX480 is about 2.5 slots in width which is a no go for most ITX cases.

[Biscuit]

Don't forget many AMD processors are very partial to some under-volting at stock clock speeds to keep power draw down. There are one or two decent matx AM3+ (mostly 880G / SB850 based) boards out there, adn according to AMD's recent analysts day slides it looks like the AM3+ platform will be kept alive at least through 2012 and into 2013 as a low-end server platform, which means piledriver-based Opterons will be available as an upgrade route...

of course, looking at those slides it does appear that AMD have pretty much abandoned discrete CPUs in the consumer-desktop market: It looks like the current FX series may be the last non-APU consumer products that AMD release... I wonder if they're relying on enthusiasts buying entry-level server chips, and if they'll provide enthusiast-class boards in that server space to support that...

Ahhh going back to the days of having an opteron in a consumer board... brings back fond memories of my 939

[Terbinator]

Don't forget many AMD processors are very partial to some under-volting at stock clock speeds to keep power draw down...

Yep, but given this board is meant to be a top one i've found the way it handles power to be rather odd.

For instance, when I've undervolted before now whilst messing around i've found CnQ is de-activated at the bios level and can't even be turned on unless voltage is set to stock.

I can't be sure that not having CnQ is adversely affecting power draw, but having the CPU at 3.3GHz (undervolted) constantly must surely draw more than the CPU @ 800Mhz and normal CnQ voltage?

[scaryjim]

Ahhh going back to the days of having an opteron in a consumer board... brings back fond memories of my 939

Ah, nostalgia Actually, I keep wondering if I could get away with dropping my old Sempron into my work machine before I leave and hoicking the AM2+ quad core opteron


p.s. note to any work colleagues reading this - I am, of course, joking!

[scaryjim]

For instance, when I've undervolted before now whilst messing around i've found CnQ is de-activated at the bios level and can't even be turned on unless voltage is set to stock.

I'd describe that as more than *rather* odd - it's plain ridiculous

I can't be sure that not having CnQ is adversely affecting power draw, but having the CPU at 3.3GHz (undervolted) constantly must surely draw more than the CPU @ 800Mhz and normal CnQ voltage?

I can be sure - it'll use a lot more power without C'n'Q enabled. C'n'Q drops the core voltage 0.3v, which massively reduces the draw of the idle processor.

Strange that on your high end ASUS board C'n'Q gets disabled when you undervolt, yet on my mid-range 785G Evo you can drop the voltage down 0.3v and still get C'n'Q working normally...

[Terbinator]

I'd describe that as more than *rather* odd - it's plain ridiculous


I can be sure - it'll use a lot more power without C'n'Q enabled. C'n'Q drops the core voltage 0.3v, which massively reduces the draw of the idle processor.

Strange that on your high end ASUS board C'n'Q gets disabled when you undervolt, yet on my mid-range 785G Evo you can drop the voltage down 0.3v and still get C'n'Q working normally...

Yeah, i haven't really been impressed with it outside of its O/C'ing prowess - which i haven't even put to good use. I've had compatibility issues with the sound card (which is n Asus D2X) if i have certain settings and i can't have the SATA6 speeds as my F3's don't fire up then - although this may be a Samsung problem i've read.

The 785G Evo was in my mum's Pc and was fairly solid, albeit that had issues outputting video over HDMI - read: blank screen.

Bloody Asus.

[Biscuit]

I've had compatibility issues with the sound card (which is n Asus D2X) if i have certain settings and i can't have the SATA6 speeds as my F3's don't fire up then - although this may be a Samsung problem i've read.
Bloody Asus.

I have 2 x F3s 500 in mine and they are working fine on SATA 6 ports. I have a 990FX mobo which i think has the same or very similar southbridge?

[Terbinator]

I have 2 x F3s 500 in mine and they are working fine on SATA 6 ports. I have a 990FX mobo which i think has the same or very similar southbridge?

Different brands/BIOS though, even with the same chipset it could (and does for me at least) cause issue.