Running a 930 i7 at 4.2 Ghz still

[Nish77]

Should I update? Would I see a difference with a sandy bridge at 5.0+? Would a see a difference with an Ivy at 4.6? How much of a difference would there be if there was one?

Also, will an Ivy at 4.6 be better or worse than a sandy at 5.0 and by how much?

I'm also considering the Ivy Bridge-e cpus depending on what is coming down the line to replace haswell chips.

Thanks,

-Nish

[BicycleMafioso]

Hey, provided below are a few graphis comparing different CPUs at the same clockspeed, from SweClockers review of Haswell.
Yours should be just about where the i7 870 is.

Single-thread Cinebench


Multi-thread Cinebench


Exporting 100 RAWs to JPEG


BF3 (1080p is more GPU-demanding and more CPU-forgiving)


BF3 low-res (more CPU-dependant)


Hitman Absolution 1080p


Hitman Absolution low-res



Sorry for the long post.

[Nish77]

No, thanks for the graphs that's basically what I was looking for. Going to do some math and guestimations with overclocks and see what I can come up with.

Using the numbers for Hitman Absolution at high graphics settings and 870 as roughly the equivalent of the 930 this is what I came up with.

870:

48(score)/2.8ghz = 17.14 score point per ghz clock speed

17.14(score per clock speed)x4.2ghz (overclock) = 72 score (if score scales linearly with my overclock of 4.2 ghz)

2600K:

53(score)/2.8ghz = 18.92 score point per ghz clock speed

I'm assuming (and I'm pretty sure that I can get without hyperthreading up to about 5.0 ghz so...)

18.92(score per clock speed)x5.0ghz (overclock) = 96.64 score (again if score scales linearly with clock speed at 5.0 ghz oc)

96.64-72 = 22.64

22.64/72 = 31.45% approx increase in performance (if all scale linearly and I can get a 5.0 ghz overclock on an i5 or i7 sandy bridge). I really see no reason to buy the ivy or haswell cpus. Unless they do other great things they still will not perform as well unless you can definitely get them to a 4.8 ghz overclock or so then it would be close. I don't know what these other chips might be doing that the sandy doesn't for games.

31.45 percent increase in performance is pretty big, though.

-Nish

[BicycleMafioso]

It's been said that a Haswell at 4.4 GHz (I think) is about equal to a Sandy Bridge at 4.9 GHz if that helps.
I'm sitting at a Nehalem (gen-1 Core i from intel) with a comparable overclock to yours myself, and I am making the plunge.

[Nish77]

I believe that based on some other graphs but if you look at the game specific graphs they are not that much different. They show large differences in processing large files.

It all depends on the OC. I have heard some pretty massive (maybe lucky) oc's with sandy bridge. Haswell is very difficult to oc and Ivy is somewhere in between. With de-lidding they're getting decent oc's on the Ivy's. I'm really not sure what to do. I think I'm going to wait till the Ivy bridge-e's come out. I do not see (unless Intel does something different) chips being able to oc so high in the future with their die shrinks. It's kind of disappointing.

The question for me comes down to this; Can I definitely overclock a 2500k to 5.0 Ghz and can I definitely overclock an 3770k to 4.8 Ghz?

-Nish

[BicycleMafioso]

The question for me comes down to this; Can I definitely overclock a 2500k to 5.0 Ghz and can I definitely overclock an 3770k to 4.8 Ghz?

No and no.
You can definitely overclock the former to 4.3 and the latter to 4.2.
Everything beyond that is a bonus. And I'm probably being generous. There are no guarantees. Really.
Not even two CPUs made right after each other clocks identical, it's all a big lottery.

Haswell is not harder than either to overclock, possibly easier. It develops more heat as voltage increases however, but that's different.

Either way, if all you are doing is gaming, I would take the CPU with the highest IPC, since that will be the one helping you in the few gaming scenarios (= wow 25man raiding) where CPU actually matter at all. And that is Haswell.

As for the issues with Haswell/Ivy Bridge, it's the adhesive/glue that attaches the CPU to the IHS that is the problem as it creates a gap where solder did not in Sandy Bridge.
Along with, of course, smaller CPU-surface area to lead off heat.

[Nish77]

I'm pretty sure the average 2500k will hit 4.8Ghz. I'm seeing delidded Ivy's at around 4.5 average and some pushing them to 4.8 with a closed water loop kit.

If I upgrade it will be with the intention of getting those speeds (or better with Ivy). I might not, but I'd like to be close. I'm seeing average overclocks on Haswell of 4.3 so it's harder to hit the higher frequencies.

I'll wait and see what happens I guess hehe. Hyperthreading increases temps by like 10c in my chip btw. It's nice to have but I'd just turn it off in an i7 for the OC or just get an i5.

-Nish

[BicycleMafioso]

I'm pretty sure the average 2500k will hit 4.8Ghz.

No. Just no. A good one will. 4 800 MHz is not average on Sandy Bridge.

Clock-speeds doesn't matter if it doesn't have the IPC to make up for it. An FX-8350 at 5.0GHz won't be as strong as an i5 3750K at 5.0GHz.
Haswell has, at least, a 13% improvement in IPC over Sandy Bridge.
This means that that 4.3 GHz Haswell you dismiss is about roughly equal to a 4 888 MHz clock on the Sandy Bridge. As far as overclocks seen on Haswell, most I see are 4.4 GHz to 4.6 GHz.
So they would be much better than Sandy Bridge

Hyper-threading on current CPUs has a 1-3°C difference.

You seem to be dead set on getting a Sandy Bridge CPU. You can barely get those in stores anymore. They are aged. They come with fewer functions on the Chipset. They perform worse.

[Nish77]

No, honestly I can't decide.

I know I hit 4.2 with a 930 on air a friend hit 5.0 with a Sandy with a closed water loop kit. Also, by the graph of Hitman Absolution at high res high settings which everyone uses (a bigger difference than in Battlefield 3 with high res), the difference between a 2600k and a 4770k was roughly 9.3% increase. That's a fairly decent increase, but upping clock speeds makes a difference (especially with WoW). I got easily another 15 fps by overclocking my 930 at the time. I'm guessing this is something like an average gain of 30ish percent or so going from stock to 4.2 (doubling the clock speed). I'm not sure, though, since that was back in WotLK and I can't remember my exact framerates.

A stock 2700k with boost of 3.9 Ghz clocked to 4.8 would be a 23 percent increase in clock speed and possibly roughly a 15 percent increase in fps (guessing if your fps is around 50ish now). It's all hard to say. I'm personally kind of worried when I hear of people reporting haswell processors (in this forum) with stock clocks and decent coolers running very hot during stress testing.

This, of course, is for WoW specifically.

-Nish