Sandy Bridge

[JG27_Arklight]

Some initial reports show some of them ocing extremely well. IIRC, some person in the HardOCP forms got oc'd to 4.8 on air and it was very easy. Others expect 5.0 as a potential possibility. I am definitely looking forward to getting my paws on some of these.

 

If these experiences ring true, I wonder how this will help DCS : A-10 and FSX.

 

Good times ahead. :)

[EtherealN]

I'm still a bit hesitant - those OC's are really nice, but it'll be interesting to see some more real-life performance tests using said OC's since I worry about possible memory bus bottlenecks.

 

Hopefully the range of "proper" reviews will start coming real soon though and offer an answer to that question. :)

[Frazer]

What we really need is multithread support in simulators, not more ghz (but for now 5ghz wouldn't hurt ofcourse ;)).

[Boberro]

Exactly... why am I forced to buy faster and faster CPUs where only rare applications can fully use even omg 2 cores?

[RSharpe]

What we really need is multithread support in simulators, not more ghz (but for now 5ghz wouldn't hurt ofcourse ;)).

 

Yeah. Considering most of us are sitting around with around 3/4 of our CPUs not even being utilized...

[JG27_Arklight]

What we really need is multithread support in simulators, not more ghz (but for now 5ghz wouldn't hurt ofcourse ;)).

 

I agree 100%.

 

Unfortunately, we have to make due with what we have. If all the cores most of us have were used, we probably wouldn't have to upgrade for a decade. lol

[Kuky]

One word of caution about Sandy Bridge and how they overclock... I have read that only the K version of the CPU (2500K and 2600K) can be overclocked.

[EtherealN]

Correct. The others can technically be overclocked through the bClock, but the allowable boundaries were microscopic (something like moving bClock up 3-4%...).

[McVittees]

Bit tech review here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/1

 

All models can be overclocked, the K's by ~1ghz!

Edited January 3, 2011 by McVittees

[Kuky]

Correct. The others can technically be overclocked through the bClock, but the allowable boundaries were microscopic (something like moving bClock up 3-4%...).

 

 

as far as I remember the bclick is on CPU die now so unless it's the K verison they can't be overclocked... I personally don't really care if they can or not, as I've done an upgrade to 1366 socket recently because the first Sandy Bridge CPU's are for mainstreem market and only end of 2011 are they to bring out enthusiast level CPU's... so if it's correct what I read about this overclocking then they won't be that good choice unless you get the unlocked K chip.. wait a see few more days when people start commng with reviews... so far all revies and benchmarks were with the unlocked K CPU.

[Kuky]

Bit tech review here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/1

 

All models can be overclocked, the K's by ~1ghz!

 

er... I don't think so... that articke showed how to overclock the i5 2500K chip, how about they show how to overclock the unlocked one for a change?

 

And they said it themselves in same article:

The Internet has been alight with rumours that the new LGA1155 CPUs aren’t overclockable, that the CPUs are locked and that this is the end of PC enthusiasm as we know it. That isn’t quite accurate, however, as different Sandy Bridge CPUs have different overclocking capabilities.

 

notice the word quite

 

However, overclocking via the Base Clock is severely limited, due to the constraint of having every bus derive its speed from a single clockgen. We saw a Base Clock overclock of 5MHz from the standard 100MHz produce crashes and lock-ups; even Intel says that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see the Base Clock of an Intel 6-series motherboard overclock by more than 10 per cent.

 

so... unless the CPU is with unlocked multiplier (the K version) you can't really overclock it... not that its worth while anyway... and that's the whole point.

[Kuky]

then again wait a second...

 

Why does it show in that table i5 2400 with higher multiplier when this CPU does not have unlocked multiplier ???

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/5

 

maybe that's with Auto Turbo Mode ?

Edited January 3, 2011 by Kuky

[EtherealN]

There seems to be something with "4-bins" even for the non-K's.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20188/3

 

I won't have time to read even the full page right now, but the little I had time to squeeze in while making a coffee seems interesting.

 

Full review:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20188/1

[Steel Jaw]

FSX is a single cored FPS disaster. I keep tinkering and hoping byt, truth is, it was built broken from the get go.

 

A10 barely uses 2 cpus either, as I am not sure offloading just sound to a separate core counts.

[Sticky]

Another review, Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i5-2600k-i5-2500k-and-core-i3-2100-tested

[Sticky]

This was interesting, taken from Anands review: "Both my Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K hit ~4.4GHz, fully stable, using the stock low-profile cooler."

 

With a good cooler they reach 4.7-4.9.

[CAT_101st]

max over clocking is over raited. For my set up I can get 3.87 out of my CPU but in DCS at 3.5 it stops to help due to a bottle neck els where on the system. Just keep in mind that your system is only as good as its weakst link. So the real test is to step up the OC till it stops helping. You may find you don't have to go very far for that to happen.

[Migo]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=64205

Look at my thread, I already overclocked two i5 2500k cpus some days ago. It's easy to oc them to 4.8Ghz+ watercooled, especially since new BIOSes have been released which break a bios lock which restricted the cpus to run faster then 4.8Ghz/4.9Ghz. With new BIOS, they do the 5Ghz without big problems. Yes these sandy cpus give a nice performance in DCS. Edited January 3, 2011 by Migo

[RSharpe]

I don't doubt that the new Sandy Bridge platform will perform better than what I have right now, but for those of us with X58 i7s overclocked to 4.0GHz, I haven't seen anything to indicate that its really worth the expense, and we'd be better off waiting longer for any potential upgrades.

 

It would be the equivalent of moving from a Geforce 480 to a 580 in graphics cards. Not worth the expense.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Yeah. Considering most of us are sitting around with around 3/4 of our CPUs not even being utilized...

If your CPU is i7-920 then BS and FC probably DC-10 are using half of your CPU. Because you multi task, (TiR, TS, Flight Manual in background, JPG map in background, antivirus ...)and if you use Windows 7, that OS is smart enough to use multiple cores.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

I don't doubt that the new Sandy Bridge platform will perform better than what I have right now, but for those of us with X58 i7s overclocked to 4.0GHz, I haven't seen anything to indicate that its really worth the expense, and we'd be better off waiting longer for any potential upgrades.

 

It would be the equivalent of moving from a Geforce 480 to a 580 in graphics cards. Not worth the expense.

I fully agree with you.

[Sticky]

Yeah, I wouldnt upgrade if I had an i5 or i7. (which I dont have :) )

[Konovalov]

Yep, anyone with a X58 i7 9xx series based system will be wasting money on a Sandybridge based system by simply moving sideways in the performance stakes. Sandybridge is not the holy grail of the CPU world. What Sandybridge does do is present better value and bang for buck which is great for consumers. Hopefully AMD can come up with something to compete against the blue juggernaut.

[theGozr]

It's what i felt from Q9650 running 4.05Ghz with I7 920.. but think about that .. Sim are very CPU limited and a SandyBridge running 4.5GHZ + will kill an older i7 9000 series on Flight Sims.. ..

[Druid_]

Looking at the multiple performance tests run on a normal and overclocked 2600K at

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1178&page=1

 

I think that you can expect modest increases in FPS from a 3.9Ghz i7-930 if you put in a 2600K. If I had to put a figure on it, based on the benchies so far, I would say 30% increase wouldn't be far off.

 

Worth it? for me, hell yehh. But then I do use my PC for Video/photo editing etc ... nah fk it, I'm a speed freak (once an overclocker, always an overclocker).

 

I'll let you know for sure as soon as I can get my hands on a D1 stepping 2600K.