Sandy Bridge

[EtherealN]

Agreed Konovalov, I'm hoping both for something neat from AMD and for something serious to happen in the SSD market. The bigger one of those though is AMD - I'm an old AMD fanboy and it's been pretty sad for me to pretty much spend the last 3 years or so with no real AMD alternative (IMO ofc) when purchasing hardware. :/

 

Or, well, the 5850 was really tempting for a while and certainly really nice, but as far as processors it's been a bit too much Intel for my old AMD heart. :P

[JaseGill]

EtherealN,

I was the same, pretty much an AMD guy until about a couple years ago.

They need to get their act together because if nothing else the market needs Intel and Nvidia to have some competition.

The good old days when they flipped back and forth seem an age away and I remember checking it out and following it with great interest. Its just not the same now. Bring on AMD's next generation, its the only thing that will push the bondaries of performance and keep the price war alive and well. God knows we need that.

J.

[power5]

Unless you are a benchmarker AMD is plenty capable of competing with intel in gaming. Yes, intel obviously has the edge, but it is a very small real world difference. A few FPS is likely the difference in equal systems. But yeah, if you are buying right now, a 2500k system is about $350 for mobo and 4gb ram on top of the 2500k. Or to compete with it you would need an 1100t system. Last I checked the 1100t was $269. A decent mobo and 4gb ram will put you around $400+. This is not acceptable as the 1100t is crushed by the 2500k in most situations. Then add in OC ability and the 2500k can easily hit 4.5ghz where the 1100t is hard pressed to go over 4ghz. From reviews it looks like it takes a 4ghz 1100t to match a stock 2500k. So, when you OC, there is just no chance for the AMD.

 

Microcenter still has the 2500k for $179 with combo deal including p8p67 for $299. 1100t really needs to be discounted below $200 to compete.

 

Tax return is my upgrade time and I hope BD makes a strong showing as I would love to return to AMD as well. All my other systems are AMD for price since their performance was not that important. HTPC and my wifes build. For my gaming computer I would love to have an AMD as well if they can bring something to the table.

[diveplane]

this cpu have built in visuals 3d chip as well?

 

no need for video cards anymore? wow

 

guy claims its a 50% 60% percent boost over previous intel cpu family

 

 

http://ces.gamespot.com/video/6286033/?tag=picks;title;6

Edited January 14, 2011 by diveplane

[Cali]

this cpu have built in visuals 3d chip as well?

 

no need for video cards anymore? wow

 

guy claims its a 50% 60% percent boost over previous intel cpu family

 

 

http://ces.gamespot.com/video/6286033/?tag=picks;title;6

 

You still need a video card, unless you are playing a game that isn't to intense in graphics, that's how I read it.

[Sticky]

this cpu have built in visuals 3d chip as well?

 

no need for video cards anymore? wow

 

guy claims its a 50% 60% percent boost over previous intel cpu family

 

 

http://ces.gamespot.com/video/6286033/?tag=picks;title;6

 

Forget about the on chip video, you will still need a separate video card. The 50% improvement is over previous on chip video, let me put it this way, going from 2 fps to 3 fps is also a 50% increase in performance ;) The chip is good enough to play WOW on 1024*768 at lower quality setting at 50 fps.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Sticky

[diveplane]

acording to this video looks as if it handle intense 3d scenes np.

 

intel atom inside ....

[Sticky]

Sure, but im not gonna play DCS:A10 at 800*600 on my 27" monitor ;)

[Kuky]

That first link to youtube video I feel they are cheating with less FoV on screen running SB, also they are not showing FPS anywhere

[Sticky]

That first link to youtube video I feel they are cheating with less FoV on screen running SB, also they are not showing FPS anywhere

 

Or resolution!

 

And if you look at any sandy bridge review that also has separate benchmarks for running without a graphics card you will see that it isnt enough, they run older games at low resolutions and low graphics settings and get decent fps, but nobody runs at those resolutions anymore, and specially not low res AND low quality combined. Its improvement over previous chips, but there is still a long way to go.

 

Im not about to go bring out my old 14" crt for this LOL

[bumfire]

Basically, the only thing that the gpu on sandy bridge is good for is a backup incase your stand alone video card dies or you are waiting on a rma/new vid card to arrive.

 

It will come in handy then, because how many people have had a card die on them and had to go out and buy a new card just so that they can fill out the rma form online ? or they bought a new card because the rma procedure would take ages and they didnt want to go without a pc for so long.

 

So, this is gunna be great for those types of situations.

 

But, I reckon everyone here already has atleast 1 spare gpu kicking about incase of emergencies, but for those that havent, upgrading to SB will help you out should you OC your vid card and fry it in the process.

 

I only hope Ivy Bridge has something similar, because I am bypassing SB and just waiting for IvyBridge to come out before I dump socket 1366.

[Sticky]

Basically, the only thing that the gpu on sandy bridge is good for is a backup incase your stand alone video card dies or you are waiting on a rma/new vid card to arrive.

 

Not even that, if you have the P67 chipset. My guess is most users like us will be getting the P67 (unless you wait for the Z67) instead of the H67.

[EtherealN]

A few FPS is likely the difference in equal systems.

 

For general gaming, sure. I'd say it's more than "a few", but since most games are GPU-bottlenecked it won't be noticeable.

 

Throw in something really CPU-intensive like, say, DCS A-10C, though... ;)

[sofie_59]

Hmm, It looks like i am going to upgrade my I7 230 to that new thing!

A new MB and a new Sandy Bridge, yes i will do

And a new water cooling H7 for the OC so i get 5 .0 Ghz

And 12 Gb of Ram(And a new keyboard+Mouse)

And no Vacation this summer i think!

probably not anyway, My factory want to sell in 6 shift to us workers = No Vacation in the summer just work ,work and more work! It is good for our Education they say :doh:

[EtherealN]

Pff, you get to complain when you've started making a habit of 330 hours of work per month. ;)

 

Make sure to check that you are getting a D1 stepping chip if you are set on aiming for the 5GHz mark. I've been trying to find a retailer that can check that out prior to shipping the chip, but haven't had any luck with that so far. (Especially not since I'm deployed on a contract abroad right now :( )

[Druid_]

Some important info from overclockers.co.uk on overclocking sandy bridge :-

 

Core Voltage - Not recommended too exceed 1.38v, doing so could kill the CPU, we therefor recommend a range of 1.325-1.350v if overclocking.

Memory Voltage - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means upto 1.58v is the safe recommended limit. In our testing we have found 1.65v has caused no issues.

BCLK Base Clock - This is strictly a NO, anyone using base clock overclocking could/will cause damange to CPU/Mainboard. (Set manually to 100)

PLL Voltage - Do not exceed 1.9v!!

 

Processor - Basically we recommend customers not to exceed 1.35v to play it safe, all our bundles are set at 1.3250v or lower, any competitors offering bundles above 4.6GHz you should be enquiring as to what voltage they are using as we believe anything over 1.38v will limit CPU lifespan and anything over 1.42v will likely kill the CPU or severely limit its lifespan.

 

Memory - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means 1.60v is the ideal safe maximum, but we have found in our testing all 1.65v memory is fine. We have also found most new 1.65v like Corsair XMS3 will run at its rated timings with just 1.50-1.55v which is well within Intel specifications. So people upgrading to Sandybridge you can still use your old DDR3, but we do recommend you run it at 1.60v or less. We are shipping most of our bundles which feature Corsair XMS at 1.50v-1.55v at rated timings. We've also discussed with Asus and MSI regarding voltages for memory and they also confirm in their testing 1.65v caused no issues with reliability.

 

Base Clock - To put it simple if you value the life of your components, do not overclock using base clock!

 

PLL Voltage - Again do not exceed 1.9v!

 

Full article here

Edited January 15, 2011 by Druid_
Included link to fulll article

[theGozr]

EtherealN No sens, All retail are D2 's with very different overclocking possibilities

A strong CPU is very helpful on Simulators there is no doubt about this.

[EtherealN]

Can you source that, Gozr?

[obotNapalm]

Yeah, I thought all retail was D2.

 

Anyone interested in seeing OC results:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=264874

[EtherealN]

Wouldn't suprise me, but getting a solid source to know for sure would be nice. :)

[Steel Jaw]

I am reading that Intel is trying to discourage overcocking in general but still (for now) offering a o/c version of the sandy bridge. Sounds like Intel is giving mixed signals about where they stand on o/c.

[EtherealN]

Well Mower, whatever their general attitiude is, they have made a dramatic price decrease on the unlocked chips, especially compared to the locked versions of the same chip. I basically have to look back to the days of the first Athlon branded processors to get as easy overclocking as what they have given us now - especially with regard to price points.

[Migo]

Intel basically made OC easier than ever. Change clock ratio to 47, change Vcore to 1.39V and 4.7ghz Sandy CPU is good to go.

 

[Sticky]

My sandy bridge order arrived :D Probably not gonna build tonight though.

[Druid_]

Wouldn't suprise me, but getting a solid source to know for sure would be nice. :)

Not sure about solid source but ...

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1185&page=10

Quote "We've been told that the D1 stepping is pre-production, while retail chips will come with the D2 Stepping."