Core i7-3930k + GTX 680 or wait?

Mister_K

Posts: 2,217   +900
Hi guys, quick question regarding a computer revamp/upgrade.

I have been on x2 555 BE @ 4Ghz (no unlocking supported for my mobo) and 460 1GB for a while and it just does not cut it anymore. My system is rather bad so I need to upgrade ASAP.

My question is. Shall I wait to see what Intel and NVIDIA will unveil in next few weeks/months? I can hold of buying until late May.

At this moment I am looking to go with:

Corsair Dominator Platinums 2x8GB 1600Mhz (for looks and partly overclocking capabilities and also will get another 2 sticks later down the line to take advantage of Quad Channel)
Asus SABERTOOTH X79 Socket 2011
i7 3930k to be overclocked
EVGA 4GB 680

So far I have Cosmos 2, Samsung 256GB 840 Pro - purchased and need pretty much the rest of the 90% of the gear. Obviously the built above does not include peripherals such as Screen and Keyboard and Studio mic.

It is primarily going to be used as:

Gaming, Photoshop, After Effects, Sony Vegas, Fraps (Recording), Illustrator and possibly C4D focused workstation.

If the next shipment of new CPUs won't be much of a upgrade from the current, I will get the 3930k but if the performance is significant then obviously il TRY and hold it off. So far I have only saved up for the Case, SSD and Mobo, RAM and CPU (+1 HDD since I had 2x1TB and 1 got lost during RMA and the other is failing).

Futureproofing:

Will 2011 socket be replaced any time soon or will it be less then 1-2 years before new socket arrives? I know that downscaling the chip will require new MOBO but would I be able to upgrade in future for the 2011 socket? (let say 2-4 years, maybe I am stretching it).

Thoughts?

Regards,
Karl
 
Well, rumors are that Intel will reveal Haswell-E (Sandy Bridge E successor) in Q4 13'. The rumor is that they will skip Ivy Bridge-E. If the Haswell-E rumor is true, then it will be a big upgrade over Sandy Bridge E, but if it is Ivy Bridge-E as expected, then it wont be much of an upgrade. I would say if you can hold off for now. I say this because if the reveal in the future is disappointing then you can get SB-E cheap. Not many new games are being released anytime soon (not that I know of), so your 460 is enough for now. It is solely your choice. nVidia wont release their 700 series until Q4 also. But regular Haswell (non E) will be unveiled in June. It offers a 7-12% improvement in performance over Ivy Bridge. If you arent gonna be doing hard core photoshop, like projects @ huge resolutions, then I would say go for the i7 4770K in the future. If you are a graphic designer (you do PS and Vegas for a living), then you will gain from the 3930K. The 3930K OCed to 4.5GHz tears through PS and After Effects. Good luck.
 
So will Haswell-E be socket 2011 or a new socket? Q4 is a long time away and ideally id love my machine before May time. That said, I could always get away with tiny upgrade now and re-upgrade once again.

If I can use socket 2011 for Haswell-E I could just get some nice mobo now and a half decent CPU and upgrade again (resell CPU to someone).

When would Ivy B-E be released anyway if they was going to release it?
 
So will Haswell-E be socket 2011 or a new socket? Q4 is a long time away and ideally id love my machine before May time. That said, I could always get away with tiny upgrade now and re-upgrade once again.

If I can use socket 2011 for Haswell-E I could just get some nice mobo now and a half decent CPU and upgrade again (resell CPU to someone).

When would Ivy B-E be released anyway if they was going to release it?
That is what is unknown. People have been under the impression Intel will release IB-E, but recent rumors are saying that they may skip IB-E and go to Haswell-E. This would make sense personally, because how long does it take to revise an architecture? Not that long. So people are thinking that they are gonna refine the experience and name it Haswell-E. If that is true it may be Socket 2013 or something. It is unknown as of now bud. I dont wanna tell you the wrong info. Maybe wait till June, because that is when Computex 2013 will take place, and maybe Intel talk of an update to Haswell-E (and will release Haswell [non E]). Also, there is another rumor stating that Haswell-E will be 8 cores. These rumors could all be wrong man.
 
I've heard talks that socket 2011 is ending. I myself wouldn't buy into this platform at this stage.
 
Yeah I wouldn't be getting 2011 now. I think the best thing to do will be to wait it out until June, when you'll have more info on Haswell-E/Ivy Bridge-E. You can go ahead with the 680 though.
 
Yeah I wouldn't be getting 2011 now. I think the best thing to do will be to wait it out until June, when you'll have more info on Haswell-E/Ivy Bridge-E. You can go ahead with the 680 though.
Yeah Q4 is a long time for the 700 series. I +1 the 680 idea.
 
What are the predictions of Titan dropping in price? I guess when 700s arrive. So I guess Haswell-E/Ivy-E might be coming before August then? I might actually just pop in a quad core AMD, would be money waste though, but I can't play anything with this dual core and no unlocking cores with my mobo...

I will just get the other items on my cart then, such as new screen and possibly a mechanical keyboard. Il wait for 680 until I am ready to buy the whole package.

That said I will probably get a PSU now since it is safe to say they are fairly "futureproof". Any recommendations? I was thinking of 850W (won't be SLIing anytime soon but will run custom WC loop or two).
 
What are the predictions of Titan dropping in price? I guess when 700s arrive. So I guess Haswell-E/Ivy-E might be coming before August then? I might actually just pop in a quad core AMD, would be money waste though, but I can't play anything with this dual core and no unlocking cores with my mobo...

I will just get the other items on my cart then, such as new screen and possibly a mechanical keyboard. Il wait for 680 until I am ready to buy the whole package.

That said I will probably get a PSU now since it is safe to say they are fairly "futureproof". Any recommendations? I was thinking of 850W (won't be SLIing anytime soon but will run custom WC loop or two).
Well 850W is enough if you want to SLI in the future.
 
Any specific PSU recommendations? I am looking at the http://www.ebuyer.com/265709-ocz-zx-series-850w-80-gold-psu-fully-modular-psu-ocz-zx850w-un

Not sure whether to hold of until Il get the new system (looks like I am going to be waiting for Haswell-E/Ivy-E and possibly 780 (if all is released within weeks/month or two of each other).

Need to get sleeves from MDPC as well, not sure which colour scheme to go for... Probably purple and something...
 
Sounds good. As for the PSU, I would only trust Seasonic, Corsair, and XFX. I would probably go 850 at least if you wanna future proof it.
 
I just read about another rumor about the next gen E series. http://wccftech.com/intel-ivy-bridg...utm_campaign=Feed:+Wccftechcom+(WCCFtech.com)
It seems as if the next gen will be Ivy Bridge E. But dont head out and buy a X79 just yet since it could be based on a new X99 chipset. But things in my mind just dont line up here. Why would Intel wait so long to release a simply updated IBE series. The Tri-Gate transistors and 22NM process dont take that long to develop (from SB-IB it only took the normal year). I feel like it is gonna be called Haswell E, and that would match up with the X99 chipset. Plus it would be less confusing to consumers to buy a 4000 series since it lines up with regular Haswells.
 
Seems like many who went the X79 route were disappointed with the overall performance-to-dollar ratio - for that kind of $, 8 cores wouldn't be unreasonable, and the chipset isn't that great either. If I had the money I'd be tempted to spend it now, but I know I'd soon regret it. My advice is to wait for Haswell E if Ivy E is still on X79 (or never shows up). The small performance hike of Ivy E won't be worth it.
 
I really hate the rumor though. 2 years for what? 22NM and trigate transistors. I feel like AMD can exploit this if these specs are true. AMD can really pull ahead if these weak specs are true. A haswell 4 core will have a bit less performance than a 3930K. Notice benchmarks now, SB-E is almost on par with IB (3930K vs 3770K). If the i7 is OCed, they will be equal in performance (i7 3770K @ 4.5 = i7 3930K stock).
 
Understandably, Intel's recent attention is on the mobile sector and power efficiency, a battle they joined a bit late. The high end desktop market has been a lock for years, so they have no need to do anything but stay a little ahead of AMD and bump the performance a little each generation. I too am hoping AMD steps up and bests Intel at least once more this millennium, but it doesn't look good, their processor division is losing money by the truckload, and only the graphics card business is keeping them afloat.
 
Yeah, AMDs APUs are a big selling point since they have better graphics than Intel Haswell. But looking at the next gen APUs, the graphics dont look as upgraded as Haswells. I really hope the 8000 series GPUs are great since the CPU division is failing along with their attempt to go mobile.
 
Surely wait till July lot of things in motion now. If you buy something now, you may end up disappointed because of the future price cuts for the older generation products and better performance from the new generation. Intel with its Haswell processor, Nvidia with its Titan ultra and GTX 700 series cards, AMD cannot keep quiet after that, so they will also release something. Waiting is the best decision.
 
Ivy Bridge E isnt that great. At least Haswell E will have DDR4, but the RAM will be expensive when first released. If you buy a LGA2011 platform, you cant upgrade to Haswell-E because of the memory controller overhaul. But you can use IB-E on LGA2011.
 
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