I7 960 vs. i7 2600 Gaming Performance

[rhagan]

I was all set to purchase my computer from Magic Micro with this set-up:
Antec 902 Case
Dual 120mm fans
Asus P6X58D Motherboard
i7-960 3.2
12 GB DDR3 1600 Ram
ATI 6870 1Gb X 2 Cards in Xfire
1TB WD HD 64m Cache
Fanless HD Cooler
Sony 24x DVD Burner
LG 16X Blu-Ray
Sound Blaster - X-Fi Xreme
Realtek 10/100/1000 Ehternet
Thermaltake 1000w PSU

Now the i7-2600 comes out...
I don't plan to overclock and I already plan to have twin GPUs, so what benefit would the i7-2600 be to me?

Thanks!

 

[stingstang]

The biggest benefit would be 500 dollars in your pocket, or more. Don't try telling me that money isn't an issue. No one has that much disregard for money.

 

[rhagan]

The biggest benefit would be 500 dollars in your pocket, or more. Don't try telling me that money isn't an issue. No one has that much disregard for money.

It's not that money is no issue, but I have a budget that will allow a more than adequate configuration for the highest end games and applications.
The i7-900 series has been tested and is very consistent with users...I am a bit aprehensive trying the new i7-2000 series.

Thanks!

 

[freshnbaked]

I7-2600k about the same as a I7-980x, (PcMagazine benchmarks) and the 6850s can be converted to 6870's just saved ya 800 bucks, buy liquid cooling for the cpu and gpus, get a nice case, screen and youll be happier. but OC the I7 and gpu just so I dont have to track your IP to smack you upside the head.

 

[geofelt]

The sandy bridge processors are shockingly fast.
I replaced a i7-920 @3.3 with a sandy 2600K at stock, and my cpu utilization while gaming is demonstrably lower.
I may OC because that is why I got the K, but I really have no need to.

Take the savings and spend it on a SSD for the OS and apps.

 

[suteck]

I would stick with the i7 960 with the dual/tri X16 lanes and triple channel memory that sandy bridge can't handle. Also, the sandy bridge only runs memory at 1333MHz and doesn't have any motherboards with usb3 on board.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

I'd definitely recommend the 2500 or 2600 with a nice Asus P8P67-series mainboard. If you run apps that use hyperthreading, get the 2600. If you're just gaming with some moderate multitasking, then the 2500 will be fine. Either one will chew that 960 up and spit it out.

Use the money saved for a nice SSD boot drive. The slowest part of your build is the hard drive, and an SSD would eliminate that. Keep the regular hard drive as a data drive.

You can still get 12GB of RAM, but you'd need a 4GB (2x2GB) kit and an 8GB (2x4GB) kit. Sandy Bridge handles all four slots full with no problems. If you don't actually want 12GB, I'd recommend 8GB as a minimum. DDR3-1600 seems to be the sweet spot for Sandy Bridge, so get that speed.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

I purposely ignored the 2300 simply because it's not a 3GHz part, and it barely is even in Turbo mode. According to him, the system's performance is more important than the money spent. Therefore, 2500 or 2600 would be the best bet.

 

[geofelt]

I would stick with the i7 960 with the dual/tri X16 lanes and triple channel memory that sandy bridge can't handle. Also, the sandy bridge only runs memory at 1333MHz and doesn't have any motherboards with usb3 on board.

If you already have a 960or any 9xx, then stick with it, but on a new buiild, it makes little sense for gaming.
Sandy does not use triple channel, it doesn't need it. Nor does X58 for that matter.
Multi X16 lanes are only of value with triple high end cards, and that is unnecessary unless you might be using triple monitor gaming.
Sandy runs ram at most speeds, certainly >1333. See the references from psychosaysdie.
Virtually every P67 motherboard has usb3.0. They all have 6gb sata also.

 

[dEAne]

I will still opt for i7 960 with the dual tri x16 and the triple channel coz gaming with multiple monitor is quite a different experience.

 

[metalmidget]

I would stick with the i7 960 with the dual/tri X16 lanes and triple channel memory that sandy bridge can't handle. Also, the sandy bridge only runs memory at 1333MHz and doesn't have any motherboards with usb3 on board.

You might wanna take a look at gigabyte's motherboards. They have USB 3 on lot's of their latest models.

Srry, don't know about other mobo brands

 

[gamerk316]

I know ASUS and Gigabyte both have USB3 headers.

Just look at the recent roundup Toms did on $150 motherboards for SB; almost all have USB3 headers.

 

[jonpaul37]

ummm... just bought the ASUS P8P67 Pro and there is USB 3.0

 

[freshnbaked]

To psyco

Holy god man whats your settings/cooling for that 2600 at 5.7ghz!!!?

 

[freshnbaked]

Man i thought I was doing something wrong, im maxxed at 4.58ghz. unstable on the Asus pro if I go any higher. Idk how these guys get 9ghz liquid cooling though but still idk how its stable enough to even boot, guess thats why im no pro.

 

[enzo matrix]

I would stick with the i7 960 with the dual/tri X16 lanes and triple channel memory that sandy bridge can't handle.

The difference between X16 and X8 is less then 1%
My Dual channel bandwidth is faster then tri channel.

Also, the sandy bridge only runs memory at 1333MHz and doesn't have any motherboards with usb3 on board.

Stop talking

Amen. Note to self, never listen to suteck. He seems ill-informed.

 

[suteck]

I got the usb information from an AnandTech review of the motherboards chipsets that you can find HERE, and it states that

Both H67 and P67 support 6Gbps SATA, however only on two ports. The remaining 4 SATA ports are 3Gbps. Motherboard manufacturers will color the 6Gbps ports differently to differentiate.

There’s no native USB 3.0 support on these chipsets, but most motherboard makers are looking to third party solutions to enable USB 3 on Sandy Bridge boards.

So that's where I got my information from. Excuse me for making a mistake and misinterpreting something.

As for the pcie lanes, what I said was "dual/tri X16 lanes and triple channel memory that sandy bridge can't handle" And that's a true statement. I didn't say that dual X16 lanes wiped the floor with the dual X8 lanes or anything of the sort. Only that I preferred it. But according to a tom's hardware review it's closer to 5%. and that's dual, not even Tri SLI which the X58 boards can handle.

And while frenchie has tremendous results with the overclocking of his memory, I don't believe that that's typical of what most people are going go get out of the dual channel memory. And again, my statement was simply that the sandy bridge doesn't support triple channel and I preferred it. And the OP tells us he isn't doing any overclocking so Intel limits the memory speed at 1066/1333 without it.

And good for you Enzo Matrix - I wasn't talking to you anyway.

 

[enzo matrix]

And the OP tells us he isn't doing any overclocking so Intel limits the memory speed at 1066/1333 without it.

If you look at the so called limits for the other i7s, including the 1366 ones, you will note that the memory limits are the exact same.

And good for you Enzo Matrix - I wasn't talking to you anyway.

My my my, aren't you a sensitive one? Though I may have come on a bit strong. I apologize for that.

 

[rhagan]

Best answer selected by rhagan.

 

[Guest]

I was all set to purchase my computer from Magic Micro with this set-up:
Antec 902 Case
Dual 120mm fans
Asus P6X58D Motherboard
i7-960 3.2
12 GB DDR3 1600 Ram
ATI 6870 1Gb X 2 Cards in Xfire
1TB WD HD 64m Cache
Fanless HD Cooler
Sony 24x DVD Burner
LG 16X Blu-Ray
Sound Blaster - X-Fi Xreme
Realtek 10/100/1000 Ehternet
Thermaltake 1000w PSU

Now the i7-2600 comes out...
I don't plan to overclock and I already plan to have twin GPUs, so what benefit would the i7-2600 be to me?

Thanks![/quotemsg2]





Man i7-2600 and i7-960 aren't same socket
The i7-2600 has Socket 1155, i7-960 has socket 1366
If you want to change your CPU you will need to change motherboard too...

 

[raj072]

You have to have some kind of screw loose to spend money on a SandyCore if you have a I79xx.

The are some things that are worse on the sandy but not many. Its more of a step sideways at around a 2 degree angle up. I do like the Sandy and if I was doing one from scratch they are a great deal. But no way would i spend cash to make that move.

Stick with your i7 9xx at least I am. The Sandy while nice is not a WOW upgrade.

 

[headhuntersix]

I would say that if you already have a 1366 mobo, then buying a 960 and not needing to buy a new mobo is probably the best route. If you're starting completely fresh, a 2600k is only a couple of happy meals more than a 960, and you're buying a mobo anyway, so that's a wash...in that case get the 2600!

Under no circumstances can I imagine paying hundreds of dollars to go from a perfectly good i7 9xx to an i7 2xxx.