Shall I wait for Ivy Bridge for PCI 3.0

[hordecore]

I am due for an upgrade. I am planning to get i7 2600k with Asus P8P67 PRO mobo. I am confused whether I should wait for Ivy Bridge processors till q1 2012 or get i7 2600k right away! I m hesitating only for the PCI Express 3.0 support. Will it give a massive boost to gaming performance ? Any ideas ?

 

[mdd1963]

Since current GPUs do fine with PCI 2.1 (8x) spec, I really don't think boosting the interface speeds alone will have a large effect, until CPUs and MBs scale architecturally upwards in IPC/throughput...; we will have to wait and see what sort of improvements in gaming performance IB processors alone bring in throughput compared to SB, but, either way, SB at 4.4 GHz wil not be considered 'slow' for quite a while...

The P67 chipset is already slated for extinction soon, I'd consider the Z68 boards to possibly have priority/longer longevity with future BIOS updates.

If your current rig is still 'acceptable' at the games you play (capable of 30-60 fps on games you play, there's no reason to upgrade on a fixed schedule, and it might not hurt to wait a few months just to scope out Bulldozer and/or IvyBridge's performance.

FYI, the 2500k usually delivers 99.5% of the gaming performance of the 2600k at about $100 less.

 

[hordecore]

Thanks for ur reply mdd

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

The vast majority of users still haven't saturated the PCIe 2.0 bus, so PCI 3.0 won't do us any good.

My recommendation: Buy now. Then upgrade to Ivy Bridge if you think you need to -- it will fit right into your mainboard with only a BIOS update.

 

[jaguarskx]

Last time I've check recently, it is unknown if the current Cougar Point chipset will or will not support Ivy Bridge.

hordecore if playing games is your primary goal then the i5-2500k is a better choice than the i7-2600k since no games really take advantage of Hyper Threading.

If you do video encoding or 3D rendering, then the i7-2600k is the better choice.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

It has already been confirmed that current H67/P67/Z68 chipsets will support Ivy Bridge with only a BIOS update needed.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The vast majority of users still haven't saturated the PCIe 2.0 bus, so PCI 3.0 won't do us any good.

My recommendation: Buy now. Then upgrade to Ivy Bridge if you think you need to -- it will fit right into your mainboard with only a BIOS update.

Hell, most GPUs barely saturate a PCIe x16 1.0 lane. Only ones that do are the dual GPU cards.

Best thing is as said just go for it. PCIe 3.0 wont give a major boost for a very long time.

 

[hordecore]

Best answer selected by hordecore.

 

[hordecore]

Thanks everybody for all the valuable input I am upgrading my PC NOW!