Upgrading from Phenom 2 x6 to Ivy Bridge?

a dire wolf

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Feb 19, 2012
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I currently have a phenom 2 x6, running at stock speed. I'm thinking of building a new comp when the ivy bridge comes out. My question is whether or not it's worth taking the jump (I understand it's not out yet, however I'm looking for advice on whether it's worth it on what info has been released thus far).
 

yumri

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Sep 5, 2010
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um for one Ivy bridge isn't out yet so if you are looking at upgrading to it right now that is not possible to do.
Now in all seriousness Ivy bridge will cost more but at equal clocks a i5/i7 Ivy bridge CPU should be able to but out a phenom II x6 easy even on the quad core versions of it but it also will cost a lot more then going with an AMD solution to the upgrade path.
With that Intel CPUs are usually double the cost for around 1.2x - 1.5x the performance from them compared to a AMD CPU or a AMD APU depending on which you compare of course the AMD CPU / APU might be better.
With Intel each arch change brings a new socket so really no real upgrade path without changing a system board/motherboard also with them.
Both a AMD CPU and a Intel CPU support DDR3 2000+ so that's not a problem.
With AMD you get more Sata 6.0 Gbps ports and USB 3.0 ports internal and external while with Intel you get more PCIe 2.0 slots usually.
In my mind Intel motherboard are more suited to over-clocking then AMD motherboards but that is a personal preference kind of thing.
so mine will be um well if you are willing to pay the extra cash for it Ivy Bridge is suppose to be around 10%~15% faster than Sandy Bridge thus if you want CPU speed more then the extra SATA 6.0Gbps and USB 3.0 ports then go with Ivy Bridge but if you need more SATA 6.0Gbps and/or USB 3.0 ports then go with the best AMD CPU out at the time of the build.

personally i would say a build with a i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, 8+GB of DDR3, a 500 GeForce Graphics card and a good to best motherboard on the market will get a very good build but cost somewhere around $1,000 - $2,000 USD depending on the prices at the time
 
G

Guest

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buy an asus z68 motherboard gen3, has as many sataIII and usb3 ports as anyone.
( update to the newest BIOS, it supports ivy bridge already on web site)
put a i3 21xx cpu on it (games as good as any amd chip)

update to ivy bridge cpu in april IF it delivers like promised.
 


Question #1, is your current platform working for you?

If yes then wait for IB reviews and decide then (PD may or may not deliver, don't wait for it)

If no then,

Question #2, are you in dire need of an immediate fix?
If so the get i5-2500K or it's equivalent and upgrade to IB when it comes out.

Really should wait for IB before grabbing something from SB right now. If IB rocks then you can get it, if it's not much then you've lost nothing while waiting. In either case SB prices can only go down.
 
wait fo IVB, on the hierarchy chart it'll be at the same level as the i5-2500k, possibly one better (it can't be one worse), if its the same then you're jumping 2 levels, if +1 then 3 levels. This depends on what PII x6 you have.

It then, as others have mentioned, comes down to what is your current system letting you down on. Or do you have the upgrade bug.