Sandy Bridge NOW or wait for Ivy?

3570K will probably be the old std price for the 2500k.

I'm in the same dilema, probably z77, but a 30-40 cheaper chip, and more mature, and with known performance, or wait... Jaguar will pop up and suggest haswell, he's not sold me on that yet

you might as well wait it’s only going to be a few weeks now and the ivy bridge will outperform sandy bridge not by much though but i does mean that sandy bridge will get cheaper.

Honestly, just go with the 2500k if you are using deticated graphics. Ivy bridge is selling itself mainly with it's Intel HD graphics improvements, and the new Z77 chipset that grants even better integrated graphics performance, the general CPU performance will not be that much better than the 2500k.

In my opinion, just go with the 2500k and then use that money for a SSD/GPU.

Get a board with a Z68 chipset. It's fully forward compatable with Ivy Bridge.

Do not expect Sandy Bridge proices to fall. Intel have sussed that one. As sadly have the GFX card makers.

They hold prices up nowadays , far more than they once did, as many of us played the price drops.

Ivy bridge will bring 10% better performance per clock at a similar price.
Still, the 2500K is very good @$180.

If you can wait, wait and see exactly what ivy bridge brings to the table. The 2500K offer may still be on the table, and if it is not, it may be replaced by a similar offer with the 3570K.

If you don't want to wait, and the $45 is very important to you, then you should still be very happy with the 2500K.

In the mean time, go ahead and shop for a Z77 based motherboard. They support bith sb and ib, and don't seem to be any more expensive. I see some indications that Z77 may bring some advantages to the gamer by improving input responsiveness.

first of: a bunch of top hardware review sites have said that ivb cpu launch is mere weeks away. it could be as low as two weeks or a bit more - three weeks. it's too close to not see how it turns out.
launch prices will be high as usual, early adopters will likely go through some teething problems despite mature architecture the fab process is new. as far as leaks and rumors concerned, new cpus will simply take place of the old counterparts in terms of price. however, nothing is certain until the actual launch.
ivb promises 8-10~% cpu improvement over sb and 50-55~% igpu improvement over sb (hd 4000 vs hd 3000). a bunch of sb cpus might get phased out right away when ivb launches.

April 29th is not that far away.

Ivy Bridge is only expected to have a relatively small performance improvement over Sandy Bridge; probably 6% - 8% assuming same clockspeeds.

you forgot to mention haswell   I partly lost my bet with myself

If the $45 difference between a Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPU can bump you up to a higher level video card, then I would just get Sandy Bridge and the faster card.

For example, if you were to choose one of the following...

#1 - Core i5-2500k and Radeon HD 7870
#2 - core i5-3570k and Radeon HD 7850

Option #1 would give better gaming performance.

Haswell...

Haswell...

Haswell...

I will sell someone else's soul for a Haswell CPU NOW!!!

 

Ivybridge is nothing more than a die shrink with better built in graphics. If you are using a dedicated GPU just go SB and save a couple bucks.

in the same dilemma, would anyone see the i5-2500k actually going up when ivy releases?

What about PCI Express 3? doesn't Ivy Bridge enable this?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review...

So a Gen 3 PCI Express x16 slot is capable of offering 16GB/s (or 128Gbit/s) of bandwidth in each direction. That results in 32GB/sec bi-directional bandwidth.

The big problem is that you need a symbiosis of proper compatible hardware, like a Gen 3 supporting motherboard, Gen 3 capable processor and thus a graphics card supporting the new standard. A lot of Z68 and all X79 are PCIe Gen 3 certified. However, processor wise the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPU's from Intel will support Gen 3. It is still pending whether or not Sandy Bridge-E will get Gen 3 support.

1) Ivy bridge is a bit more than just a die shrink. There are some architectual changes which improve performance per clock by about 10%.

2) Current motherboards implement ocie 3.0 with a discrete chip. Ivy bridge will reduce motherboard costs by eliminating the need for the chip. Regardless, it is a moot point since we have no graphics cards today that are impacted, even by pcie 2.0, let alone 3.0

3) There are indications that Z77 may bring more to the table for gamers by improving input responsiveness.

4) I doubt that 2500K will change prices up or down in the retail market when ivy bridge becomes available. On the used market, expect 2500K prices to drop a bit.

Intel 7 series chipsets

Wait for Ivy and the new chipsets, SB and 6 series chipsets will be made redundant. While you can use a SB off a 7 series chipset, it is rather pointless as you don't get all the features.