I do not fully understand Ivy Bridge & Sandy Bridge

steve695

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May 31, 2012
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Hey all.

I want to run the combo of an Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard, Intel i5-3570k Processor with a GTX 670 GPU.

I do not fully understand Ivy Bridge & Sandy Bridge. I have seen that CPU's come with one or the other.

What does it do and does it effect the Motherboard at all?

The CPU I plan on buying is Ivy Bridge: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20138

Will that be compatible with the Motherboard? Do Motherboards themselves have anything to do with Ivy/Sandy Bridge?

Thanks.
 
Solution
They're just different generations of the Core CPU's. Sandy Bridge is second gen and Ivy is third gen. But yes, that 3570K will work just fine with that motherboard.

Some motherboards that were made specifically for Sandy (ie. most Z68 boards, etc.) can work with Ivy too, with a BIOS flash, and all Z77 boards will work with Sandy.

The most important thing is socket type (LGA 1155 in this case), and if a 6 series motherboard can be flashed to accept an Ivy CPU, then it's good to go, but a Z77 board won't need a flash to use a Sandy CPU.
They're just different generations of the Core CPU's. Sandy Bridge is second gen and Ivy is third gen. But yes, that 3570K will work just fine with that motherboard.

Some motherboards that were made specifically for Sandy (ie. most Z68 boards, etc.) can work with Ivy too, with a BIOS flash, and all Z77 boards will work with Sandy.

The most important thing is socket type (LGA 1155 in this case), and if a 6 series motherboard can be flashed to accept an Ivy CPU, then it's good to go, but a Z77 board won't need a flash to use a Sandy CPU.
 
Solution

steve695

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May 31, 2012
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Cool thanks, all makes relative sense :) Obviously I won't need to do any flashing.

I was originally going to run an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 but this Asus Motherboard is only $30 more and seems better because it has that graphics boost thing.
 


No problem, and you can't really go wrong with either board, but the Extreme4 would be the better overclocker (better power phase design).
 

steve695

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May 31, 2012
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I see, I'm not sure if I will need to over clock as I don't know much about it and I'm not sure if I will need to. If I ever do I don't think I will go past 3.8GHZ.
My goal is to run BF3 maxed with smooth frame rates and if this build can do that before I over clock I probably won't bother. It should be able to, easily.