Is Sandy worth the money? also q about my build

[weddingnails]

Hello people of tomshardware, I'm kind of confused about all this Sandy bridge new technology. I currently own a Q6600 and a GTX 260 and I'm planning to upgrade my system soon (I like to play video games and edit/render video). I've read so many threads and reviews, but I can't seem to determine which CPU should I buy... Is the new Sandy bridge really worth the money? My initial plan is to go for the i5-3570K and a GTX 680, as recommended in the Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: July 2012 article.

If Sandy Bridge was better, is the core i7 3820 worth it? performance wise compared to the i5-3570K I mean.

Thanks!

 

[iamcacao]

Hello, the hyperthreading technology will only really help you in video editing (rendering) since windows recognizes your CPU with 2x the amount of cores (threads). In gaming however, you will see no difference.

 

[Hazle]

what you're contemplating between is Ivy Bridge (i5-3570K) and Sandy Bridge-E (i7-3820), the latter far different from Sandy Bridge (i7-2700K, i7-2600K, i5-2500K and lesser) and are meant for enthusiast and high-performance workstation PC.

Sandy Bridge-E offers the best performance with video editing/rendering but not so much with gaming compared to the rest for a high price.

IB offers a small improvement compared to sandy bridge (again different to sandy bridge-E), but the difference is more pronounce when you overclock HOWEVER, IB suffers heat issues when you OC to a up to a certain point.

SB can be OCed higher with minor heat issues and only performs slightly less than IB clock per clock, and should be slightly cheaper.

 

[mactronix]

For casual video edit/render the i5-3570K would be the way to go. You probably don't need a 680 either to be honest but that depends on a few things like the rest of your set up.
What games and at what resolution ? Single screen or 2 or 3 ? Maybe you just want the best you can get in which case get the 680 and forget the last couple of sentences

For a general all round capable balanced PC I would say a i5-3570K coupled with either a 670 or 660Ti would be ample and a huge improvement over what you have.

Mactronic

 

[beethree]

What type of video editor do you use?

 

[weddingnails]

What type of video editor do you use?

Mainly Sony Vegas. I encode with MEGUI in x264. Not like I make special effects in aftereffects or anything. Video editing is a casual thing for me. I mainly game and use emulators and the games themselves.

So as to clarify, the i5 mentioned is the best in terms of performance right? the thing that confuses me is that there are so much processor in both ivy and sandy architectures that seem to be better than the i5 (more cache perhaps). Isn't there a comparative chart for this?

Also, what should I be looking in terms of motherboard, if i plan to overclock? last time I bought one was because of the money... hahaha.

Thanks guys for the answers.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Sounds like the i5 is best for you.

 

[weddingnails]

For casual video edit/render the i5-3570K would be the way to go. You probably don't need a 680 either to be honest but that depends on a few things like the rest of your set up.
What games and at what resolution ? Single screen or 2 or 3 ? Maybe you just want the best you can get in which case get the 680 and forget the last couple of sentences

For a general all round capable balanced PC I would say a i5-3570K coupled with either a 670 or 660Ti would be ample and a huge improvement over what you have.

Mactronic

What a pity I can't seem to edit (newcomer to the forum I guess...). The resolution I use is the one natively supported by my screen, which is 1080, and also, the higher resolution I can get from my gtx 260 is 1080 as well. I only use 1 screen. I will check those cards definitely, the 680 is way more expensive than I thought, so I would choose one of those and hopefully get an SSD and a really good heatsink for the processor. Thanks!

 

[weddingnails]

Best answer selected by WeddingNails.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey