Which Intel Processor to choose from current line-up

[harsh716]

Overview
Hi, I’m converting to Intel from AMD world. But, I’m not known to its line-up. I have all PC components ready except the choice of right Core i7 and a good chipset motherboard.

My findings
I’ve heard is that Core i7 is its best line for all-round tasks such as gaming, photo editing and virtual machines. I want my PC to be able to do that easily. So far, I have seen Intel Socket 1155 and socket 2011. As far as the Mobo goes, I’m very impressed with the Asud Z77 Sabertooth..

I request you to please give some advice on what the right combination that is powerful, versatile and expandable/future-proof. Highly appreciate all help.

 

[elemein]

A quick rundown of chipsets:

All B/H/Z7x chipsets are Ivy Bridge compatible chipsets.

LGA1155 and LGA2011 are widely different, with 2011 being the "Extreme Edition" processors, none of which are currently Ivy Bridge.

LGA2011 is MUCH more expensive than LGA1155, but generally has much better overclocking, will be supported for much longer, and is an enthusiast platform.

The i7-3770K is the all-around most powerful i7 processor. This includes ALL LGA2011 processors. However, some purposes may lend themselves to other processors instead.

The relevant chipsets to you are the H77 and the Z77. The H77 is the consumer Premium Ivy Bridge chipset. The Z77 is the enthusiast premium chipset, allowable for overclocking. I strongly reccomend the Z77.

The i7-3770K is the most powerful processor on the LGA1155 platform. The i7-3970x is the fastest CPU on the LGA2011 platform; but is ridiculously expensive. A more manageable processor is the i7-3930K instead, this may also be clocked to 3970 performance levels.

What is your budget? Budgets above 1500$-2000$ lend themselves better to LGA2011, while those below 1500$ are more LGA1155 budgets.

 

[hizodge]

There's a new line of 4th gen Intel CPU's and chipsets coming up shortly. Wait for them, get an Z87 motherboard of your choice and a Core i7 4770K.

 

[jaguarskx]

For the current line up; the i7-3770k (socket 1155) is generally the best CPU to get based on what you want to do. The Sandy Bridge-E CPUs do provide good performance features like 6 cores and a total 40 PCI-e x16 lanes. Ivy Bridge have up to 4 cores and natively supports to 16 PCI-e x16 lanes. That basically means SB-E will not hold you back should you decide you want to drop in two nVidia Titan cards or two Radeon HD 7990 cards. However, SB-E (socket 2011) does cost more and it is an "older design". I think I read somewhere that Intel will release Ivy Bridge-E in September of this year.

Intel will be releasing new CPUs every year with their "tick / tock" strategy. Each "tick" means a new socket and generally the biggest overall improvement from the previous generation. "Tock" is the refinement to yield additional improvements. Haswell is going to be officially announced in June and is the "tick" CPU for socket 1150. The biggest performance improvement will be the integrated graphics core (iGPU). But CPU performance should also increase a bit as well. Preliminary benchmarks indicates that Haswell is about 9% or 10% more powerful than Ivy Bridge. More benchmarks will be available around the time it is ready to launch. Intel is focusing on lower power consumption as well.

Broadwell is the "tock". It's too early to know anything about it's performance. It will be designed around the 14nm die process as opposed to 22nm for Haswell. That should mean lower power consumption and should also allow clockspeeds to be increased as well while still potentially consuming a little less power than Haswell CPUs.

 

[harsh716]

Thanks a lot to all for sharing your thoughts!! I got good help.

I've decided not to spend extra. It has been a while with AMD now and I'd be strating-off with i7 3770k.

I also liked the Asus Z77 Sabertooth Mobo.

One thing though, would this Processor and Mobo combination fully utilize the potential of a 1600 MHz, Cas latency 8 RAM?

 

[elemein]

Thanks a lot to all for sharing your thoughts!! I got good help.

I've decided not to spend extra. It has been a while with AMD now and I'd be strating-off with i7 3770k.

I also liked the Asus Z77 Sabertooth Mobo.

One thing though, would this Processor and Mobo combination fully utilize the potential of a 1600 MHz, Cas latency 8 RAM?

Yes for sure.

 

[harsh716]

Thanks to all of you for prompt replies and advice. I have put together my new processor and mobo with existing parts. I have few other questions relating mainly to Temps etc because I'm not sure whether or not current temps, voltages and CPU fans speeds look fine or not... I will open a new thread for it though. I wanted to share what my initial build looks like so I took some quick pics with my phone. You may access the link below.
https://picasaweb.google.com/101632049758705180134/IntelConversionInitialBuildMay2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPyBhovH34XmIQ&feat=directlink