Strictly for gaming: z68 or x79

[Sanhime]

There's so much hype surround x79 but so little information about x79.

I am wondering just for gaming purposes only (and I'm talking about Battlefield 3), is it even worth waiting for x79/LGA2011? Are we going to see performance difference like we saw with 1366 vs 1155? s quad channel even going to matter for gaming? I can't even imagine 16GB or 32GB quad is ever going to make a difference vs a system with 8GB ram.

Is there an estimate of the motherboard prices? How about CPU prices? What's the cost/performance analysis?

 

[Fourstaff]

P67 is enough, you want 2500K, the current sweet spot. X79 is probably going to be a cut more expensive than 1155, and I don't think that translates well to bang/buck performance.

 

[Sanhime]

I get the impression reading around the interwebs that x79/2011 would be for people who might want to do serious video making and benchmarking. Just like the Intels 990x CPUs. I some opinions from people if they think the same thing too. Would you prefer P67 over z68? Why?

 

[erocker]

A proper answer cannot be given since #1 The X79 platform isn't released yet #2 There are no inlinations of gameing performance on the X79 platform and #3 Don't know the prices.

If you want a gaming rig now, pick up Z68 + a Sandy Bridge CPU. Anything else is just speculation right now.

 

[cadaveca]

P67 vs Z68 depends on the board. If you want to OC, and use ASUS, ASUS recommends P67, as System Agent and IMC voltage are tied together in some of thier Z68 products.

I'm using Z68, had P67, and there's very little difference in clocking for 24/7, from what I've found. So pick whatever board has the features you want.


NO info on X79 until the embargo is lifted.

 

[Sanhime]

Yea I'm kinda bummed out now, since my current x58 rig motherboard seems to be toast, so I kinda want to build a new rig now and I don't feel like buying a new x58 board since there are new stuff out right now. And I'm stuck pondering if I should build a z68/1155 now or wait 3-4 weeks for x79 on hype and speculation. However, at the same time, I know things get out-date fast anyway lol.

 

[cadaveca]

You could try Bulldozer too, if you feel a bit adventurous. Sli works on AMD with most 9-series boards now.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Why do people keep saying we don't know. Intel let tom's do that preview just like they let anand do the 1155 one before that. That's how the damn thing performs and it offers no benefit for games.

 

[cadaveca]

Link? I haven't seen said "preview". I say I don't know, because, really, I do not. Plus the Bulldozer marketing hype, and then disappointment, has people wary of "previews".

 

[Sanhime]

You could try Bulldozer too, if you feel a bit adventurous.

Maybe! I already have a little AM3-abuse box.

Edit: nevermind, its a 8-series AMD board.

 

[Sanhime]

Why do people keep saying we don't know. Intel let tom's do that preview just like they let anand do the 1155 one before that. That's how the damn thing performs and it offers no benefit for games.

Yes, please link it. I like to read it.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Oh come on. The link for this has been posted in like every other "should I wait" X79 thread. I swear all of you were in some of those threads. How has this not been seen by everyone? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-performance,3026.html

 

[LordJummy]

I would say keep your current rig, but your mobo is dead

Although you can buy a recertified x58 board realllly cheap now on newegg or whatever. I even have an x58 sabertooth that's sitting around. It can only do dual sli/crossfire though. You can get sabertooth x58's for extremely cheap recertified...

 

[n-ster]

TBH, I now you don't want to hear this but aside from the upgrade itch and curiosity about other platforms... You SHOULD buy another X58 motherboard. I am surprised that your AsRock X58 Extreme gave life, it is a great board. I used to have a similar setup to yours.

Another X58 mobo shouldn't set you back much. I have an AsRock X58 Extreme that I could sell to you for something like 99$ (to keep it under 3 figures lol). I've seen many boards sell for 100~140$, so the cost-effective thing to do is buy another mobo...

If you want to upgrade because you just want to, and you don't mind losing a few bucks, than i5 2500K + cheap P67/Z68 board should do great price/perf wise. Together, they should only cost 325$ max, and then you can add a 2GB stick of your RAM and sell your i7 9XX. That wouldn't cost too much, while still making a change

If you are considering an i7 2600K/2700K, that is when you should wait and see what X79 brings. The CPU of X79 is rumored to be perhaps CHEAPER than a 2600K, while the mobos are probably 150$ more. Ivy Bridge will be coming to LGA 1155, but LGA 2011 wil outlive 1155 for sure, and probably will have better upgrade options later on

 

[arnoo1]

I think you should wait until you know what x79 is doing, prices, performans and stuff, i think x79 will be awesome, and does deserve the extra cost, but this my opinion , just wait and see, won't be to long for x79 is comg, a asus dude said that there x79bmobo's will be releases and sold very soon

 

[stargazer7]

if you want onboard SSD cache and onboard gpu.. right now.. z68. if no, save money&go p67 with a 2500k. anything else is board specific.

i'd give that link landerf posted a read. you dont want x78 and a 6 core for games. its worse bang for buck, harder to cool etc

 

[stargazer7]

p.s, you can look here to see how much performance difference it translates to clock up your i7..

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/index.php?pid=70,71&tid=12

a new board isnt worth it to push that chip a little more. Asrock extreme is already a good budget board and you dont need to spend $150 on old tech. it'll make little difference over what you currently have. i would buy a sandy board instead.

*sorry for double post

 

[LordJummy]

p.s, you can look here to see how much performance difference it translates to clock up your i7..

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/index.php?pid=70,71&tid=12

a new board isnt worth it to push that chip a little more. Asrock extreme is already a good budget board and you dont need to spend $150 on old tech. it'll make little difference over what you currently have. i would buy a sandy board instead.

*sorry for double post

His mobo is dead. He's not looking just to squeeze out more OC as far as i can tell. He just needs a replacement, and a recertified x58 board would be extremely cost effective as long as his CPU and other components are AOK.

You can delete this post and edit the other one btw.

 

[stargazer7]

yes, thanks. i know i missed it. if he wants to stay on i7, theres a classy on EVGA b-stock..

http://www.evga.com/products/prodlist.asp?switch=20

 

[LordJummy]

Good prices, but I've heard the EVGA X58 and later boards are not so reliable. That's just what I've heard though, I can't be certain. I've only used their GPU's, and reference ones at that mostly. They all did well, but they weren't really made by EVGA either, so...

uhm where did you hear that? x58 is the best EVGA platform. they owned with those boards. only gigabyte ud7, rampage extreme and save for msi eclipse alikes can stand against it. though they cost too much in their time. most lower boards wont stand a chance. those are made by Shamino. he then left and things went downhill from there

I wasn't speaking on the quality or performance really, I was just mentioning I've heard a lot of bad things about the reliability of them. I run a rampage 3 formula in my main machine, and have another asus x58 board (sabertooth) that I used to use sitting here as well. They are both good boards. The sabertooth was my first x58 board though, and was great for a mid level budget setup. I've seen it for under $100 on a couple of sites used. I would recommend it definitely, but for SLI it's not so great as the slots are next to each other with no option to separate them. My crossfire setup runs much better on the R3F board, and overclocking is a bit better.

So again, not knocking EVGA really, just wanted to mention I have read some negative things about the reliability. Maybe that only happened after x58 though. I swear I've read a lot of negative stuff about the X58 SLI3 board though (I almost bought that instead of the sabertooth until I read that stuff).

 

[stargazer7]

uhm where did you hear that? x58 is the best EVGA platform. they owned with those boards. only gigabyte ud7, rampage extreme and save for msi eclipse alikes can stand against it. though they cost too much in their time. most lower boards wont stand a chance. those are made by Shamino. he then left and things went downhill from there

the plain EVGA x58 was a good board. it had its pci-e lanes go down to x8, that they fixed on the FTW version. FTW is the updated version of it and both boards are still commonly used. those sabretooths failed a lot more than these boards. i rarely hear an EVGA x58 board fail. you must be thinking of their nvidia chipset mobos. those all sucked anyways.

 

[Hayder_Master]

I see better wait for X79, it's best chose, sandy bridge is good but it's too many updates happend on 1155, Like P67 to Z68 and watting for ivy bridge, so you can stick with X79 sure it will be more expensive but you can stick with it for a while until new series come with better performance.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

What? None of that makes a lick of sense. Those updates already happened, save for ivy bridge, which is irrelevant because X79 users will have to wait for that too. On top of that X79 users will have to wait for the VT bug to get fixed and for the full SATA options to be restored. In that sense it'd be a complete waste to buy X79 at launch as it's an incomplete platform that offers zero IPC advantage over 1155 yet comes with a board premium. If you want to buy X79 either have a large disposable income you can blow to dick around with it or wait till it reaches feature completion some time next year. It's a waste of everyone's time until then.

 

[stargazer7]

'blow to dick around' isnt that an oxymoron?

 

[Sanhime]

If that tomshardware link is any clear indication of what to expect from x79, than its probably worth going to z68/1155. I know its too early and the they dont come out till next month, but the impression I am getting is people who are into getting x79/2011 would the the people who buy i7 990x for their x58. I know vendors are going to have mainstream -to- enthusiast level of x79, but that would nuder the purpose of x79 being the "enthusiast" label by Intel. As far as gaming goes, I'm guessing the improvements would be marginal. Just a guess.

As far as benchmarking goes, I can care less, I just want a gaming rig.

Two of my asrocks been giving me issues already, they seem to work good out of the box, but the x58 extreme6 seem to have a short life, or maybe I got a lemon. When i had x58 extreme, that board worked great, but it lack sata3 or usb3 header.

There are only 2-3 x58 boards out there that has USB3 header, and asrock is the cheapest solution, but that board left a bad taste in my mouth. The others will have a premium price tag.

Anyway. I already bought the z68/1155 parts, I'll update my system profile soon. Got CPU, board and ram, under 500 bucks. Selling my x58 stuff should significantly offset the cost.