Ivy or Sandy
 

Since Intel keeps talking about how soon ivy bridge is going to be out and we've all seen the rumors of the 20-30% better performance it might bring, should I jump on the sandy bridge train or wait? :confused:

The Q6600 is quite a capable processor for now. OC it (if you haven't already) and wait it out. Once Bulldozer is out, you can choose b/w Ivy and BD

I want to avoid the gtx 460 situation when everyone was talking about how great the gtx 460 was and then...the gtx 560 made it look like it won the special olympics. :banghead:

wait for bulldozer...

While waiting, join the SC2 clubhouse :p

the Q6600 is still very capable, so you should have no problems waiting for IvyBridge. GTX460 is good, why would you bother about GTX560 anyway? Its cheaper and more powerful perhaps, but at the same time 1 year late.

Im pretty much in same situation, only my rig is based on X58. Problem is, i've promised it to my bro (soon). So dunno what to do. Have old E8200/4GB/F60 SSD/GTX460SE (OC 35%) - so could probably stick with it, while X68 will hit the market, in same time don't want downgrade my system :(

If your primary focus is gaming then only change CPU's according to your GPU bottleneck, you won't really see much difference if the GPU you're currently using is not bottlenecked by your current processor.

So unless you're hanging for a GPU upgrade then I'd suggest to wait it out, just my 2 cents :).

I am pretty sure I would see a fps gain in all games with a 2500k, especially thinking at sc2.

Yeah, but if you are hitting 60+fps currently you wouldn't notice the increase, would you?

maybe sc2 coz it can be processor intensive, but otherwise a Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz v/s a 2600K at 4.7Ghz....for normal GPU intensive games, you wouldn't see a difference that would justify an entire platform overhaul.

It's only said to be a 10% increase.

But if you're going to wait for Ivy, you might as well wait for Sandy Bridge EX 2011

Jumping from a Q6600 to an i7, take it from me you will see a huge improvement overall in your system no doubt about it but in regards to games there will be some you will see a big big improvement on and some that will only run much smoother than before in regards to stutters etc but won't improve in framerate.

I moved from a Q6600 3.6ghz to an i7 930 4.0ghz and a 4890 crossfire setup, my CPU was a big bottleneck for my cards as I was seeing frames of 30-40 fps in both GTA IV and Assassin's Creed II when I hopped over to the X58 train I saw both games jump over 60.

I don't know.... I personally say go for it.... I have upgraded From a E8400 to a Q9550 To a i5 750 to a i7 860. All of them I saw a performance upgrade in. I even noticed a Nice upgrade from the i5 750 to the i7 860.
When I heard that you will be able to upgrade from SB to IB on the same 1155 Socket I made my decision. As soon as the P67 and Z67 MOB's become more available I will be upgrading again. The only way that will stop is if Bulldozer is as good as it is supposed to be. If thats the case I am going AMD.

So I say go for it.... You will see enough increase. Some will probably tell you I am nuts... with the advice I just gave you... and maybe I am. But remember it's just my opinion on what you should do.