Will you still buy a SB-E for gaming now the results are out?

EastCoasthandle · Nov 14, 2011

I recall a few months back that some wouldn't upgrade to SB but would wait for SB-E. It's clear that if you need to en/de code, unzip and use it for other applications that require a few more HW threads the SB-E would be a good choice as it's very conservative on power consumption (for what it is). However, as for pricing, it doesn't come cheap.

So, the results are in, will you still buy it now that we know what SB-E is all about? Or will you upgrade to something else?

brandonwh64 · Nov 14, 2011

Probably not, SB-E doesn't look like it was designed for gamers but more for intense encoding or autocad.

qubit · Nov 14, 2011

No, I won't be getting it. I'm really disappointed that there's no improvement in gaming performance.

This thread would do really well with a poll and a public poll would make it more interesting.

I suggest choices:

YES
NO
MAYBE
OTHER (EXPLAIN)

Wyverex · Nov 14, 2011

If I had the money and decided to upgrade today, I'd probably go for i5 2500k. Maybe I'd even just pick a Phenom II X6, because I wouldn't have to change my mobo or RAM...
But, as I don't have the money at the moment, I'm not actively contemplating the upgrade nor am I sure what would I get

BrooksyX · Nov 14, 2011

Im gonna stick with my sandybridge build and maybe look into an ivy bridge chip in a year or so.

Jstn7477 · Nov 14, 2011

I'm sticking with my 2600K for sure as it is fast in everything I do. I wonder if that huge L3 cache on SB-E has a latency penalty or something, or games just aren't using all the cores perhaps.

EastCoasthandle · Nov 14, 2011

qubit said:
No, I won't be getting it. I'm really disappointed that there's no improvement in gaming performance.

This thread would do really well with a poll and a public poll would make it more interesting.

I suggest choices:

YES
NO
MAYBE
OTHER (EXPLAIN)

There is no option for me to edit my post to create a poll.

qubit · Nov 14, 2011

Jstn7477 said:
I'm sticking with my 2600K for sure as it is fast in everything I do. I wonder if that huge L3 cache on SB-E has a latency penalty or something, or games just aren't using all the cores perhaps.

The problem is that the IPC isn't any better in SB-E, or put it another way, single threaded performance is the same as SB.

the54thvoid · Nov 14, 2011

SB-E is designed to be as fast as good old regular SB but to also have greatly superior multi threaded capability. If you like multi-gpu solutions, it's a good platform for some heavy duty 'future proofing' for a good few years to come.

Thing is, p67, h67 and Z68 boards are coming through wit IB compatibility so my take is this.

A) Get a i7 3930 and be good for a few years with a strong platform (like the x58).

B) Get a Z68 mobo with vendor confirmed IB compatibility (http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/PCIe3_Ready/) and upgrade effortlesly to IB in Q2 2012.

B) is the obvious choice for me as I don't do any heavy duty work on my PC.

Hmm.... Damn these decisions. Maybe my mind will be swayed by the thought that SB performed so well it made x58 a little less impressive. As others have said, don't want to get burned again.

On a side note, Overclockers UK have already sold out of their 3960 stock. lol.

radrok · Nov 14, 2011

I'll buy it ALSO for gaming, but that's not the main purpose of my purchase...
Anyway I strongly recommend to whoever wants to build a rig for playing to buy a 2500K and be done with it

lilhasselhoffer · Nov 14, 2011

Yes, I will.

A gaming computer is nice to have, but when I want to do some real processing I'm going to need something more. I want to be able to transcode, encrypt, and anything else that I'll do in the next five years.

As has been said, SB-e is not a vast improvement in performance. Or at least not in instructions per cycle. What it does offer is more IO, boat loads of connectivity, and extra cores. The improvement is there, just hard to see with the narrowed perspective of gaming.

So, my next 5 years will be spent with a 3930k. I don't think it is a bad choice, considering that it has similar idling characteristics to normal SB, but can bring the muscle whenever need be. $550 over 1825 days (5 years) is less than $0.30 per day. I'd spend more if I saw a movie every other other week. Consider this an investment into more than just gaming, that is easy to see the value in whenever you run all the numbers.

CDdude55 · Nov 14, 2011

Not at all, for gaming you'd be better off with staying or moving to an LGA 1155 Sandy Bridge chip and pairing it with nice video card. I'm currently running a Phenom II 1055T chip and i stil wouldn't upgrade, especially not for the cost.

Sandy Bridge-E excels in heavily multi-threaded applications and most software that the average consumer doesn't do much of. So i think if you do work with software that actually puts those threads/cores to work and have the money, then it might be a feasible platform.

xBruce88x · Nov 14, 2011

if i can ever afford to build the crunching rig i want then maybe.... otherwise its PIIx6 or 2500k for me

qubit · Nov 14, 2011

EastCoasthandle said:
There is no option for me to edit my post to create a poll.

It's not obvious, but you can. Just click on the Thread Tools drop down at the top right and you can add it.

JrRacinFan · Nov 14, 2011

Hell yes I want it but need ....

That's different.

Jstn7477 · Nov 14, 2011

qubit said:
The problem is that the IPC isn't any better in SB-E, or put it another way, single threaded performance is the same as SB.

I understand, but someone mentioned that the single threaded performance was worse than 2500/2600K. Is this true?

de.das.dude · Nov 14, 2011

EastCoasthandle said:
There is no option for me to edit my post to create a poll.

there is. click on the thread drop down menu at above the right of OP

qubit · Nov 14, 2011

Jstn7477 said:
I understand, but someone mentioned that the single threaded performance was worse than 2500/2600K. Is this true?

I'm just going by the reviews I've seen today, but in some test it seems to be a teeny tiny little bit worse on the order of less than 1%. However, It's not anything you'd notice in practice.

Shame we don't have a TPU review of this, isn't it? :ohwell:

radrok · Nov 14, 2011

Jstn7477 said:
I understand, but someone mentioned that the single threaded performance was worse than 2500/2600K. Is this true?

There is nothing in the Sandy Bridge-E architecture that could decrease the single threaded performance over the 2500k/2600k other than being the increased cache size and consequently latency increase.
Anand reported that the bigger cache could make up for the latency and in fact there is no single threaded performance difference between SB-E and SB.
We are talking about same frequency, naturally.

erocker · Nov 14, 2011

It would be ridiculous for me to buy a $600 dollar CPU to play games. Would I want a $600 dollar CPU to play games? Absolutely. Still, not going to shell out that kind of money when a CPU can be bought at half the price to do the same thing. I'm still waiting to see multi cpu bench's with SB-E.

radrok · Nov 14, 2011

erocker said:
It would be ridiculous for me to buy a $600 dollar CPU to play games. Would I want a $600 dollar CPU to play games? Absolutely. Still, not going to shell out that kind of money when a CPU can be bought at half the price to do the same thing. I'm still waiting to see multi cpu bench's with SB-E.

Is there any information about the QPI on the 3930k/3960x?
I mean if they didn't fuse it this time we could have dual socket motherboards supporting this series of CPUs instead of going for Xeons

Sasqui · Nov 14, 2011

I'm still nursing along my Core2 E8600 :laugh:

If Ivy proves it's salt, I'll be jumping on that wagon.

erocker · Nov 14, 2011

radrok said:
Is there any information about the QPI on the 3930k/3960x?
I mean if they didn't fuse it this time we could have dual socket motherboards supporting this series of CPUs instead of going for Xeons

Yes there is, in the many reviews posted this morning.

PopcornMachine · Nov 14, 2011

No way. It was Intel's turn the produce a disappointing cpu family.

Though not quite as bad as "the trowel", this is way over priced for what you get.

Not interested.

Bo$$ · Nov 14, 2011

if it is in my budget i dont see why not. most likely i will get a regular SB or wait till the mainstream ones are out

System Name	MY PC
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Processor	8700k Intel
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Software	Win10

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Audio Device(s)	Onboard (It sounds fine)
Power Supply	Corsair 850TX
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1

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Cooling	Eh it doesn't thermal throttle
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Power Supply	380w oem / 65w valve USB-C
Mouse	Purple Walmart special, 1600dpi. Black desk mat
Keyboard	SteelSeries Apex 100 / virtual
VR HMD	Lmao
Software	Windows 10 / Steam OS
Benchmark Scores	It can run Crysis (Original), Doom 2016, and Halo MCC. SD LE 45fps

System Name	Dual Build Streamer
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Mouse	Logitech G400 \| nipple
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VR HMD	;_;
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Benchmark Scores	There are no marks on my bench

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
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Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software	Win 10

System Name	Vulcan
Processor	i6 6600K
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Power Supply	Cooler Master V750
Software	Win 10 64-bit

System Name	Desktop \| Server
Processor	Intel i7 2700k @ 4.6GHZ \| AMD 5350 @ 2500MHZ
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Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB + 4TB WD Red \| 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB
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Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850 G2\| Corsair CX430M
Mouse	Razer Imperator 2012
Keyboard	Corsair K90
Software	Windows 7 SP1 X64 \| Ubuntu 16.04LTS

Will you still buy a SB-E for gaming now the results are out?

Will you buy SB-E now that you know it's performance?

Yes, but for multithreaded application use, not for gaming

Yes, including games

Maybe, I'm not sure yet

No (I will post why)

I'm currenlty not in the market for CPU upgrade at this time.

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