Greets all. Would very much appreciate some advice on the above, and whether people think it is even worth upgrading my 4+ year old rig atm? It was very high end at the time, but obviously less so now (still pretty capable though I would say).

Current Specs are:

Intel Core i7 940@ stock 2.93ghz, "Bloomfield" (Turbo mode 3.2)
MB Asus P6T Deluxe X58 chipset (V1 not 2.0 revision)
6gb Corsair Dominator @1600 DDR3 Triple Channel Mem
Everest 1200w PS (massive overkill I know lol)
GTX 580 1.5mb GPU
Caviar Black 1TB Dual processor HD
W7 64 bit O/S

I should mention I am absolutely not a techie (nor usually even vaguely interested unless I'm buying something lol) and the mere mention of arcane terms like BCLK Multipliers and 15/8 blah blah LVL 3 Cache memory will result in a dribbling. dazed '1000 yd stare' and cause a panicked 'auto-defence shutdown' response in my brain to safeguard it against further cumulative damage.

However, I have made an effort to scope out the current options....and after sifting through impressive sounding branding-sales bollocks like the ASUS FIRETUSK OMNI-DOMINATOR GHOST-FIST POWER PHANTOM V ('Apocalypse Tomorrow Alternate Reality' edition V.2.2) and the GIGABYTE CYBER SAMURAI BUSHIDO SIM-RAPE VII LIMITED BANZAI ARMAGEDDON CON-FUSION EDITION etcetera have come up with a shortlist of sorts.

There is this bundle from "Dabs UK": Asus Maximus Formula Z77, Core i7 3770K Ivy bridge, 16gb Dual Channel DDR3

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-intel-...8BQ0.html?src=3

I gather the 16gb memory is completely unnecessary for gaming purposes atm, and 8gb should do fine. Could cut the number down in that case, but the price isn't much difference either....and though it won't really help and is superfluous, it can't really hurt either I suppose.

But I'm also considering a X79 based upgrade....and if it is worth it. I have the Lira to get a 3960X, but also dislike frivolously wasting money and it seems from everything I have read to not be good value for money at all; so I've discounted that for now I think as I'd rather spend the difference on something else (maybe a good SSD). More interested in the 4 Core i7 3820 3.6ghz 10mb cache or 6 core 3930K. Would these be a better choice than the 3770K, if not necessarily now, but perhaps eventually? I'm also confused as to why the 3820 at a higher clock speed and slightly bigger Mem Cache (10vs 8) is actually a bit less expensive than the 3770K?

What I would like to know is are Hexa and Octa core processors reckoned to be "teh wayz of the futurez" with particular regard to sims ( IE are Devs looking at employing their potential, the idea being to "future proof" insomuch as one reasonably can), and whether 6 core processors are planned for the Z77 Ivy Bridge platforms as well? I realise that at present sims do not always fully utilise even 4 cores....but my feeble head suspects that day may come, and that 6+ cores might be an eventual logical progression? Could be a long time. I might well be talking absolute shyte with that theory though. Probably am, tbh.

I know that DCS in particular is CPU intensive, and I did a little research on a CPU comparison chart here using the closest match to my current 940 (the Core i7 930) vs the 3770K I could find on "Toms Hardware".

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/cpu-charts-2012/compare,3175.html?prod[5754]=on&prod[5752]=on

It would appear that I would benefit quite substantially from this upgrade (especially the stock 3.9 turbo speed) unless I'm mistaken? I also realise that it seems the 3770K is arguably only a smidgen better than the i72700K (if even that), but since I'm upgrading from ye olde Bloomfield and the price is only a tenner more it would probably make more sense for me to go Ivy Bridge?

Any help once again greatly appreciated, and thanks kindly!

Cheers.

If you have the money then go for it but yours is just more powerful than mine and I find I keep up with all the new games and DCS. But it's horses for courses.

Aye Mace I hear ye, and that's the dilemma really....is it worth it. I want a boost mainly so I can run another monitor at hopefully good FPS for MFCDs etc. Having the money and knowing the value of money are two different things too lol.....I'm not Rockefeller and its still a lot of cash in anyones book. The 3960X seems a bit of a p*ss take regarding actual improvement and value, and not worth it really. I could spend the extra 500 quid I'd save on something for the hoose (Like building a small dungeon in which I could torture kidnapped Tory MP's until they repent and become nice, decent human beings; skimping on cosy but expensive 'Luxury dungeon features' of course, since they are undeserving of such clemency in this 'age of austerity' lol. )

Based on the other suggestions, what do you reckon would be a decent choice? (3820 vs 3770K vs 3990K?)

I am totally out of the loop when it comes to CPU's and pretty much other hardware actually, and only get 'in the know' when I'm looking to buy

For strictly Gaming an Overclocked i5 will be the best price/perf. combo.

i7 SB/IB CPUs are wpward $500-1K in the USA, unles syou need 12 threads (6 HyperThreading Cores). then it's a huge waste of money.

IM perfectly content with my 8 Integer Cores.

Aye same here Mace, I'm not usually remotely interested meself till I have to be lol....Rgr and cheers anyway.

Thanks Zilla, sounds sensible enough advice regarding the Hexa business at present...I definitely don't need them for things like Video editing blah blah so I'll probably leave that out I think. However, I'm not great with the Overclocking business (though I've done it before to a paltry 3.4 ages ago briefly) and would probably prefer the stock, faster option without risk (or I'd maybe consider using the Asus MB auto overclock functions.....which I hear are not as good or efficient as a careful manual one, but probably a lot easier for planks like me and less stressful I would think lol)

If the costs aren't that different, obviously get the better one, but I can tell you now my 2600k, at stock speeds, has yet to choke on anything.
Only my GTX 570 has ever been less than plenty, and that's only been in a couple of things like Metro 2033 or a modded Crysis 2 with extra big awesome textures.

So while your CPU could use an update, you don't need to go overboard. Your 580 should likewise be enough for most things right now, and I wouldn't bother going to a 600 series, wait for the 700.


The Jedi Master

well if you want to upgrade get a new motherboard and an i5 3570K with compatible memory.. you should get that rather cheaply all those parts no need to upgrade the PSU or Vid card, you should still be able to use the case it is ATX?? IMHO NO Need for a i7 unless you do video editing or the like and need the cores for gaming 4 cores with NO HT is fine..

or if you really dont want to upgrade try overclocking your cpu..seems alot of people have similar rigs as yourself and do fine with most games..OC could just give your CPU more life..

You can get the I7 3770 for about 250 bucks. Easily overclocks over 4 gig.

The biggest upgrade anyone could do right now hands down is getting an SSD for their primary drive.
You can get a top of the line 256 gig driver for about 250 bucks

As said above... right now speed is going to do you more favours than cores. Of course, that is in its current form- DCS only uses 2 cores but when EDGE comes into the equation the load may be spread across 4 or more.

I'm running a 980X right now and of course I'm left wanting for speed. I can only OC it and keep it stable at around 4.2- meanwhile some of the newer sandy's and ivy's are going to 5 with very little massaging.

And then over the cores you have hyperthreading... and now we once again need to start looking at what EDGE is going to be requiring. Sure, I have hyperthreading... but it's turned off.

The true benefit of the newer tech is in the bandwidth to the graphics card, the hard drives and your memory. FAST CPU (not more cores), SSD (and the SATA3 / 6 on the mobo), HEAVY graphics card (670 probably the best bang for buck going right now), FAST RAM (8 gigs at least, low-ish timings)...

Look forward in your assessment- don't look at what DCS needs right now. Also, some good advice I saw on here was to upgrade every SECOND generation...

Nice thing about that is in many cases you can hand down the existing comp or part it out with other systems and make 1 solid one for somewhere / someone else in the residence.

Cheers to all respondents for your input, very helpful and thank you all very much. I've weighed it all up and decided to go with the 3770K (had initial concerns about reports of it running slightly hot, but I think this is a bit overstated and nothing good cooling wont address) and either the Asus Z77 Sabretooth MB or Maximus Formula, still up in the air on that. I forgot to mention in present specs that I'm using a corsair H70 cooler at present, might upgrade it to the H100 if its needed for OC'ing.

I think it might be a relatively long way down the road before Sims will be using 6-8 cores, and I believe this will only happen once they have a bigger ownership market and are more accessible. By that time, newer and better advances will probably be made so I'll wait it out and purchase then. Note that these observations are based on no evidence whatsoever and completely unscientific lol...just my gut feeling. 4 at a decent speed is 'enough for the noo' I reckon. Good advice on the graphics card too, I'll probably wait it out for next gen post 680 (rumoured to be around first quarter this year?) as the scant improvement over the 580 atm doesn't warrant buying IMO.

@Nephilim, glad you brought up the case thing as I was wondering about that too. I use a Cooler Master Cosmos S case (a beauty, I think) and I had to check if it took extended ATX form factor for the Maximus Formula board, luckily it does (ATX and E-ATX) so all is well.

I think what will make a good impact is a decent SSD too, anyone have any recommendations? Busy having a look now myself.

Using a Samsung 830 256GB - no complaints - had to get a SATA 3 card though because my Mobo was only SATA 2 - still system now loads up and responds like an iPad.

Biggles,

I just upgraded from a Q9550 setup to a 3770K with an H100i cooler. For me, it seems to be a big improvement. I've always heard about a three generational gap when it comes to upgrading systems. So I kind of went by that and waited a bit before I upgraded. It seems to me you could benefit also. I'm really liking the H100i cooler as I don't have to refill it ever unlike the Thermaltake setup I had before.

I believe you and I have had a very similar new system vision! Some stuff I ordered might have been overkill (32gb Ram) but I'm hoping I'll be able to make this system last for a few years. I went with mostly corsair products and built according to this vid,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmdKu5i2ZB8&feature=player_embedded

I'm not really into running numbers nor know how to overclock but I know the Windows score is 7.8 for this new system. I also made sure I got a motherboard with the newer UEFI BIOS. It seems to have a more simplified setup for novices like me, and it boots from off to using your mouse in under 10 seconds! I think the SSD helps that out, also.

As for the case, I love the Corsair in the vid. Cable managment is easy with this one, I don't really see any wires scattered around and the video linked above really helped me set it up.

Best,

BadK

Yes the SSD means from logon to being fully usable is about 4 - 5 seconds for me - and no lag when using it (like having a 24" iPad). I still have the old mechanical disk in to store all my files - but windows and games go on the SSD.


My Windows score is 7.4 which is the SATA 3 SSD interface as the lowest

Previously the mechnical disk on SATA 2 was rated at 5.8 in Windows


Intel i7 860 | 8GB DDR3 Corsair XMS3 Dual Channel RAM | Samsung 830 SATA 3 SSD (256GB) | Western Digital CG SATA 2 HDD (1TB) | Nvidia GeForce GTX-670 (EVGA) | Windows 7 x64 Home Premium | TrackIR 5 | CH Pro Pedals | Packard Bell Maestro 240 LED (1080p)

My Shiney New $200 8350 Clocks at 5.1Ghz Water Cooled Stable, I backed it down, as I dont need it to run and burn through that much power when Im not home.

In regards to my i7 500-1K statement, i meant the 39xxK Series :-), but them things do Fly....

Shoot, an FX 8120 with all power saving options off and Overclocked to 4Ghz scores about only 12% slower than my current CPU at 4 Ghz.

That Chip can be purchased for like $160 from NewEgg, and another $140 or so for a 990FX Board.

Whoops, I gave the wrong score for my new machine...7.8 is my Experience Index Score.

I max out on WEI, using PCIe SSD Prototype to boot windows. (only 128GB though).

Mig and K, cheers and thats one of the SSDs I've been looking at on dabs Mig! A few others too (OCZ) but I think I'll go for the Samsung 840 Pro series, probably not much better than the 830 (if at all) but within budget and I'll be using it for a while, so why not. What is attractive to me is the hopefully hassle free Migration software included, right up my street if its easy to do hehe.

Final choice looks like

Asus Sabretooth Z77
3770K
Samsung 840 256g Pro Series SSD

But I'm stuck on the 8gb of memory I should put in. Bewildering. I was looking at the Corsair mem configurator, which directs you to choices suitable for Sabretooth Z77.

I came up with Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3 2000 MHz CAS 9-10-9-27 Dual Channel Desktop (48 quid)

Corsair Dominator GT 8GB DDR3 2133 MHz CAS 9-11-10-27 Dual Channel Desktop (81 quid)

Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB DDR3 2133 MHz CAS 9-11-10-30 Dual Channel Desktop (96 quid)

Now, I've done a 'crash course' and read up on timings, frequency etc....and from what I can gather it really makes little actual difference from 1600 speed? The most important is CPU and GPU, RAM speeds now less so apparently. But does it become important for some reason when overclocking the CPU? A lot of people appear to be linking RAM speed and some CPU overclocking speeds as if they have some important kind of relationship?

The mind boggles. I'll have to read up more on it. Any help or advice once again appreciated (especially if any Z77 Sabretooth owners are about)

EDIT: It doesn't matter chaps, went ahead and ordered the Corsair Platinum, can't be arsed to agonise over 50 squid lol. Should have all the parts by next Tuesday (got some Arctic Silver V thermal compound for the CPU as well, think I'll need a bracket for the SSD too) I'll try and build it next weekend I think (first time!) In the famous last words of Top Gear, How hard can it be?
*gulp*.

Bring it on!

The one I have runs cooler than the i7-2600k that I was running prior.

Apparently, the older chips all had a joint of solder between the chip and the heat spreader. These new ones have thermal material--not solder. This would explain the numerous reports of enthusiasts lapping the heat spreader and it having absolutely no effect on temps. I'm sure it'll be fine provided you install the cooler correctly.