Ivy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridge (upgrading from AMD)

[lordmanatee]

I'm currently specing out an upgrade for my 2-year old gaming PC that Tom's Hardware helped me build.

A few months ago when I started looking for parts I asked you guys, and I was recommended to upgrade my MoBo, CPU, and RAM. These are the suggestions I was given :

MOBO : GIGABYTE GA-Z68X - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498

CPU : Intel Core i5-2550K Sandy Bridge - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115230

RAM : Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

I was literally about to hit the 'buy' button on newegg when I saw an advertisement for Ivy Bridge. Did some research..and I'm curious, is upgrading to Ivy Bridge worth it? I'm fine waiting a bit and spending a few hundred dollars if it means I'm upgrading in a more future-friendly way (i.e. not having my socket type phased out soon-ish or something along those lines), as well as upgrading to more efficient parts.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[l0v3rboi]

First off, an i5 2500k would be better than the 2550k because their OC potential is similar but the 2500 costs less. I would also get a z77 MoBo because of PCI-e 3.0 and USB 3.0. Many will argue that since these new ports don't get saturated yet you don't need them. However, since you are aiming to be future friendly, it is the obvious choice.

Now to the IB vs. SB issue, lets setup some pros and cons.
IB Pros: newer tech, less power consumption, faster at stock speeds compared to SB
Cons: Heat issues when OC, less capable OC unless you're pro at it and knows exactly what to do

SB Pros: Great to OC, more user friendly to OC, and when OC, performance is very similar to IB that it is almost negligible, no heat issues in air, stable
Cons: More power consumption, one generation old

So, if you ask me, I will choose SB if you're new to OC and IB if you either want to keep your CPU at stock, you're pro at OC, or you plan only to do mild OC. As for phasing out the socket type, IB is the last LGA 1155 CPU. The next generation will be a different socket type (not sure what it would be).

 

[lordmanatee]

Thanks for such a great breakdown, I've had issues in the past with OCing. I'm not looking to troubleshoot, but the jist of the matter is my screen would burst into artifacts on any 3D application when I was OCed on this ASrock MOBO. Perhaps that will change when I get a new one, who knows.

Whichever CPU I get, I will end up only mildly overclocking it, if at all. Not really interested in pushing the envelope too far as I'm only a college student with not much of a budget. So the IB sounds like the right choice for me..

Which IB processor is comparable to the i5 2500k? And which Z77 MOBO would be the best route? I've heard good things about Gigabyte (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544&Tpk=Gigabyte%20GA-Z77X-UD3H) , but honestly this is my first build and I went with a cheap ASRock and I'm not happy at all with it.

 

[l0v3rboi]

i5 3570k is the one comparable to the i5 2500k.

I had that Gigabyte MoBo. I had issues with audio as with other people. Majority of them though had it working after a few restarts. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I had to return and get a different one.

My replacement MoBo is the Asus P8z77-v LE and it has been working just great (knock on wood). You can also try the P8z77-v LK for cheaper.

 

[CoolBOBob1]

First off, an i5 2500k would be better than the 2550k because their OC potential is similar but the 2500 costs less. I would also get a z77 MoBo because of PCI-e 3.0 and USB 3.0. Many will argue that since these new ports don't get saturated yet you don't need them. However, since you are aiming to be future friendly, it is the obvious choice.

Now to the IB vs. SB issue, lets setup some pros and cons.
IB Pros: newer tech, less power consumption, faster at stock speeds compared to SB
Cons: Heat issues when OC, less capable OC unless you're pro at it and knows exactly what to do

SB Pros: Great to OC, more user friendly to OC, and when OC, performance is very similar to IB that it is almost negligible, no heat issues in air, stable
Cons: More power consumption, one generation old

So, if you ask me, I will choose SB if you're new to OC and IB if you either want to keep your CPU at stock, you're pro at OC, or you plan only to do mild OC. As for phasing out the socket type, IB is the last LGA 1155 CPU. The next generation will be a different socket type (not sure what it would be).

I don't believe you get pci 3.0 on a z77 motherboard if you put a sandy bridge it in, you have to put in ivy bridge cpu for that feature to work.

 

[lordmanatee]

What do you think about either :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130644&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1jxunxqgtej9w

I know I said earlier I was hesitant to buy an ASRock board again..but the reviews are very positive and I did end up with a lower-end board when I first built this system.

 

[evan1715]

I don't believe you get pci 3.0 on a z77 motherboard if you put a sandy bridge it in, you have to put in ivy bridge cpu for that feature to work.

+1
if u have pci-e 3.0 u cannot use it unless u have ivy bridge.
i'd go with the ivy bridge. im at 4.6GHz with my 3770K with temps going up to low 90's at 100% load, which btw u will really never reach 100% if u are just playing video games.
remember TJ Max Temp for ivy is 105 and sandy is 95.

 

[lordmanatee]

I've already decided to go with Ivy Bridge, I'm more concerned with which MOBO/RAM to buy.

 

[evan1715]

i have asrock z77 extreme4 and corsair 2x4gb 1600mhz vengeance low profile and they seem to be pretty fine for me.
or maybe u want to use ivy's protential 2800mhz ram then u could go with something like: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=515
idk if its out yet though ^^

 

[lordmanatee]

Best answer selected by lordmanatee.