El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Really? What's the actual advantage over the 950?
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Looking to Upgrade my PC...
- Thread starter El Xando
- Start date
Really? What's the actual advantage over the 950?
Sandy Bridge is newer tech. Although the current SB offerings are mid-range replacements, it performs better clock-per-clock than a i7 950 (about 10-15%). Cost should be about the same.
The only reason to stick with the X58 platform at this point is if you need two x16 PCI-E slots for dual GPUs.
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Well I have 2 GPUs... a 4850 and a 4350, would they both need x16 PCI-E slots? I saw a P67 motherboard that had 2 PCI-E slots where if you used one it was x16 and if you used 2 it was x8.
Also, why if it's newer tech is it on the old socket? Or am I slightly misunderstanding how sockets work?
Well I have 2 GPUs... a 4850 and a 4350, would they both need x16 PCI-E slots? I saw a P67 motherboard that had 2 PCI-E slots where if you used one it was x16 and if you used 2 it was x8.
Also, why if it's newer tech is it on the old socket? Or am I slightly misunderstanding how sockets work?
It's not an older socket, the one it replaces is LGA1156. SB is LGA1155. Intel is replacing LGA1366 later in Q4 with LGA2011, which is the high end segment of SB. It'll have 6, 8 and 12 core CPUs.
You can't crossfire a 4850 and 4350, both GPUs need to be in the same series. Also, you wouldn't notice a difference on a x8 slot with two 4850 even. It'd only matter if you were pairing two 6970s, and even then only slightly.
ilyace
Member
Well I have 2 GPUs... a 4850 and a 4350, would they both need x16 PCI-E slots? I saw a P67 motherboard that had 2 PCI-E slots where if you used one it was x16 and if you used 2 it was x8.
Also, why if it's newer tech is it on the old socket? Or am I slightly misunderstanding how sockets work?
It's a new socket, the 1555 socket. The P67 chipset supports only 1x PCIe lane at 16x, so if you were to try and have 2 gpus in crossfire or SLI you'd have one at 16x and 8x. Or if you were trying to do three gpus you'd have one at 16x and two at 8x.
If you do end up going the P67/Sandy bridge route, make sure you go for one of the unlocked processors, either the i5 2500K or the i7 2600k. The main difference between the two is clock the difference in clock speed (3.3ghz stock for the 2500K vs. 3.4ghz for the 2600K), the cache size (6mb for the 2500K, 8mb for the 2600k), and the fact that the i7 2600K has HT and the i5 2500K doesn't. Otherwise they're pretty much identical. The reason you want to go for the unlocked "K" chips as opposed to the others is because they're "unlocked", and you can literally overclock the shit out of them on air cooling, and even further on water if that's your thing.
ilyace
Member
Ooooh OK, I see
So the best plan would be to get a i7 2600k, a P67 motherboard with one PCI-E x16, and 2 other PCI-Es (I need at least 2 others that aren't directly below the graphics card) and then what would you guys recommend with RAM? Just 2 sticks or 4?
Really depends on if you plan to upgrade to more ram in the future. Going with 2x 2GB would give you the same performance as 1x 4GB stick as long as the specs are the same, but 2x 2GB leaves you less room to upgrade your ram in the future. If you do a lot of video editing, photoshop, etc, you should probably plan for 8GB. Whatever you do decide to get, make sure you get something that runs higher than 1333mhz, has tight CAS timings (eg. 9-9-9-24 would be better than 7-8-7-20), and something that runs at least 1.5v (seems to be the only thing that'll give you a stable overclock with the P67 chipset and sandy bridge chips).
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Well I already do a fair bit of video editing and rendering, my computer is just finishing rendering a 1 hour 25 minute video (which will have taken 6 hours when it completes). I'll probably go for 2x4GB then
I was thinking I could get another 2GB sticks, as I currently have 2x2GB, but it's only 1066 so will probably sell it with my current mobo and CPU after buying the new stuff
Cheers!
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Hold on, I thought the lower the CAS timings the better?
ilyace
Member
The lower the better, but as long as the digits stay relatively tight. With DDR3 right now, the higher the speed, the higher the CAS timings. And as far as I know speed is more important for overclocking.
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Quick question, my power supply has 2 PCI-E power lines, both with a 6 pin and an 8 pin connector. I bought a 6950 today, so am using both the 6 pins for that. I'll be getting my 4850 back tomorrow, and want to have that in my PC too. Can I use one of the 8 pin connectors on the same line as one of the 6 pin connectors I am using?
Cheers.
Cheers.
You can but there is no point... the 6950 and 4850 cannot work in tandem. It'll just restrict airflow in your case.
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
But at the moment I have the 6950 and a 4350 in at the same time and they both work with the 6950 performing as it should?
Yes, but it's driving up temps for no reason. Will be worse with the 4850 since it's a bigger card.
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
There's kind of a reason... I'm tri-screening a 22" monitor, a 17" monitor and a 32" TV. The 6950 has an HDMI output and 2 DVI outputs, and the screens need DVI, VGA and VGA respectively. So currently I have the 22" via the main DVI of the 6950, the 17" via the VGA of the 4350 and the 32" via a DVI-VGA adapter in the 6950. So I'd just want to swap the 4350 out for a better card.
Reckon I should find a way of plugging all 3 into the 6950?
MenaceInc
Staff Member
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
Do you mean 2. DVI > VGA?
MenaceInc
Staff Member
Wait a tic, does your TV not have a HDMI port? I don't think you can use VGA on both DVI ports of most cards since one tends to be DVI-D while the other that allows VGA is DVI-I...not 100% sure on that but most cards I've seen have been that way except for older cards with DVI and a proper VGA port
El Xando
"Dam whippersnapper"
It does, however I will have to buy like a 5 metre HDMI cable... I think I will do that now.
You're right about only using 1 VGA on the 2 DVIs, so getting a really long HDMI cable sounds like the best plan.