Ivy or Sandy

Hi all
Does anyone have an idea of what sort of impact will a ivy bridge processor and motherboard have over a sandybridge proc and m/board in terms of descrete gaming?

Just wondering, since i'm ordering a sandy bridge proc and m/board configuration soon and don't know if I should wait for Ivy!


Any help appreciated

:)
 

bg92

Expert
If I was in your position I would wait for ivy, as it is going to bring some improvements.
 

richag

Member
stealing someone elses topic but IVY Bridge is slated for a 23rd April release when will we see these components available at PCS?
 
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mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
stealing someone elses topic but IVY Bridge is slated for a 23rd April release when will we see these components available at PCS?

Probably on the 24th if that is when they are being launched. It wont be long after they are launched as obviously PCS will want to get them up for sale ASAP to attract the new upgraders
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Will Ivy bring that much of a performance increase? Had a quick glance online and one site that had supposedly benchmarked Ivy said the CPU increase was 5-15%, however the GPU was significant at 20-50%. When it says the GPU does that mean the integrated graphics?
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Yeah exactly. I believe the CPU performance will be approx 10% better with the GPU significantly more. Thats not the only reason to buy the ivy bridge though as it will support other cool features such as PCIe 3.0 which will allow you to take full advantage of GPU's in the future.
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Im slightly confused as to what this means.

So when you say the Ivy bridges will take full advantage of the GPU, i didnt realise the CPU would have an affect on the actual graphics card, i assumed they were seperate?

Guessing im wrong though haha, thats what you get for only getting up to date on computer tech in the past few months!
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
The PCI controller is on the chip itself so if your sandy bridge processor only supports up to 2.0, the hardware only supports up to 2.0 and you can't change that. Ivy bridge has a PCI 3.0 controller so i can take advantage of the PCIe 3.0 slots on the motherboard.

I wouldn't say ivy bridge takes any more advantage of the GPU than the sandy bridge chips do because at the moment, i think even the GTX 680 runs fine without PCIe 3.0 even though it supports it, because it doesn't saturate the bandwitch of PCIe 2.0. It's more about whats coming next generation i would say, even though you might get a small advantage from ivy bridge now it will be a while before you start needing it properly
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Oh ok that makes a bit more sense thanks :)

So the Ivy is more about future proofing right now?
Im guessing there is no idea of pricing of Ivy right now?
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Pricing will probably just slot right into the same bands as the sandy chips do now.

So for example the replacment for the i7 2600 will fall right into the same price bracket, it may be a little more to start with but you wont be looking at crazy prices as the new chips will come in and sit at the same price points. That will drive the sandy bridge CPU's down in price so people looking for good value will buy those instead.
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Well i was looking to order my PC within the week, but am now tempted to wait for the Ivy release and either stick with my current rig and hope for a significant price drop (on that note what would the range of price drop be? when i say significant im talking £50-£100) or get the new Ivy bridge?!

If you were in my position mantadog what would you do? :p

Sorry for hijacking your thread foreversmiling! Hopefully this info will help you out aswell :)
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
I wouldn't like to speculate on any price drop, if it's anything like what happened with the latest GPU releases I can see a top end chip like the i7 2600 coming down by £30-£40. You would need to wait a week or so for the price drop to come through as PCS works through its old stock.

If it was me, I would go for ivy bridge because I'm a total sucker for the latest tech, you won't go wrong with a sandy bridge chip tho
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
i'd wait then decide when its released, you could save some money as the 2600 may drop or spend similar for ivy
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Following some more browsing i came across this article: Ivy Bridge

Shows pricing and some details of the Ivy bridge and sheds light on a possible release date - ranging from next week to 23rd april to 29th april.
 

ellspeedy

Enthusiast
So the release date, for i5 + i7 atleast seems to be set at 29th april if im reading correctly?

Core i7 3770K – $320
Core i7 3770S – $285
Core i7 3770 – $285

Assuming they are the same as Sandy, the 'K' variant is for overclocking, but what is the difference between the 3770 and the 3770S? They are the same price?
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
but what is the difference between the 3770 and the 3770S? They are the same price?

As far as I'm aware the S variants use a lot less power, and are generally therefore used in mini PC's, though what difference this makes to its performance I do not know and I could be wrong anyway.
 
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