is Sandy Bridge worth it?

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BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2011-05-27 21:09

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

the cat is tempted after hearing good things about it
Yoorah wrote on 2011-05-27 22:00

Yes. Read more here. But then again, it depends on what you're upgrading from and what you need to use your computer for.

I have a first gen Core 2 Duo (E6600) which is generally regarded as outdated by now, but for general computing tasks, some gaming and even software dev work, it's still usable. I was tempted to build a Sandy Bridge based system, but then I decided to wait until at least Sandy Bridge-E, the high-end LGA2011 platform (that most people don't need). :3 I hope the prices will be reasonable, however...
BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2011-05-27 22:10

the cat wants to video edit and play video games
but it has to be up to Battlefield 3's specs
[video=youtube;2zw8SmsovJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zw8SmsovJc[/video]
preferably where the cat wont lose frames online
Yoorah wrote on 2011-05-27 22:18

The 2600K is essentially the best gaming CPU you can buy. It'll chew through Battlefield 3 with ease. The limitation will be in the graphics card. You may even want to downgrade to a 2500K and use the $100 difference to buy a more powerful graphics card, but that's up to you and it depends on your budget constraints, etc.

Sandy Bridge is also the best way to transcode video, so that will really help you if your video editing software supports Quick Sync. However, to use Quick Sync you need a motherboard with a H67 chipset (as opposed to P67), which doesn't support overclocking. Or you can can get a Z68 based board which costs about $10 more than a P67 one, allowing you to use both Quick Sync and to overclock the CPU.

I'm not a fan of overclocking, personally, but Sandy Bridge actually overclocks extremely efficiently, and it's something I may do years down the road when I start feeling that the CPU is getting too slow for what I need to use it for... so it's a nice option to have.
Osayidan wrote on 2011-05-29 04:13

Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;457453:
the cat wants to video edit and play video games
but it has to be up to Battlefield 3's specs
[video=youtube;2zw8SmsovJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zw8SmsovJc[/video]
preferably where the cat wont lose frames online

What's the requirements on that? Looks nicer than the bunch of lies crysis was with everyone saying best graphics ever.
Yoorah wrote on 2011-05-29 04:43

Funny thing, apparently Battlefield 3 is done using DX9, too. >_> They promised a DX10 (11?) patch later, which should make things even better.
It's all in the shaders, yo.
BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2011-05-29 05:30

yeah but that's the Alpha gameplay footage