i7 920 to Ivy Bridge : A worthwhile upgrade?

[Skynet5]

I'm in the same boat. Have a 920 D0 which is stable at 3.6ghz but i havent been able to get any more out of it. Been looking at ivy but the socket only has a year left which really puts me off more then anything.

I have ordered a GTX 680 now and i'll decided if i need to upgrade the cpu once i've done some testing. I'll let you know how i get on but the card i've ordered isnt going to be in stock till the end of next week.

You wont. I've not run mine at anything other than stock, 3.8 and now 3.9. But with 1x680 you will be absolutely fine at 3.6 I'm sure of it.


In fact, I'm pretty happy with my i7 920. It will have lasted me for just shy of 4 years if I do my build project (which is just a switch of mobo/cpu/ram/cooler) as Christmas.

It has been a fantastic investment. And to be honest, if there isnt any game out that demands more then I may delay further.

I'm interested to see how demanding these new BF3 maps are going to be...the last pack at Christmas (the largest maps ever) may force the upgrade.

 

[Skynet5]

I refuse to buy a chip with build in GPU!

Bloody stupid bringing this to the desktop market.

If I upgrade it will be Xeon or IB-E chip.

 

[MooMoo444]

My i7 is still going strong. Not let me down in anything I use it for thus far.

Will hold out for the next generation I think.

 

[subbytna]

Same here as well Ive been on a 920 since 2009 with no clear way to make a worthwhile upgrade.

No-one has any answers though?

Get a SSD HD and you'll see a real life performance increase...

 

[subbytna]

With most peoples thoughts about "I can still game fine" and "my cpu takes anything I can throw at it" why not consider getting a sandy chip when Haswell comes out. They will be cheaper and bang for buck, will boss games and applications liek your current cpu is doing. I don't see the need to sp*** 800 on a new rig for a few extra frames in gaming. It's really what difference the real world scenario brings you.

Benching might be a different matter but I use my pc for gaming, rarely benching and to notice 5 frames extra isn't really possible when playing ingame, for 800 quid outlay...no thanks

 

[DeeJayCee]

I'll be upgrading in the next few weeks, once prices have settled down a bit on the SBs and gfx cards. Probably gonna go IB and a 680 regardless, unless the 690 looks sweet. I would hold on for the 7990 but I am not expecting much from it unfortunately.

The prime reaosn for my upgrade is that I am realy very unhappy with my current setup. Got a horrid huge Lian Li case that wasn't worth the money, the dual loop WC gives me a hernia every time I go to a LAN and those damn air bubbles when I get back home keep destabalising my OC. My motherboard is the worst motherboard I have ever had; boot loop bug, poor OC stability, no SATA 3 working even though the advertised it with it the c_ts) etc etc.

Also moving to an IB and 680 takes about 400 watts out of my system so can run a smaller system on high end air cooling / sealed loop water for the cpu and most likely be quiter than my current setup.

Each to their own, make up your own mind based on what's important to you

 

[DaGooN]

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1617280

My 920
its prime95 ect 38hrs stable. on them volts.. 1.184,1.2
only thing i would get if i played games is a new gfx card. but then i just don't see the need as i don't game on this computer.. and with my psu only Corsair 520watt, i don't think i could run a 560+ without getting a new psu..;/ so for me my 920 since 2009 has done everything i want it to. only thing i would upgrade to is a 6 core

 

[DeeJayCee]

oh, and wtf is with those **** 920 overclocks??!!! jeeez! why are they so very very very bad? what problems did you have??

3.8GHz is piece of **** on almost any cooler and 4.2GHz is usually considered standard for a 920 with reasonably decent cooling.

 

[macmodder]

I'm in a pretty similar position to the OP, my 920 isn't a great overclocker (running @ about 3.4 as well) but I'm seriously considering IB so that I can downsize (I want to go ITX!)

 

[DaGooN]

oh, and wtf is with those **** 920 overclocks??!!! jeeez! why are they so very very very bad? what problems did you have??

3.8GHz is piece of **** on almost any cooler and 4.2GHz is usually considered standard for a 920 with reasonably decent cooling.

i can do 4.2 on 1.25. but since i only have a H50 in Antec Fusion max case i don't see why i need more heat than i can cope with and imo i don't need more than 3.6Ghz and i have had 0 problems since day 0 2009 till now on 24/7. for me i only would upgrade to a 6 core cpu.

 

[Jeps]

oh, and wtf is with those **** 920 overclocks??!!! jeeez! why are they so very very very bad? what problems did you have??

3.8GHz is piece of **** on almost any cooler and 4.2GHz is usually considered standard for a 920 with reasonably decent cooling.

I've tried up to 1.4v on my D0 with pretty much all the other voltage settings in my bios up to there max recommended safe limits and couldnt get it stable at 4Ghz. I've read guides where people are getting a stable 4ghz at 1.25v! Mines currently needs 1.27v for a stable 3.6Ghz

Just a bad chip i guess

 

[Wucked]

Similar for me, the max stable OC I can get on my D0 920 is 3.6 GHz.

But my 680 at 1440p still gets 100% utilisation, and I've yet to find anything game wise that really stresses the 920. I have an M4 SSD on SATA2, which is still very fast. I do feel the upgrade itch but tbh, considering how long ago I bought it, my 920 has been fantastic value for money. And I'm viewing IB as an optional upgrade, because I cant really see the 920 struggling with anything for at least another year, if not more... So I may well end up waiting for Haswell.

 

[MidnightLamp]

3.8GHz is piece of **** on almost any cooler and 4.2GHz is usually considered standard for a 920 with reasonably decent cooling.

My 1st rev 920 is watercooled in its own loop with a triple rad and it simply wont budge past 3.8 without massive voltage increase, stupid temps and would still be by no means stable... some of those 1st 920s really are bad OC's...

 

[Phyre]

I think if your 920 is still going fine, then by all means continue. I have a 920 and I'm going to replace it. It's not that the 920 is slow, it's my motherboard and RAM. The Marvell SATA3 controller is terrible on this mboard - my SSD runs slow. The board also cold boots and quite often freezes on boot. I also need more RAM. I have 6GB at the moment and I could really do with at least 12. So yeah, the processor itself has never bottlenecked me, but the general usage of the system is starting to annoy the hell out of me, completely warranting an Ivy Bridge build

 

[TwsT]

Get a SSD HD and you'll see a real life performance increase...

+1 this for sure!

 

[prescott28]

+1 this for sure!

only =1? My SSD has been wonderful but at only 64G i have to be careful what goes on it. When I upgrade I'll do even better when it connects on 6GB SATA port and not the £GB I have at the moment.

 

[remy87]

Eff all that low voltage **** I've gone kamikazee mode since 2009
Only got to 4ghz with turbo mode but I hit 95c on 100% load lol!

 

[Krono5]

lol

 

[wazza300]

upgrade your mb to one with the newer marvel controller,one like the x58a oc or the sniper

see here they match the intel sata3 for performance,much cheaper thn a mb/cpu/ram upgrade

http://forums.tweaktown.com/storage-devices-methods/47565-corsair-force-gt-120gb-ssd.html

 

[Yaayuh!]

I'm doing it.

Swapping out

Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe
CPU: i7 920 (C0)
RAM: OCZ Gold (9Gb)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2e

Replacing with

Motherboard: Asus Z77 Sabertooth
CPU: IB 3770K
RAM: Samsung Green (16Gb)
SSD: Intel 520 Series 180GB

Just waiting for the release and i'll be placing the order with Overclockers UK

Main reasons for upgrade:
Too hot
Unable to sleep PC due to P6T and Vertex 2e
Can afford to right now
Had the 920 + P6T since release, has lasted be a looong time now (over 3 years) and i'm ready to upgrade.