i7 930 upgrading

[Jospeh]

Only have a stock cooler on it. Didn't over clock it (no real need, didn't want the extra heat). I'm satisfied with it right now but maybe looking to upgrade by the end of the year. I will probably need more processing power then.

So I want to ask:
1. What sort of performance boost will I get going to a modern CPU?
2. Is there anything worth waiting for?
3. Around how much is it going to cost total (a range or guess)?

 

[drescherjm]

1. What sort of performance boost will I get going to a modern CPU?

This is as best as I can do..
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/47?vs=1199

2. Is there anything worth waiting for?

Skylake is a at minimum a year away. I do not think you want Haswell-E so an i7-4790 is probably what you should purchase.

Around how much is it going to cost total (a range or guess)?

I say $200 to $300 if you sell your current motherboard + CPU and keep your ram. Less if a MC is close. Although you may want to add $100 and purchase a 256GB Crucial MX100 SSD.

Edit: Although with the cheap lga1366 xeons floating around you probably will not get any takers on the CPU. The motherboard you probably will get more than you expect for the same reason..

 

[dandragonrage]

1. Depends on the workload. Perhaps 50% in CPU-bound applications, or even 100%+ if your applications use new features like Quick Sync.

2. You could wait for Skylake and DDR4 but you'll be waiting for a year at least. And waiting for DDR4 would obviously mean that you can't reuse your current DDR3 (hopefully it's not 1.65V - if it is, I personally wouldn't reuse it regardless unless it can undervolt to 1.5-1.55V)

3. $200-300 sounds about right if you're not replacing everything.

 

[drescherjm]

hopefully it's not 1.65V - if it is, I personally wouldn't reuse it regardless unless it can undervolt to 1.5-1.55V)

Agreed. I would in that case sell the ram and get new ram..

 

[ssnyder28]

Why not try a hex core xeon before doing a complete system overhaul?

 

[termite]

I just made the switch from a i7 930 (@4.0Ghz) to a i7 4790k and the the improvement was immediately noticeable. I have not done any benchmarking, other then loading a few games, however I just did the build this weekend.

The cost for my build was quite a bit higher then mentioned above, as I bought a Asus Maximus vii Formula, new RAM and had to get a new WC block for the CPU, plus a few other bits and pieces of watercooling parts. I pretty much only kept my SSD's, Hdd and GTX680.

 

[drescherjm]

Why not try a hex core xeon before doing a complete system overhaul?

I assume he still does not want to overclock and these would be a downgrade at stock for most desktop loads.

 

[dandragonrage]

I assume he still does not want to overclock and these would be a downgrade at stock for most desktop loads.

And it's still a good chunk of change to put down on obsolete tech. But yeah, most people don't need 6 cores. Hell, most people still don't need even 4 cores. Single-threaded performance is FAR more important in almost all workloads.. Multiple cores are just a workaround for when you hit frequency/power limitations on single-threaded performance. Though they can be better for highly parallel data processing to reduce context switches.

I definitely wouldn't advise that plan, at least for most workloads.

 

[rhansen5_99]

What 1366 motherboard are you running? The reason I ask is that if its a good ocing one it might be worth a lot on ebay for the guys going the hex core xeon route. In all reality the hex core cpu on the 1366 socket the L(whatever) if overclocked will get you close to a stock 4770k in most benchmarks, but I understand why you would not want to go that route. I would say that if you have a microcenter around you could use the 40$ off motherboard with cpu purchase, and get a 4790k and mobo (depending on what you need) for maybe $350, and maybe reuse your old other parts.

 

[Jospeh]

I have a gigabyte x58A-UD3R motherboard and some OCZ3G1600LV2G (3x2GB sticks) RAM which runs at 1.5v at DDR3-1066 but not sure about higher speeds. I was going to upgrade the cooler later on and overclock. I had the i930 overclocked to around 3.3ghz on the stock cooler but I think it crashed or something after awhile and went back to default. I had no real reason to overclock(mostly played Dota2) so I just left it.

Although you may want to add $100 and purchase a 256GB Crucial MX100 SSD.

Thanks I already have a 256GB Samsung 840 that I bought on sale a long time ago. I'll probably replace some of my storage hard drives though soon. I have 4 Drives but I want to switch to 2 storage drives in RAID-1 for back ups.

 

[ssnyder28]

And it's still a good chunk of change to put down on obsolete tech. But yeah, most people don't need 6 cores. Hell, most people still don't need even 4 cores. Single-threaded performance is FAR more important in almost all workloads.. Multiple cores are just a workaround for when you hit frequency/power limitations on single-threaded performance. Though they can be better for highly parallel data processing to reduce context switches.

I definitely wouldn't advise that plan, at least for most workloads.

Not really, a X5650 can be bought for $70 and the 930 can be sold for $30-$40 so it would be a very cheap upgrade. It can be OC'd to 3.6-4.0ghz pretty easily and wouldn't require an overly expensive cpu cooler (plus some can get in the 4.4ghz range). Also many including myself noticed an overall system speed increase with the xeons. Its a upgrade worth considering if you don't want to spend hundreds on overhauling your system.

 

[GonzoP]

I have a gigabyte x58A-UD3R motherboard and some OCZ3G1600LV2G (3x2GB sticks) RAM which runs at 1.5v at DDR3-1066 but not sure about higher speeds. I was going to upgrade the cooler later on and overclock. I had the i930 overclocked to around 3.3ghz on the stock cooler but I think it crashed or something after awhile and went back to default. I had no real reason to overclock(mostly played Dota2) so I just left it.


Thanks I already have a 256GB Samsung 840 that I bought on sale a long time ago. I'll probably replace some of my storage hard drives though soon. I have 4 Drives but I want to switch to 2 storage drives in RAID-1 for back ups.

Not really, a X5650 can be bought for $70 and the 930 can be sold for $30-$40 so it would be a very cheap upgrade. It can be OC'd to 3.6-4.0ghz pretty easily and wouldn't require an overly expensive cpu cooler (plus some can get in the 4.4ghz range). Also many including myself noticed an overall system speed increase with the xeons. Its a upgrade worth considering if you don't want to spend hundreds on overhauling your system.

Consider the mobo Jospeh has and if he's relatively satisfied where he is at but wants a tangible upgrade on the cheap then the Xeon 5650 is a slam dunk decision. If his i7 is stock and he spends say $30 on the 212Evo to improve upon stock cooling and then mates that to a Xeon 5650 for $70 for $100 total investment he will be significantly outperforming his previous set up.
That gigabyte mobo is one of the better OC'ers out there. The Xeon has been proven to easily hit 4Ghz on stock/default voltage. After that the limit of you OC is often just down to your cooler and how much voltage you're willing to pump.

Myself I spent the $70 on the Xeon and mine runs at 4.4Ghz as my daily driver speed. With an existing x58 mobo its almost a crime not to make the upgrade. A 4.4Ghz I beat out a stock 4770k or stock 3930k in almost everthing. Now yes of course those cpu's can be OC'd as well and re-take the performance lead. But what would it cost for me to get a 4770k or 3930k and a new mobo? About 7-10x more than I paid for my xeon.

Again, its not about being best in class but its a move for little money that keep your performance at more than adequate levels for the near future

 

[fanboy]

I run the Antec Kuhler 620 cooler and added an extra fan for push pull set up and with the Xeon X5660 running at 3.8Ghz my low temps is 31/26/29/31/28/26 and the highest I have seen under benchmarking is maybe a core reached 50c in a room temp of 75F..

The Xeons are a very good upgrade and close the gap to current line.. the thing you need to remember is that the socket 1366 will still play any game and the higher the 56XX at the end means faster base clock.. I was going to do a Haswell upgrade myself till I find out about the Xeons and if already own the board then as said the X5650 can be had for $70 used and my 3.8Ghz is with HT on and Turbo with 1.2v stock voltage .

 

[GonzoP]

I run the Antec Kuhler 620 cooler and added an extra fan for push pull set up and with the Xeon X5660 running at 3.8Ghz my low temps is 31/26/29/31/28/26 and the highest I have seen under benchmarking is maybe a core reached 50c in a room temp of 75F..

The Xeons are a very good upgrade and close the gap to current line.. the thing you need to remember is that the socket 1366 will still play any game and the higher the 56XX at the end means faster base clock.. I was going to do a Haswell upgrade myself till I find out about the Xeons and if already own the board then as said the X5650 can be had for $70 used and my 3.8Ghz is with HT on and Turbo with 1.2v stock voltage .

Exactly. Just check out the thread in this very sub forum that has so much activity the past month. Its the x58 xeon club thread. Like fanboy and countless others I was looking to move off my x58-i7 combo. When I found out I could keep my ram, keep my mobo and get the xeon for $70 I was immediately sold. Again we're now in the ballpark with anyone's Quad Haswell set up for literally pennies on the dollar. Plus all that money we would have spent on a semi decent Haswell system can just go into our respective SkyLake system builds where we'll see a true leap in performance as opposed to a medium step

 

[Jospeh]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll think about what to do. I don't really need to do anything immediately.

Maybe I'll try to sell the motherboard on ebay or something.
Maybe I'll just go for the Xeon.

I have a Microcenter nearby. If I can fetch maybe 200$ total for the motherboard+cpu sale I can upgrade to the i5-4690K for about 100$ (motherboard+CPU) or the i7-4790K for about 170-200$ (motherboard+CPU).

 

[chizzle2]

Oddly enough I was in the same boat. I had an i7-930 that I had been running for something like 3 years along with a GTX580 card. I had another post somewhere asking for advice because I was torn between upgrading now or waiting for new stuff. I work on my machine so I have a couple VM's running at any given time for VPN access to clients and I'm also a big gamer. I have a backlog of crap I couldn't play because the performance wasn't there.

I ended up biting the bullet and upgraded to a 4790K, Asus board, 16g ram, and a 780ti. I agree with zacrobmer, the difference was immediately noticeable. I didn't OC my 930 so it was even more of an improvement than he probably saw. Regardless, I'm very happy with the performance I'm getting now and I doubt I'll have to upgrade anything for another 3 years - and then maybe just the GPU.

 

[GonzoP]

Oddly enough I was in the same boat. I had an i7-930 that I had been running for something like 3 years along with a GTX580 card. I had another post somewhere asking for advice because I was torn between upgrading now or waiting for new stuff. I work on my machine so I have a couple VM's running at any given time for VPN access to clients and I'm also a big gamer. I have a backlog of crap I couldn't play because the performance wasn't there.

I ended up biting the bullet and upgraded to a 4790K, Asus board, 16g ram, and a 780ti. I agree with zacrobmer, the difference was immediately noticeable. I didn't OC my 930 so it was even more of an improvement than he probably saw. Regardless, I'm very happy with the performance I'm getting now and I doubt I'll have to upgrade anything for another 3 years - and then maybe just the GPU.

See that's fine. Eventually everyone has to upgrade. As long as you're content with it that's all that matters

 

[Plinker]

I just made the switch from a i7 930 (@4.0Ghz) to a i7 4790k and the the improvement was immediately noticeable. I have not done any benchmarking, other then loading a few games, however I just did the build this weekend.

The cost for my build was quite a bit higher then mentioned above, as I bought a Asus Maximus vii Formula, new RAM and had to get a new WC block for the CPU, plus a few other bits and pieces of watercooling parts. I pretty much only kept my SSD's, Hdd and GTX680.

So I'm glad you mentioned this. I have a 920 currently and this is the exact upgrade I was planning on making. The Maximus Formula looks incredible, I'm just not entirely sold on the utililty gained from WC my mobo.

Thanks

 

[plugwash]

maybe looking to upgrade by the end of the year. I will probably need more processing power then.

How much more processing power?
Is the workload you expect to have by the end of the year limited to 4 or less active threads*? or can it scale to large numbers of active threads and cores?
What cards does the system have?
Do you think you will be satisfied with your current amount of ram or do you think you will need considerablly more? In particular do you see yourself needing more than 32GB in the forseable future?

Obviously the cheapest thing to do is just to overclock what you have.

Next up would be getting one of those hex-core xeons that are selling cheap on ebay. You will need to overclock it as the stock clocks suck. This will get you more cores but it probablly won't overclock much higher than what you already have, so only worthwhile if your workload can actually use 6 cores.

You could move to the current mainstream platform. You will get faster cores and it won't be horrifically expensive. You will get faster PCIe lanes but less of them which depending on what cards you have may or may not be an issue. You will get less memory channels which may be an issue if you end up needing large ammounts of ram. You should be able to keep everything except processor and motherboard. You might want to add an extra stick of ram to give you a balanced configuration.

You could move to the current high end platform but it's a generation behind current mainstream on core design and it's kinda expensive. On the plus side you can get 6 cores and they will be more modern than if you'd just put the old xeon in. You also get more ram channels and PCIe than your current system. You should be able to keep everything except processor and motherboard. You might want to add an extra stick of ram to use all four channels.

You could wait for haswell-e which will bring the latest core design to a high end platform. However it's likely to be expensive with an early adopter premium on the CPU and motherboard and the need to replace your ram with DDR4.

* Note: total threads != active threads. Lots of processes create a lot of threads but have most of them in a waiting state most of the time.