VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

Welcome to the Vault Network forum archive.

This is not a complete archive, time didn't allot us the opportunity to properly backup the majority of the boards deemed "expendable". Most boards on this list have at least 20-40 pages archived (non-logged in pages, 15 topics per page).

Popular boards may have as many as 250 pages archived at 50 topics per page, while others deemed of historical signifigance may be archived in their entirety.

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Topic: Sandy Bridge-E and X79

Ravynmagi Title: Moderator Posts: 29,978 Registered: Dec 23, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 29,452 User ID: 572,278	Subject: Sandy Bridge-E and X79
	http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/lga-2011-idf.html Sandy Bridge-E with LGA 2011 X79 motherboards should be arriving by mid November. SANDY BRIDGE-E Sandy Bridge-E is the same architecture as Sandy Bridge. But with a few changes. * No GPU core * Larger L3 cache, up to 15MB * Quad channel memory X79 CHIPSET The X79 chipset does not add anything new, but gives more PCI-E lanes and SATA 3.0 ports. * 2x16 or 4x8 PCI-E graphics lanes * Up to 6 SATA 3.0 ports and 10 SATA ports total * Up to 14 USB 2.0 (no USB 3.0 ) With the X79's plentiful PCI-E lanes motherboard makers can add on third party USB 3.0 controllers and definitely will. Intel says they will support PCI-E 3.0, but it hasn't been certified yet. PROCESSORS Core i7-3820, 3.6 to 3.9GHz, 4 cores, 10MB cache, $300 Core i7-3930K, 3.2 to 3.8GHz, 6 cores, 12MB cache, $600 Core i7-3960X, 3.3 to 3.9Ghz, 6 cores, 15MB cache, $1,000 Price information is unconfirmed and could change. OVERCLOCKING LGA1155 locked down most overclocking methods. You pretty much needed a "K" series unlocked CPU and could only change the CPU multiplier to overclock. LGA2011 brings back more overclocking options. Reference BCLK (formerly FSB) x CPU multiplier = CPU speed. Before LGA1155 an overclocker would raise the BLCK or FSB to increase the CPU speed. It had to be this way because most Intel CPU's have a locked multpilier (can be lowered, but not raised). LGA1155 however ended this because the BCLK was locked in with the PEG and DMI clocks. So raising the BCLK also raised the other two and even a 5% increase would make the system unstable. LGA2011 gives us a new variable for overclocking, the BCLK ratio. Now the overclocking formula is Ref BCLK x BCLK ratio x CPU multiplier = CPU speed. You can tweak the BCLK a little bit, but you still don't want to change it much, instead you'll use a BCLK ratio to overclock with. There are only three choices though. 1.0, 1.25, and 1.67. A Core i7-3820, using a 36x CPU multiplier, 100MHz BLCK, with a 3.6GHz base speed. Could be overclocked in the following ways. 100 BCLK x 1.25 BLCK ratio x 36 CPU multiplier = 4.5GHz 100 BCLK x 1.67 BLCK ratio x 36 CPU multiplier = 6GHz, not likely. Okay, 6GHz overclock not gonna happen of course, but since all processors have a CPU multiplier that can be lowered... 100 BLCK x 1.67 BLCK ratio x 29 CPU multiplier = 4.84GHz, a bit more plausible. You could tweak the BLCK down a little bit and probably be good. 95 BLCK x 1.67 BCLK ratio x 30 CPU multiplier = 4.76GHz as another example There are still some limitations, but you can still do a lot more with a CPU multiplier locked CPU now than you could before. COOLING The processors are rated at 130 watts (Sandy Bridge is 95 watts or lower). And Intel will not include a stock cooler with these processors. Instead they will sell an optional Asetek made/Intel rebranded all in one water cooling system. It'll be just like a Corsair H70 (also made by Asetek). But the CPUs can also be cooled by a third party heatsink and fan too as most are just fine with 130 watt CPUs. MOTHERBOARDS & MEMORY Xbit's article shows off a few motherboards from Gigabyte and MSI. Most featuring 8 memory slots, some with 4 memory slots (4 channels, 1 bank). Gigabyte seems ready to introduce motherboards for a variety of price ranges from what is no doubt doing to be a very expensive UD7 to what I assume should be an affordable (for X79 anyway) UD3 board. Kingston will have a 64GB memory kit available using eight 8GB sticks. This probably won't be called "affordable". CONCLUSION Looking pretty exciting. this is no doubt overkill for most gamers and they really may not need to upgrade their LGA1155 systems for it. But if you like excess, or just need a lot of PCI-E lanes for multiple graphics cards, RAID controllers, etc., then this might be something for you. I'm still rocking away on my Q9550 CPU with a Gigabyte P45 board and skipped over Sandy Bridge. Still not sure if I'm going to go with this upgrade or not. I posted an another thread about Lucid Virtu technology and it requires an integrated GPU to work with your discrete graphics. And Sandy Bridge-E doesn't have a grahpics core, so won't be compatible with Virtu. Ivy Bridge coming early 2012 will be mostly a CPU die shrink of Sand Bridge-E, but will also include a graphics core that is suppose to be significantly more powerful than what is in Sandy Bridge. So maybe I might try to hold out another half year longer for that. Still don't think my CPU/motherboard is hurting me too much since it's overclocked to 4GHz. -----signature----- (none)
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_Taebo_ Posts: 18,672 Registered: Feb 28, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 18,201 User ID: 70,868	Subject: Sandy Bridge-E and X79
	Looks nice and I agree, it's a good upgrade path for those with LGA 775 sockets that skipped the last two i7's. -----signature----- May the best MMORPG win. VNBoards: Where user speculation and opinion are always facts.
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Rezist Posts: ???? Registered: ???? Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 0 User ID: 0	Subject: Sandy Bridge-E and X79
	Sounds like an expensive platform. I would say wait for Ivy bridge but we all know Intel will release dual core and hex cores first on 22nm and avoid quad cores so they can milk 32nm longer. It makes sense but 99% of people will just want a lower power and more powerful quad core. -----signature-----
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