Which Socket

[strikermike]

It has been about 2 years since my last build. I was looking at some socket 1366 boards.
But now I see that there is a new socket for Intel processors, the 1156. Now my quandary
is which way to go. which socket will offer the longest upgrade path? 1366 or 1156?

 

[o1die]

Probably 1156. But prices posted on newegg this morning are high; about $550 for a p55 board and 1156 cpu. If I were building now, I'd go to microcenter or visit their website and see if they're offering the i7 920 for $199. Some of the i7 boards are cheaper than the p55 ones right now.

 

[latch]

You didn't provide a lot of details about what it is you use your computer for. Unless you are an extreme user, seems like the 1156 and accompanying i5 750 or i7 860 is the best value (assuming prices fall to where they are supposed to quickly).

The 1366 holds a few tangible advantages, which the latest anandtech review summarizes as:
1) High-end multi-GPU Performance
2) Stock Voltage Overclocking
3) Future support for 6-core Gulftown CPUs

Personally, I plan on getting a single DX11 card when they come out and I don't swap out CPUs, so the 1366 is pretty pointless.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

i5 and i7 8xx look very good because of the turbo mode, but require an earlier vcore increase adjustment for overclocking because of the PCIe on-die controller

 

[o1die]

Microcenter is offering the 860 i5 for $229 today (in stores only).

 

[Caveman]

The 1366 holds a few tangible advantages, which the latest anandtech review summarizes as:
1) High-end multi-GPU Performance
2) Stock Voltage Overclocking
3) Future support for 6-core Gulftown CPUs

Can someone explain these? I read them as follows... Please correct me if wrong... Thanks.

1) No SLI whatsoever?

2) Increase voltage to get higher overclock... I assume this is really only an issue on a stock air cooler?

3) So... There's no 32nm upgrade path?

 

[a123456]

1) P55 has support for SLI/Xfire but only x8/x8 while x58 can do x16/x16. The fewer lanes isn't that big of a deal for now but might get more significant later on as video cards get more powerful, from my understanding. 275s in SLI showed a little hit. 4870x2 CF showed a bigger hit.

2) If you don't mind the extra volts, the P55 seems to overclock just fine. Some people don't like the extra heat/power generated. AT got theirs up to 3.92-4.2 Ghz.

3) As of right now, there's no real 32nm quad core upgrade path (at least for Westmere) for the 1156 since Clarkdale is 2-core and Arrandale is mobile and Gulftown is for the 1366 only. Things might change in the future but that's the look for now.

Another benefit of the 1366 is the tri-channel memory, but very few people will max out the dual-channel.

Most people will be happy with the i5 but it depends on what you use your computer for and what your budget is.

 

[Caveman]

Goal is best bang for the buck... If I get 95% performance for 1/2 price then that's great...

Goal is 4.0 GHz O/C on water...

Would like a 32 nm upgrade path...

Don't see myself too worried about SLI performance... Thinking fastest single card solution avail. I'm a flight sim fanatic and there's too many complaints about SLI stuttering anyway...

Not sure if triple channel memory would help... I do now that 920 was the chip for me but if 860 just as fast, then why not.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Caveman
Goal is best bang for the buck... If I get 95% performance for 1/2 price then that's great...

I'm with you there, but at $199 plus tax the 920 was pretty attractive.

 

[bfdd]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: Caveman
Goal is best bang for the buck... If I get 95% performance for 1/2 price then that's great...

I'm with you there, but at $199 plus tax the 920 was pretty attractive.

I was in that boat. I'd like the path to the 6 or 8 core cpus and at 200 I'll get that now. I'm stuck deciding between a "budget" X58 like the ASRock Extreme or stepping up to a 250-300 motherboard. 170 though it's hard to beat the ASRock Extreme though.... and I can still get 2 x16 pci-e for sli.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: bfdd

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: Caveman
Goal is best bang for the buck... If I get 95% performance for 1/2 price then that's great...

I'm with you there, but at $199 plus tax the 920 was pretty attractive.

I was in that boat. I'd like the path to the 6 or 8 core cpus and at 200 I'll get that now. I'm stuck deciding between a "budget" X58 like the ASRock Extreme or stepping up to a 250-300 motherboard. 170 though it's hard to beat the ASRock Extreme though.... and I can still get 2 x16 pci-e for sli.

Microcenter has the Asus P6T or EVGA x58 for =< $250. The EVGA board is $220 IIRC, and I would have purchased it but it has no onboard PATA ports so you need all SATA drives. The Asus board is $240 IIRC.

Personally I'd go with the ~$250 range boards if you want to do any kind of OC'ing.