New Intel processor

[Smooth Groove]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1574006

Anyone been reading on the new Sandy Bridge processor?  It looks to be one of the best bang for the buck processors ever.  All the reviews have said that the 2600K will easily reach 4.8 GHZ and it'll cost less than $300.  Motherboards are also cheaper than the X58 boards unless you want a board that supports advanced multi-GPU setups, which is unlikely for the people here. 

Microcenter is running some good deals, in case anyone is interested, make sure to only get the K models because everything else is basically unoverclockable. 

http://www.microcenter.com/storefronts/powerspec/index.html

[Akala]

all about it. we were going to get a laptop over the holidays, but now I'm making us wait. may even upgrade the desktop later. who knows.

[Joe Molotov]

I'm going to be at Mircocenter when it opens this Sunday.

[Pringo]

My PC's really starting to show its age and I'd like to upgrade to one of these in the near future. I'll probably hold off till I see what my employment situation is like in the summer. Also I might jump at one of the six or eight core processors that they're releasing later this year if they actually sell them for a reasonable price.

[MCD]

AMD Fusion looked better in MS CES Keynote.

[Smooth Groove]

My PC's really starting to show its age and I'd like to upgrade to one of these in the near future. I'll probably hold off till I see what my employment situation is like in the summer. Also I might jump at one of the six or eight core processors that they're releasing later this year if they actually sell them for a reasonable price.

Although I'm tempted, I'll probably wait too since even a 4.5-4.8 ghz Sandy Bridge won't outperform my i7 4.1 ghz too much in gaming performances.  The 6 core or 8 core processors will probably show a more noticeable difference in every day use.  Also, it's too much of a hassle to reinstall Windows now that I've finally installed most of my games and apps and everything is working perfectly.  I've also recently purchased 3 x 4 gbs of DDR3 2000, and the P67 being a dual channel chipset would make me have to find another 4gb stick and 4 sticks generally aren't as stable as 3. 

AMD Fusion looked better in MS CES Keynote.

Doubt it.  AMD has been behind in gaming performance for almost half a decade now.

[Joe Molotov]

AMD Fusion looked better in MS CES Keynote.

I'll be excited about a Fusion chip when they release one that can rival high-end discreet GPU performance.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

AMD Fusion looked better in MS CES Keynote.

I'll be excited about a Fusion chip when they release one that can rival high-end discreet GPU performance.

AMD Fusion looks better for HTPC nettops

Sandy Bridge is probably a better desktop solution

lol, like anyone would buy a desktop in 2011

[Smooth Groove]

Hitler Stole My Potato just bought a $3000 Alienware desktop and I'm not giving up yet. 

8 cores at 5 ghz in 2011! 

[Eel O'Brian]

i'm gonna sli another gtx 460 and add some more ram and just call it a day for the next few years

[Phoenix Dark]

I definitely need a new processor soon. New shit being released just means old shit becomes less expensive

[Smooth Groove]

i'm gonna sli another gtx 460 and add some more ram and just call it a day for the next few years

The 2nd 460 will give you a huge boost in performance or IQ.  You can also just run it as a dedicated PhysX card for games that require more resources for PhysX than graphics. 

Don't believe the misinformation about multi-GPU configs from GAF posers like Brain Stew and Dark10x.  They've never had first hand experience themselves and based all their opinions on hearsay.

Crossfire still is not very reliable but SLI is solid 99% of the time.  You would definitely see a real world performance boost, not just in Fraps.  Metro, for example, is almost unplayable in certain sections with max settings unless I use a 2nd card.  If the GAF fud were true, then those laggy sections would be just as bad even with SLI. 

Bottomline, in terms of PC gaming, GAF is good for budget gaming advice and little else.  Go to Guru3d, Hardforum, EVGA.com, etc for enthusiasts who really know WTF they're talking about. 

[Eel O'Brian]

cool, thanks for the info!

[Smooth Groove]

The only "bug" I've encountered every now and then, is there might be tearing, like when Vsync is disabled even though it's actually turned on.  All you have to do is to disable SLI in the control panel and then turn it back on.  It's not a big deal and might not even happen on your setup. 

[Joe Molotov]

OMG I have the i7-2600k and a MSI P67-GD65, going to put it together right now OH WAIT NEWEGG CANCELED THE ORDER WITH MY VIDEOCARD AND RAM ON IT FOR NO FREAKING REASON WHATSOEVER AND FORCED ME TO REORDER AND NOW THEY WON'T GET HERE UNTIL WEDNESDAY FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Smooth Groove]

Sorry you don't get to enjoy your awesome 4.8 GHZ processor today.  Are you sure it's not a credit card problem?  Everytime there's a new hot piece of hardware launching, there are always people complaining on PC forums about their CC companies rejecting their Newegg purchases because they were bigger than usual.  The best way to go around this is to just create a Newegg preferred account. 

Were there a lot of people at Microcenter?

[Joe Molotov]

Actually, what happened with Newegg was that they said they had the stuff in stock, then went out of stock right after I ordered, then canceled my order because according to them they cancel orders on stock they can't guarantee they will have within two days, then got new stock in the very next day. It's not really their fault, but still, a bit annoying.

There were about 25-30 people at Microcenter when it opened this morning, but according to the manager they had over 150 web orders at the store since midnight. I woke up in the middle of the night, put in my web order for in-store pickup and then went back to sleep, but apparently some people weren't as savvy and thought they could just show up and get a CPU. Well it turns out they didn't have enough of the more popular chips (the 2500k and 2600k) and some people were getting pretty hot about it. We decided to leave before we got attacked.

[Corporal]

You did do a little song and dance when you received the goods, though, .... right?

I am thoroughly envious. I want. So much.

[chronovore]

You did do a little song and dance when you received the goods, though, .... right?

I am thoroughly envious. I want. So much.

Yeah, I think I'd pass on that if people were getting rankled, but if I was driving the General Lee, I'd honk my Dixie horn and then hit a jump on my way out of the parking lot.

[Joe Molotov]

Now with the power of an i7-2600k and Geforce GTX 570, I can finally play Saints Row 2 PC at a whopping 40fps (roughly the same framerate I get in Crysis with everything maxed out at 8X AA and 16X AF)

Volition