Intel Core i7 3820 Review: $285 Quad-Core Sandy Bridge E

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• murray13 - Saturday, December 31, 2011 - link

  But the rub is, IF your looking at building a system soon, what's the advantage of buying SB over SB-E, other than saving $ on the mb and maybe ram?
  
  I've spec'd out systems both ways and they're within 10% of each other (when the 3820's out).
  
  What your saying is that applications won't take advantage of the new hardware even in 3-4 years, they said that 3-4 years ago, too. Today, some are starting to take advantage.
  
  I'm running a 4 year old Intel system that would probably wax the floor with yours and it IS time for me to upgrade...lol.

• vol7ron - Sunday, January 1, 2012 - link

  this looks interesting but won't ivy bridge be out around the same time?

• Denithor - Monday, January 2, 2012 - link

  The one advantage SB-E offers over IB is more RAM. At max IB will offer 4x8GB or 32GB (and expensive, those 8GB sticks aren't cheap) while SB-E with its 8 slots will hold up to 8x8GB or 64GB.

• soultraveler - Monday, January 2, 2012 - link

  Just wondering if i should just upgrade my 920 cpu and stay on the 1366 platform now seeing as gaming performance hasn't changed much in the past few years. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

• DarkStryke - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link

  Save your money till Ivybridge. SB-E is a waste of money, and a heavily neutered platform chipset currently (x79 was promised with much more then the garbage it ended up being rolled out as).

• dj christian - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

  Why isn't this diss board connected to the forums? I can't keep track off my posts or replies.

• binqq - Friday, January 6, 2012 - link

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• Artifex28 - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link

  I am a digital composer and hardcore gamer.
  
  My current E6750 @ 3.2GHz has certainly outlived itself and I am looking to upgrade my setup soon.
  
  For gaming purposes, I suppose 3820 would be enough. But I am not sure about the digital composing (DAWs, mixing, sample libraries etc). I am aiming for 24-32GB RAM opposed to the 8 GB I got now. Any thoughts if I should wait for Ivy Bridges or not?
  
  www.soundcloud.com/Artifex28

• Denithor - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link

  IB probably worth the wait. You will be able to use either 4x8GB (32GB) or 2x8GB + 2x4GB (24GB) with IB. Throw in a nice low power quad and you'll be loving it.
  
  SBE would save you like $100-150 because you could go with 8x4GB (32GB). Or you could hit 64GB if you really needed that much RAM.

• Artifex28 - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link

  Thanks Denithor.
  
  One more vote for waiting! :)