Sandy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridg E - some help here?

Admin M@

Admin M@

Administrator
Fractal Audio Systems
Moderator
Hi All,

I am upgrading my DAW after a good 6 year run with the last HW platform.

I am weighing Sandy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridge E.

Sandy Bridge E offers better performance (a post on Gearslutz says as much as 40%) but with this comes additional cost (you guessed it... 40%)

The other thing I'm wondering about is whether the "E" has had enough time to be vetted as ideal for a DAW, or if these days, it's safe to jump in to something newer like this.

Any input or thoughts appreciated.
 
I would just go for a k if your going to overclock? and maybe the new z series mobo from asus rather than the p series
 
2600k or 2700k is my recommendation...2700k is just a bit faster than the 2600k..(and also more exp.)
 
Matt,

If you haven't upgraded in 6 years it will be like hopping out of the Chevy to choose the Ferrari or Lambo. :eek:

What motherboards are you considering?
 
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I just built a Hackintosh Logic DAW with a Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge and it FLIES! CPU barely breathes during recording. If I'm converting video it gets up there but transcodes about twice as fast as my DAW Q6600 build. The i7 2600k isn't that much faster compared to the price than the 2500k is. If you have a 64 bit environment with DAW software that can maximize the hyperthreading of the i7 then maybe...but for me...I decided to go with the i5 2500k. If you really want the "E" then wait until early next year when the price goes down. It's not worth it at today's prices IMO.
 
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ivy bridge will be a big jump, release april 2012.

edit: hmm... just reading some new test figures showing that the early versions of IB are not going to be that much better than SB -- apart from power consumption, if that matters to you.
 
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After reading the article that Scott posted, I decided on Sandy, not "E" -

LGA1155 Motherboard: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channel DDR3 TI firewire (Sandy Bridge)
Intel - Core i7 2700K Processor: 3.5GHz Quad 8 meg cache w/HT
16 GB DDR3 4G 1600 memory 1.65v 9-9-9-24

Another contributing factor: the "E" mobo had a VIA firewire chipset, and I'd rather stick with the known quantity of TI.

Thanks all. I will post pics when done.
 
Admin M@ said:
After reading the article that Scott posted, I decided on Sandy, not "E" -

LGA1155 Motherboard: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channel DDR3 TI firewire (Sandy Bridge)
Intel - Core i7 2700K Processor: 3.5GHz Quad 8 meg cache w/HT
16 GB DDR3 4G 1600 memory 1.65v 9-9-9-24

Another contributing factor: the "E" mobo had a VIA firewire chipset, and I'd rather stick with the known quantity of TI.

Thanks all. I will post pics when done.
Click to expand...



Would love it if you posted step by step photos...
 
Admin M@ said:
After reading the article that Scott posted, I decided on Sandy, not "E" -

LGA1155 Motherboard: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channel DDR3 TI firewire (Sandy Bridge)
Intel - Core i7 2700K Processor: 3.5GHz Quad 8 meg cache w/HT
16 GB DDR3 4G 1600 memory 1.65v 9-9-9-24

Another contributing factor: the "E" mobo had a VIA firewire chipset, and I'd rather stick with the known quantity of TI.

Thanks all. I will post pics when done.
Click to expand...
Cool. And very good call on the TI chipset; absolutely vital for me as well.

I remember when the I7 sibling Xenon for multi-CPU rigs came out, and people began considering them for DAWquencer rig use. Scott, Vin, etc all warned pretty sternly: complete and absolute overkill unless you are doing serious video + multitrack audio production (ie, post house). A few years out, and I still have not found a need to upgrade from my (now) measly i7 920 2nd gen :D Though I would love to double my 12G ram... and add a sweet stocked, multiple drive external SATA rack :geek :lol
 
Admin M@ said:
After reading the article that Scott posted, I decided on Sandy, not "E" -

LGA1155 Motherboard: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channel DDR3 TI firewire (Sandy Bridge)
Intel - Core i7 2700K Processor: 3.5GHz Quad 8 meg cache w/HT
16 GB DDR3 4G 1600 memory 1.65v 9-9-9-24

Another contributing factor: the "E" mobo had a VIA firewire chipset, and I'd rather stick with the known quantity of TI.

Thanks all. I will post pics when done.
Click to expand...

First thing i looked for when building my i7 930 machine. I have been down that slippery slope before. :(
 
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