So I’m looking to buy a new desktop primarily for photo processing and editing. I’m a novice at most computer stuff. How much of a difference will the “new” sandy bridge processors make over the current Dell studio xps 9100 offering for 999 (that includes Intel® Core™i7-930 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 2.80GHz)) that is going on this weekend? Am I correct in understanding that the current offering is not the Sandy Bridge architecture since there was some non-understandable issue and that it wont be resolved until April?
I really dont know how much or what kind of improvement that is supposed to make, but I figure if I’m going to buy a machine I might as well get something good.
Building a unit myself is not an option. 1k-1500 is the price range.
The big deal about the Sandy Bridge chips wasn’t the massive improvement in performance that they offered, but rather their incredible value. The i7 2600 basically offers $1000 980X performance for only $300. The i5 2500 offers $300 i7 950 performance for $200. The unlocked multipliers of the K-branded chips is also fantastic, but that won’t come into play for an OEM machine (probably). If you’re getting a good deal on an 1366 i7 machine, Sandy Bridge isn’t going to do much for you.
The problem with the cougar point chipset is already resolved and I know that boards should be returning to retail in early March. No idea when OEMs will receive their chips, but I’m pretty sure they already have solutions in place since some Sandy Bridge machines have been released recently, like the new Apple notebooks.
A problem with the new Sandy Bridge chips is how to refer to them, since they usually aren’t actually labeled “Sandy Bridge.” The Sandy Bridge chips and the older non-Sandy Bridge chips are both officially called Core i5 or Core i7. The Core i3 Sandy Bridge series is only weeks away.
One way is that they use different “sockets,” which is the pattern of the CPU’s connection to the motherboard. The older non-Sandy Bridge i7 CPUs used a socket called LGA 1366 (or 1156) and the new Sandy Bridge CPUs use a socket called LGA 1155. By “1366 i7 Machine” I meant a machine using the older model of Core i7, like the i7 930 in the Dell machine you’re looking at.
The i7 2600 is a specific model number for a Sandy Bridge CPU. The same goes for an i5 2500. All Sandy Bridge chips use model numbers in the form of 2xxx. The older stuff uses a variety of numbers, but never 2xxx. That’s another way to differentiate them.
A third way is to use the chipset model, but that’s the most complicated way since everything has multiple chipsets, so no one does it.
The simple version of my first post is that it isn’t worth waiting for a Sandy Bridge chip if you can get a good enough deal on an i7 9xx. I don’t know what Sandy Bridge machines cost from OEMs, so quantifying a “good deal” is tough. If you can get an i7 9xx machine for the price of an i5 7xx machine, that’s definitely enough of a deal. Here is a good listing of how everything compares in Photoshop.
What do you mean by “1366 i7 machine” Specifically the 1366 part and the 2600 part.