Difference in performance CPU; i7 920 vs 4820K. Worth it?


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I am wondering if a new CPU does make a huge difference performance-wise on my rig?

(the newer CPUs are more energy efficient though)

I guess not in dailiy uage like Internet, office applications, but what about gaming performance in e.g. Watch Dogs?

Or will the "lack of CPU power" be compensated by my GPU, amount of RAM and faste(er) HDD/SSD?

And is it worth the amount of ? spending on a new mobo, CPU, RAM?

I currently have a Core i7 920 stock speed at 2.67 GHz

If I'd get a new CPU I'm thinking Intel Core i7 4820K 3.70 GHz.

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I don't think you will see a huge performance boost in games, but sure there will be a difference because of 1Ghz increment.

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What's the specs for the rest of the computer?

 

Chances are that a processor upgrade won't matter all that match since Intel processors have only been incrementally faster ever generation since the first Core i7.

 

My advise at this point is to go buy a good GPU if you don't already have one.  (I have two computers with Intel Core i7 920 processors and both are still running great.)

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What's the specs for the rest of the computer?

 

Chances are that a processor upgrade won't matter all that match since Intel processors have only been incrementally faster ever generation since the first Core i7.

 

My advise at this point is to go buy a good GPU if you don't already have one.  (I have two computers with Intel Core i7 920 processors and both are still running great.)

 

I have no issues with my CPU up until this point. Just curious about this question and if I should invest in a new CPU (plus extras like mobo, RAM etc)

 

Specs are in signature, but I'll put them here anyhow ;)

 

Asus P6X58D Premium

Intel Core i7 920

MSI nVidia GTX 760 GAMING

20 GB RAM (Corsair Vengeance 5x4 GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1600 MHz)

Asus Xonar D2/PM

Intel 520 SSD 120GB (OS installed) - OCZ 60GB Vertex Turbo SSD - Western Digital 150 GB SATA300 16MB Raptor - some other HDD's

Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

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I don't think you will see a huge performance boost in games, but sure there will be a difference because of 1Ghz increment.

The 1GHz wont matter,  if that was a lage factor - than OCing would bring a big performance boost to gaming - which it doesnt.

 

I have no issues with my CPU up until this point. Just curious about this question and if I should invest in a new CPU (plus extras like mobo, RAM etc)

 

Specs are in signature, but I'll put them here anyhow ;)

 

Asus P6X58D Premium

Intel Core i7 920

MSI nVidia GTX 760 GAMING

20 GB RAM (Corsair Vengeance 5x4 GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1600 MHz)

Asus Xonar D2/PM

Intel 520 SSD 120GB (OS installed) - OCZ 60GB Vertex Turbo SSD - Western Digital 150 GB SATA300 16MB Raptor - some other HDD's

Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

You have the same mobo as me, and I used to have the 920 (now a 950)

I can tell you the only real difference you might see is in some synthetic benchmark with no real world value.  Except for maybe some HD streaming as that uses all cores pretty hard.  When I went to the 950 from the 920 - it made no difference and I have the 950 clocked @ 4GHz

What do you do where you need 20GB RAM ?  If nothing, maybe unloading 1/2 of that and selling it will leverage the costs of other upgrades ?

You will see a  bigger improvement in performance from a clean OS install than a CPU upgrade -- at least, I think :/

You can run some tests against your laptop since that has a new CPU - it will take some tweaking to get a somewhat level playing field - but you do have access to a similar CPU .

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Thx for the post T3X4S.

 

So I guess I'll stick to my current system with no CPU upgrade and alike.

Like I said, I don't suffer from lags and performance issues currently. I just was curious as how the newer CPUs are performing.

However, when it comes to gaming a decent GPU is more important nowadays than a fast(er) CPU.

 

What do I need 20 GB for? I used to have 6x 2GB and than I got a new CPU coller which is quite large. I had to remove one DIMM and found that my system was a little slow and RAM was used very much. So I bought 6x 4GB (and have not plugged in one DIMM)

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I think upgrading from a 920 to something like the 4770K will feel quite different.  Overall the system will feel a little more snappy and whilst you may not notice a jump in max frame rates you will see the minimum increase making games feel smoother.  Down the line perhaps when Maxwell or the equivalent AMD cards are released you can upgrade you GPU and will be in a good position to take advantage of the extra performance they will offer.

 

 

920 vs. 3770K (Has a few game comparisons)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/47?vs=551

 

920 vs. 4770K

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/47?vs=836

 

With that said Intel are set to release their next processor at the end of the year, early 2015 which will be based on a new architecture and will probably increase performance by another 10% (pure guess).

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Wait for Broadwell (i think its called), a guy i know at work reckons itll bring a 30% performance boost over current chips so wait for that but the weakest part of ya system is the gfx card by far

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When I upgrade I'll wait for Broadwell.

And my GPU is not even 1 year old and is 'already the weakest' part already :wacko:

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Wait for Broadwell (i think its called), a guy i know at work reckons itll bring a 30% performance boost over current chips so wait for that but the weakest part of ya system is the gfx card by far

There's absolutely no way Broadwell will bring anywhere near 30% performance improvement except perhaps in very power-constrained scenarios i.e. low-end mobile parts. Desktop parts should see +4-5% if previous releases (Haswell, Ivy Bridge) are of any indication.

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There's absolutely no way Broadwell will bring anywhere near 30% performance improvement except perhaps in very power-constrained scenarios i.e. low-end mobile parts. Desktop parts should see +4-5% if previous releases (Haswell, Ivy Bridge) are of any indication.

 

never know, it could bring more instructions per clock boosting ouput

When I upgrade I'll wait for Broadwell.

And my GPU is not even 1 year old and is 'already the weakest' part already :wacko:

 

Tbh it wasnt good to start with, well spose it was fine for the old games but not for these newer game engines and game like watchdogs and project cars etc. need more power!!! the 20nm should of bin out soon with the new GPU architectures but got wait till abut 2015 now

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The 1GHz wont matter,  if that was a lage factor - than OCing would bring a big performance boost to gaming - which it doesnt.

 

You have the same mobo as me, and I used to have the 920 (now a 950)

I can tell you the only real difference you might see is in some synthetic benchmark with no real world value.  Except for maybe some HD streaming as that uses all cores pretty hard.  When I went to the 950 from the 920 - it made no difference and I have the 950 clocked @ 4GHz

What do you do where you need 20GB RAM ?  If nothing, maybe unloading 1/2 of that and selling it will leverage the costs of other upgrades ?

You will see a  bigger improvement in performance from a clean OS install than a CPU upgrade -- at least, I think :/

You can run some tests against your laptop since that has a new CPU - it will take some tweaking to get a somewhat level playing field - but you do have access to a similar CPU .

 

I disagree.  Anytime I unzip something  I see a difference.  1st gen Core i vs 4th gen Core i is big difference.  Opening large PDF's etc also quicker.  However using the 4820 is a waste of the 2011 platform.  If you are getting a low end 2011 you are better off with a 4770k or 4790k imo.  When you get to the bigger 49xx series then it makes a difference with the extra cores but only for certain applications/uses.

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Why not put the 6th ram card in without out it you are missing out on Triple channel performance, though small it could be 10-20fps on your games

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Hello,

 

I went from an i7-920 to an i7-950 (Socket 1366, ASUS P6T Deluxe V1 motherboard, 24GB RAM) to an i7-4820K (Socket 2011, ASUS P9X79 PRO, 32GB RAM) and noticed quite a few improvements, although not necessarily for the reasons one might think.

 

Boot time:  Went from ~25-30 seconds to ~10-12 seconds.  Mostly because of the decrease in SATA and SAS controllers (went from four in the P6T Deluxe V1 to two in the P9X79 Pro) and switch from SATA 2 (3Gb/s) to SATA 3 (6Gb/s) connections.

 

SSD operations:  Mostly noticeable on boot, but SATA 3 SSD in no longer bottlenecked by SATA 2 interface.

 

HDD operations:  Slightly improvement, as HDDs were on a SATA3 PCIe card before, and directly attached.

 

VMs:  I sometimes do some work in VMs that is kind of like benchmarking (e.g., trying to perform some operations as quickly as possible).  I can run more VMs simultaneously, and have them finish more quickly than before. 

 

Firmware:  The ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard operated in BIOS mode (or at least didn't appear to have any visibile UEFI functions), while the ASUS P9X79 PRO supports the UEFI 2.3.1 spec, which means I can make use of Secure Boot.

 

USB:  I now have USB 3.0 ports on board (ASMedia, though, not Intel) and no longer have to use a PCIe expansion card.

 

Anyways, hope that helps with your future plans.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

 

 

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I went from an i7 920 to a i5 4670K and I've been very happy with the upgrade.  The improvements in games are quite noticeable, though I also upgraded my mobo and graphics at the same time.

 

The 920 is ageing; if you can upgrade I'd recommend it.

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Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz: 5007 Intel Core i7-4820K @ 3.70GHz: 9892 Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.60GHz: 10258

So basically the last two are twice as fast as your current CPU.

Source: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+920+%40+2.67GHz http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4820K+%40+3.70GHz http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4790+%40+3.60GHz&id=2226. This benchmark website has been quite accurate in my own experience.

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Thx for all replies. I guess - since my computer is still running okay - to wait until 2015 and have the new lineup in Intel processors and the new GPU architectures.

And also, I can save some extra money for this new rig

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netsysllc, on 29 May 2014 - 04:21, said:

Why not put the 6th ram card in without out it you are missing out on Triple channel performance, though small it could be 10-20fps on your games

 

There is no space, because my CPU cooler is quite big.

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I've being thinking about the same sort of upgrade as you, got a 1st gen i7 860, but I've decided to wait for broadwell, even if when it arrives the performance isn't worth the price, current CPU's will get a chunk cheaper, so your either gonna save money or get a better CPU.

 

Also the latest I heard is that Intel will have it out for late 2014 (in time for holiday shopping, but not early enough for back to school), so you probably won't have to wait until 2015.

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I have no issues with my CPU up until this point. Just curious about this question and if I should invest in a new CPU (plus extras like mobo, RAM etc)

 

Specs are in signature, but I'll put them here anyhow ;)

 

Asus P6X58D Premium

Intel Core i7 920

MSI nVidia GTX 760 GAMING

20 GB RAM (Corsair Vengeance 5x4 GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1600 MHz)

Asus Xonar D2/PM

Intel 520 SSD 120GB (OS installed) - OCZ 60GB Vertex Turbo SSD - Western Digital 150 GB SATA300 16MB Raptor - some other HDD's

Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

Adding a second MSI nVidia GTX 760  and utilizing SLI will give greater gains in gaming than a CPU upgrade.

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I disagree.  Anytime I unzip something  I see a difference.  1st gen Core i vs 4th gen Core i is big difference.  Opening large PDF's etc also quicker.  However using the 4820 is a waste of the 2011 platform.  If you are getting a low end 2011 you are better off with a 4770k or 4790k imo.  When you get to the bigger 49xx series then it makes a difference with the extra cores but only for certain applications/uses.

aggh - you're right about that forgot about unzipping stuff - I stand corrected.  Even a week Core i5 will work better than my 950

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