upgrading 940 to 970

[zero4o3]

well, i probably missed it because you didn't mention that anywhere in your post

in that case, i would've probably gone for that too then. i would still upgrade the board, but that's because i just don't like intel boards.

Ah well I sure thought about talking about pricing and why I planned to do the upgrade. I must have got distracted while I was posting the orignal question. Tha being said I may just list the 940 for sell with the MB and see if I cant sell it for enough to cover the cost of a new MB

now to take a look through patonb's thread about MB selection which was what my 2nd question would have been.

 

[Slaymate]

I wouldn't spend the money on a 970, it's just not worth the price. Intel handicapped it with a 24 multiplier which means you have to push the BCLK higher to compete with the 980. And that's just not going to happen, with six cores the BCLK won't go as high as your 940 will. The 970 should be priced in the $500-600 range, they should have a 980 with a locked multiplier in the $700-800 range and then the 980X at $900-1000.

If I was you, I'd keep the 940 and buy a Top-Tier Motherboard, Super-Fast Memory and a Noctua NH-D14.

 

[zero4o3]

I wouldn't spend the money on a 970, it's just not worth the price. Intel handicapped it with a 24 multiplier which means you have to push the BCLK higher to compete with the 980. And that's just not going to happen, with six cores the BCLK won't go as high as your 940 will. The 970 should be priced in the $500-600 range, they should have a 980 with a locked multiplier in the $700-800 range and then the 980X at $900-1000.

If I was you, I'd keep the 940 and buy a Top-Tier Motherboard, Super-Fast Memory and a Noctua NH-D14.

so at 200 dollars you don't think its worth the money to upgrade? I have a nice air cooler on my current setup, the only thing I would really think about replacing along with the CPU would be the MB and I have not even really had a problem with the current MB it just does not support usb 3.0 and if in the future I for some reason needed more ram, not that I see that as being an issue.

 

[Slaymate]

What cooler do you have?

With a "good" motherboard and some super fast memory and a good cooler I'm positive I could run a 940 at 4.2 GHz or higher. A 6-core 970 sounds cool but there isn't a practical reason for it. Most games and applications are only using 4 cores or less most of the time. (4) really fast cores are going to perform better than (6) slower ones in most scenarios unless your just going to benchmark for numbers.

 

[Black Falcon 921]

Hey, I thought I would join in on this thread. Your talking about the Intel Edge Program! @ $215.00 the 970 is well worth the money. The 970 is a little bit of overkill at the moment but for the price you can't say no. I will also be picking up a 970 through the big deal as well. As far as the board I would upgrade the motherboard to a little bit newer board, USB 3.0 support, SATA 6, more overclocking features. I am not a big intel board fan myself.

 

[zero4o3]

What cooler do you have?

With a "good" motherboard and some super fast memory and a good cooler I'm positive I could run a 940 at 4.2 GHz or higher. A 6-core 970 sounds cool but there isn't a practical reason for it. Most games and applications are only using 4 cores or less most of the time. (4) really fast cores are going to perform better than (6) slower ones in most scenarios unless your just going to benchmark for numbers.

I have the megahalems with 2 fans set up to push/pull towards the back of the case at 3.9 I run cooler then stock settings with the stock fan, that being said I am using the OZC gold memory and fairly confident I could push it up to 4.2, just have notI agree with you 4 fast cores are better then 6 slower cores for playing games. if I change my mind, I imagine I can probably sell the 970 for more then I paid for it anyway.

I realize the megahalems may not be the best air cooler out at the moment, but I think you will probably agree that seeing how I got it for free, I dont think its worth the money to upgrade the cooler. I wouldnt mind one of those copper true 120's like you have though

 

[Slaymate]

The Prolimatech Megahalems is a fine cooler. The base of it is fairly flat but you can always lap it for a few more degrees of coolness.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/heatsink-lapping-guide-226442/

 

[Druid]

Hey, I thought I would join in on this thread. Your talking about the Intel Edge Program! @ $215.00 the 970 is well worth the money. The 970 is a little bit of overkill at the moment but for the price you can't say no. I will also be picking up a 970 through the big deal as well. As far as the board I would upgrade the motherboard to a little bit newer board, USB 3.0 support, SATA 6, more overclocking features. I am not a big intel board fan myself.

Yeah, I wish I worked at bestbuy or something, so I could take advantage of this. My 920 is more than I'll need for anything for a few years though, so I would just buy it and sell it. Then I would be able to get something better for the same money later.