# Core i7 Bloomfield vs Sandy Bridge



## Kewl Munky

Which would perform best for gaming, a 3.2Ghz Bloomfield(1366) or a 3.4Ghz Sandy Bridge(1155)? I know the Sandy Bridge is .2Ghz faster and is the newer architecture, but it has less pins and so less throughput.

I've noticed that on average the 1155 socket boards have less PCI-E slots. I don't need four, but I would like three as I plan to eventually SLI and have a dedicated physx card, and, as far as the boards I've looked at, they only support dual channel RAM.


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## JaredC.

You might wanna look into the differences between the chipsets as well.


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## mihir

Kewl Munky said:


> Which would perform best for gaming, a 3.2Ghz Bloomfield(1366) or a 3.4Ghz Sandy Bridge(1155)? I know the Sandy Bridge is .2Ghz faster and is the newer architecture, but it has less pins and so less throughput.
> 
> I've noticed that on average the 1155 socket boards have less PCI-E slots. I don't need four, but I would like three as I plan to eventually SLI and have a dedicated physx card, and, as far as the boards I've looked at, they only support dual channel RAM.



Sandy Bridge
Get a Z68 chipset and you can easily get 3 PCIe slots on a Socket 1155.
How much are you looking to spend?


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## tech savvy

short answer:1155 socket 

long answer:1155 socket, because it is as you say "newer architecture" at 32nm it can be clocked higher than 1366 with less power and lower temps.Dont let the lower pin count fool you.

Edit:As Mihir said,get the Z68 chipset(motherboard) if you go with sandy bridge.


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## jonnyp11

actually surprised no body has pointed out the i5 2500k is best for gaming, no games in the near future can use more than the i5's 4 cores and 4 threads, making the extra 100 for the i7 wasted for gaming, and look up some benches like on anandtech or something for the 2600k v any of the others, it even beats the 1000 buck 980X in most of the apps, the only spots it loses in are the threaded ones and it still isn't by too much really.


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## Kewl Munky

I'm kind of nervous on choosing a motherboard as every board has tons of complaints, and some people who are happy, though I suppose most who don't have issues don't bother to write a review.

I know this isn't the right section, but if I get the sandy bridge 2600k, what would be a good motherboard to go with it? I definitely want at least ATX sized, and I would like 3 PCI-E lanes, and I need a PCI lane to be accessible when all PCI-E slots are filled. The PCI card I have is just a sound card so it's not massive but the PCI-E cards I will be using will take up two slots.


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## jonnyp11

you didn't name a price so i just went for high end boards, both of these were rated well and all and both actually have x16 3.0 too, but the third on almost all chipsets including thse runs at x4, so it can be x16, x8/x8, or x8/x8/x4.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157263


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## Kewl Munky

Sorry, forgot price. I want to spend around $200 on a motherboard. I can combo that $234 ASRock one with the 2600k, but I won't be able to use the PCI lane when I have all the PCI-E slots in use unfortunately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.729119

The motherboard in this combo has the lane setup I need, but how much worse is the performance on it vs. that $234 ASRock one?


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## jonnyp11

z68 would be nicer but there will be no performance difference, z68 just has a few luxurious (unneeded) features that doesn't, and also as of late asus has been having some issues with customer support from what I've heard, but it should be ok, look for any gigabytes at that price i guess, and also i said this before, the 2500k and the 2600k perform exactly the same in gaming for a 100 buck difference, only fsx can use the i7's extra threading, and no other games will use the i7's threads for a good while.

actually i looked and that does seam to be the best deal for a mobo on there.


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## Kewl Munky

Well I'm upgrading to the new sockets finally so I want some futureproof so if an extra $100 now means I don't have to spend another $300 on another new CPU later works for me. I believe I can get a Gigabyte that I want too, thanks.


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## reddevil6

Intel change there socket as often as u change your cloths so i wouldn't hold your breath.


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## Kewl Munky

That's why they had 775 for multiple CPU generations? They are pulling an AMD this time around with the multiple new sockets though, but they haven't changed those since they've been out.


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## mihir

> That's why they had 775 for multiple CPU generations? They are pulling an AMD this time around with the multiple new sockets though, but they haven't changed those since they've been out.


I have to disagree, I find AMD more socket stable compared to Intel,Intel has been switching a lot lately after 775 - 1366 - 1156 - 1155/



jonnyp11 said:


> actually surprised no body has pointed out the i5 2500k is best for gaming


We were waiting for you to do the honors


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## jonnyp11

and also for the socket switching argument the new i7 ivy bridge cpus with the 22nm die meaning a great performance boost possiblility will be running on the lga1155 socket, only requiring a bios update, so this socket will last you a while, and really by the time you need something faster the ivies will be like 4-5 years old, the hardware advances way faster than the software in the field of gaming if you think about it.


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## Kewl Munky

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130597

Is this Motherboard any good, or should I just stick with that ASUS I posted earlier?


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## Intel_man

Wait for the Ivy Bridges to come out if you want future proofing.


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## Kewl Munky

Well if the i7 Sandy Bridge isn't even fully utilized yet it sounds future proof enough for me. If I wait for Ivy Bridge they soon will have another Architecture in the works, gotta buy sometime and I really don't wanna wait til Spring for my build.


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## Okedokey

Ivy bridge will drop straight into your 1155 setup anyway, so you are future proofed as much as you can be.


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## Kewl Munky

Well I read that Ivy Bridge is supposed to be a vast improvement so I think I will wait and see what price points it sits at.


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## Okedokey

At that resolution, nothing you can throw at it will bottleneck a SB.


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