Upgrade help

Okay im upgrading my Core 2 duo and was looking at the i7 or i5 and i do not know if i should get an lga 1156 or 1366. I also found out about Sandy Bridge, the new cpus coming out. Should i upgrade now or wait.

also i will be doing an sli setup down the road if that plays an affect on the upgrade.

 

It all depends on what apps you're planning to run and how much you're willing to shell out to increase processing speed.

If spending the bucks for an i7, I would lean towards a 1366 socket CPU and board. The triple channel memory support in the 1366 will make things faster on many newer apps plus the board will have six memory sockets (versus 4 sockets on an 1156 i7 or i5). Although you may never need 24GB (6x4GB), at least you'll have room to upgrade if needed.

If you want generic benchmarks, check out http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html#. Keep in mind, though, the actual speed gains will vary based on the game or software.

One of the better 1366 boards for the price is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=asus_1366_motherboard-_-13-131-665-_-Product. Asus also offers more expensive models; however this one has the basics at under $200.

Be sure you have a good power supply that will handle SLI. Although I do mainly graphics using a single video card, my extreme gaming friends who run SLI or Crossfire are sold on the Corsair single rail models. I'd get at least a 750 watt if you plan on using beefier video cards.

Finally, I'd go with a high airflow case such as the CoolerMaster HAF922. On a system like this, airflow and cooling are critical.

Hope this helps.