Just when I decide to upgrade, shit hits the fan

[Sedako]

I wanted to upgrade from a q6600 to the new i5 2500k. However, the new Intel p67 chipset, which sandy bridge compatible motherboards are based on, have a major hardware issue. The SATA 2 ports can die prematurely, and also quickly reduce the life of any hard drives plugged into them. Intel has recalled these boards, and the new ones will not be ready until late March at the soonest. Most suppliers have already removed these boards from their inventory as well.

 

[VirusType2]

Out of curiosity I read a few things about all of that. I haven't heard - and I'm not sure I believe - that it could reduce the life of hard drives, but instead only can cause a loss of connection in rare cases.

On January 31, 2011, Intel issued a recall on all P67 and H67 motherboards. The issue is hardware related and required a silicon fix, making rolling out a fix impossible. The issue affects SATA 3Gb/s ports, while not affecting the SATA 6Gb/s ports. Intel claims that this problem will only affect 5% of users over 3 years, however, heavier I/O workloads can exacerbate the problem. Over time, the connection for the SATA 3 Gb/s ports will degrade, causing a drop in performance and eventually loss of connection to SATA devices. Sandy Bridge processors, themselves, are not affected by this issue.[21]

Intel stopped production of B2 stepping chipsets that were problematic and are currently in the process of producing B3 stepping chipsets with the silicon fix; they expect to start deliveries of these new chipsets in late February 2011 and estimates full recovery volume in April 2011.[22] Major motherboard manufacturers (such as Asus and Gigabyte Technology) as well as computer manufacturers (such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard) stopped selling products that involved the faulty chipset and offered support for the affected customers; options ranged from replacement of affected hardware with new hardware with the redesigned chipset to product refunds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_bridge#Cougar_Point_chipset_issue

they expect to start deliveries of these new chipsets in late February 2011 and estimates full recovery volume in April 2011

That's really not that long to wait if that's the CPU you want.

 

[Ennui]

One of my friends just built a new pc around a 2500k. It's a beast of a processor in terms of cost effectiveness. I need to check with him... its possible he got one of these mobos (since as I've read about it on tomshardware, it seems ALL sandy bridge mobos up to the end of January were affected by this?).

Guess I made the right choice going with a Phenom II X4 970 (3.5ghz cores) when I upgraded a few months ago since it's the fastest AMD processor on the market and I would have gone with a Sandy bridge mobo/cpu if I had went for Intel.

 

[Quixoticism]

They have said that the problem only affects the actual connection with the mobo and that it won't damage any data on your hard drive. If your friend gets a SATA 6gbs drive he will be fine. He might even be okay with the 3gbs connections as they problem isn't on every mobo.
I'd take the new Core i5s every day of the week over an Athlon cpu right now. I have an Athlon 2 x3 and it's nice, but nothing Athlon has comes close to the i series cpus, especially when it comes to SC2(which I play a ton)

 

[Maestro]

Except that the Athlon II X3 isn't even close in price. Phenom II X6 is not far off the i5 and i7 in performance.

 

[Destructo-Bot]

I upgraded (i5 2500K 3.30GHz) due to a failing Core2Duo (3.33GHz) motherboard. Then the bug report was released a week later

On a side note, I've realized just how much processing power I jump to every time I upgrade. I started with a 486, then to a K6-2 166, to an AMD 500MHz, to an AMD T-Bird 1GHz, to an Intel P4 2.4GHz, to a Core2Duo 2.4GHz (two cores), to an Intel Core2Duo 3.33GHz, to an i5 2500K 3.30 GHz with 4 cores.

So I at least double the processing capacity every time I upgrade (save for the jump from C2D 2.4 to 3.3 which I did just to compensate for the new particle effects in Team Fortress 2) :E

 

[ShinRa]

Yeah, what's the deal with these Sandy Bridge processors? The i7-2600k has my eye, but not sure if its worth the upgrade from the i7-870. And now hearing about the SATA issue makes it even less appealing..

 

[VirusType2]

On a side note, I've realized just how much processing power I jump to every time I upgrade.

...an Intel P4 2.4GHz, to a Core2Duo 2.4GHz (two cores), to an Intel Core2Duo 3.33GHz, to an i5 2500K 3.30 GHz with 4 cores.

So I at least double the processing capacity every time I upgrade (save for the jump from C2D 2.4 to 3.3 which I did just to compensate for the new particle effects in Team Fortress 2) :E

Are you kidding, I went from a CeleronD to an i5-750. It was like WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

just a wild ****ing guess it was like 100 times more powerful. Hang on let's bench them. .......

It's not on the list, too old, but comparing it to one of the later Celerons, the rendering time would be like 20 minutes faster (LOL), and it was like that across the board in every test.

I post this often, but it's a great tool to compare the differences between CPUs: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109

Yeah, what's the deal with these Sandy Bridge processors? The i7-2600k has my eye, but not sure if its worth the upgrade from the i7-870. And now hearing about the SATA issue makes it even less appealing..

The deal is in the second post. And considering that you can't buy them right now because of that, you don't have to worry about it.

 

[unozero]

AMD for life

 

[lePobz]

It's not really an issue, just a good excuse to get a hardware raid card and a couple of SSD's

 

[Destructo-Bot]

Are you kidding, I went from a CeleronD to an i5-750. It was like WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

just a wild ****ing guess it was like 100 times more powerful. Hang on let's bench them. .......

It's not on the list, too old, but comparing it to one of the later Celerons, the rendering time would be like 20 minutes faster (LOL), and it was like that across the board in every test.

I post this often, but it's a great tool to compare the differences between CPUs: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109

The deal is in the second post. And considering that you can't buy them right now because of that, you don't have to worry about it.

Here, download the attachment and it'll tell you how much faster your CPU is than a CeleronD. I saved my Sandybridge i5 2500K score in there too

http:///trickingq3.com/misc/testcpu.zip

 

[VirusType2]

Here, download the attachment and it'll tell you how much faster your CPU is than a CeleronD. I saved my Sandybridge i5 2500K score in there too

http:///trickingq3.com/misc/testcpu.zip

What is this now? I run it on my old PC (celeronD)?

I'd rather download it from the main page instead of a direct link so I know what it is before installing it.

 

[Destructo-Bot]

What main page? Its a benchmark program from about 10 years ago

It HAS the benches for a Celeron machine already in there (all the way down to 486's) so if you are curious to see how much faster your memory and CPU are now you can compare them. Scan it with everything you want to throw at it, it's clean


See attached

 

[Sedako]

Looks like Intel will be shipping out updated motherboards to their OEM partners this week. Hopefully, this means that will see them at the consumer level sooner than the projected late March.

 

[Ennui]

My friend's mobo is affected by this. He's not too pleased. He's got an Asus board though so he shouldn't have any issues getting it replaced.