Intel "Haswell" - i7 4770k / i5 4560k

[BoilerDown]

Intel is officially introducing their newest CPU lineup, codename "Haswell".  Its the successor to Sandy and Ivy Bridge, and uses a new socket LGA-1150, instead of the old LGA-1155.  This means they require new motherboards, not a drop-in replacement like Ivy was to Sandy.

The reviews are hitting the internet, the best one IMO is at the [H]:
http://hardocp.com/article/2013/06/01/intel_haswell_i74770k_ipc_overclocking_review

Here's another one at a review site I respect quite a bit:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7003/the-haswell-review-intel-core-i74770k-i54560k-tested

TLDR: This is a minor, incremental upgrade to CPU speed over Ivy or Sandy Bridge.  At stock speeds, you might see a 20% increase over Sandy Bridge, if you overclock, statistically less (highly variable based on your luck before and after though).

If you're using anything older than Sandy Bridge (discounting AMD options of course), then you have a good opportunity to upgrade.  But you're nearly as well off upgrading to a Sandy Bridge bought second hand as you are upgrading to Haswell.  I imaging the usual places will be flooded with used Sandy Bridge CPUs that can be had for cheap.

As for me, I'm getting a Haswell.  But only because I want to upgrade my secondary computer.  My "old" but still awesome Sandy Bridge i7 2600k was a relatively poor overclocker at 4.3, so I stand to improve my luck with Haswell, and I'll just relegate it to my secondary PC.  Haswell will be my new primary, and my current secondary will be demoted to HTPC or just sold off.  If I was just keeping one computer, I would skip this round just as I skipped Ivy Bridge.

By the way, I found the old Sandy Bridge thread on these forums, which is worth a laugh.  I think what I said back then about them turned out to be pretty spot on, compared to most: http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,303523.0.html .

[SilverZ06]

Looks nice but I think I'll stick with my i5-2500k @ 4.8Ghz for a while

[Reschke]

I might be in the market for a used i7 Sandy Bridge to replace my i7-2600K BUT I am only going to look at the big steps up in L2 cache compared to what I have now.

[Pudgie]

From those reviews it looks like I made the right decision to go w/ the SB-E/X79 set up for longevity.

Think I'll pass on the current iteration of Haswell....................

Hmmm, may see a Haswell CPU for 2011 socket?

 

[Chalenge]

Haswell is simply a method of recovering development expenses the way I look at it. At this point I would wait and see which way the socket options go in further developments.

[BoilerDown]

From those reviews it looks like I made the right decision to go w/ the SB-E/X79 set up for longevity.

Think I'll pass on the current iteration of Haswell....................

Hmmm, may see a Haswell CPU for 2011 socket?

Well Ivy-E is the next one up.  Should be out before the end of the year, rumor mill says end Q3 or beginning of Q4.  After that who knows?  2011 is getting long in the tooth.

I haven't gotten one because they haven't been single-core fastest, and that's what still counts in games.  A lot of people think games will use more cores now that the two new big consoles have been announced with 8 cores each, but I think programmers will take a long time to figure out how to make games use more than a few threads at a time.  Future-proofing in this case is IMO a foolish waste of money, and will actually result in slower performance until it happens, if it does.

[numb1]

My 3570k at 4.7ghz is fine with me..Haswell is great if you want a integrated cpu but i have two 7950s lol..

[BaldEagl]

I hate that they change sockets with every release.

[numb1]

I hate that they change sockets with every release.

Ya its total bs..

[Chalenge]

Still, if anyone gets the new EVGA Z87 board with the Creative Sound Core3D chip I would like to hear about your experience.

[Denholm]

I hate that they change sockets with every release.

Agreed. That's quite ridiculous.

[BoilerDown]

I hate that they change sockets with every release.

Not true at all.  Ivy went into the same "socket" as Sandy, and the extreme CPUs will be on the same socket for at least one more generation.  Historically some sockets have lasted a very long time, 775 is a good example.  I don't have a problem with them updating sockets when they need to obsolete old motherboards with outdated features.  The move to PCIe 3.0 and more SATA 3 and USB 3 could be the reason for the latest change.  They don't want people to see their CPUs being bottlenecked by old technology motherboards and then blaming Intel for it being slow.

That said, I'll agree that the updates on this generation aren't that important and they could have stuck with the same LGA this time.  They could have waited until DDR4 to update LGAs (i.e. sockets).  Oh well, I wouldn't make this update without a new motherboard anyways.

Still, if anyone gets the new EVGA Z87 board with the Creative Sound Core3D chip I would like to hear about your experience.

I was thinking about the Gigabyte Sniper 5 with that chip, but since I never run more than 1 GPU, I don't want to be slowed by the PCIe bridge chip.  I've also heard that EVGA motherboards are pretty bad.  Waiting for the [H]'s and whoever else's motherboard reviews today and then I'll probably make a decision.  Historically I've always gone Asus, but this time I'm broadening my search, not that Asus did anything wrong mind you.

[gyrene81]

I hate that they change sockets with every release.

they didn't change sockets from sandy bridge to ivy bridge...just didn't release a socket 2011 ivy bridge cpu.

[BoilerDown]

just didn't release a socket 2011 ivy bridge cpu.

They will, it'll be out later this year.

[Chalenge]

 I've also heard that EVGA motherboards are pretty bad.  

I don't know what you mean by 'bad.' The only things I have seen published are early reviews which are based on nothing other than advertising photos. I don't believe anyone has had hands on yet. Still, if you have a source for an actual published review I'm willing to read it!