By 2nd gen vs 3rd gen you mean Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge? Haswell should be out in the middle of the year if that impacts your plans
> > It seems as if the only real benefit, of dubious value it seems, is PCI 3.0. > > If my applications are start number crunching (like in Matlab), video > editing and encoding, what is the payoff of a 3rd gen over a 2nd gen > Core processor, assuming one is using a discrete GPU and not the > internal intel HD graphics. 3nd gen uses less power? (I think I read > this is so which translates into them not overclocking as much, a reason > to stick with a 2nd gen). > > Also, the i7-2600k is roughly the same price as the i7-3770k. > > Is there any REAL advantage now to PCI 3.0? How about 2 years from now? > (I'm planning on 4 years on a processor, IF I get one). > > The other option is to just keep the i5-2500k I have now. I could > always use this in a hackintosh build, though, so it's not going to > waste either way. If I get the i7, I will probably just put OS X on a > separate HD and swap the boot drives (I'm not convinced I want to bother > with dual booting). > > I'm hoping to order something today so I can get this build over next > week, when I'm off from work. > > Thanks. > >
