Where is the I7-880?

[Folk]

I have an Asus P7P55D with an I7-860 processor that I purchased about five months ago. I love this mobo and so would like to keep it for a while. I bought the 860 processor thinking I could upgrade to a faster processor down the road, but I have arrived down the road and the only upgrade is the 870, which just isn't worth the hassle for the tiny speed bump. I would prefer to upgrade to the 880, but outside of seeing it in a tiny number of pre-builts, or on pre-order for several million dollars (just kidding, but check Google), it just doesn't seem to exist. Will this processor ever be available?

P.S. There is someone on Ebay selling them for $600 a pop, but:
- That's a bit steep
- I don't trust buying processors off Ebay

[grantmeaname]

The tray price for a thousand of them is $583. Perhaps the 875K? You could overclock it pretty easily.

[Dashak]

From what I see of the i7-880, it's clocked at 3.06GHz, which is clocked only .26GHz faster than your i7-860 at 2.8GHz. If you want to bump up your speed a noticeable amount, you should take a look at the i7-875K. The 'K' means that the multiplier is unlocked for easy overclocking. The i7-875K was selected for the processor sweet spot in TR's most recent system guide.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/19868/6

[RickyTick]

Is there particular software that the 860 seems sluggish with? Or is this just a benchmarking thing?

[Waco]

Are you opposed to overclocking the 860?

[Folk]

grantmeaname: Thanks for the price link. So I guess $600 is fair, but that's still pretty steep. I guess that's the premium for top-of-the-heap.

To all: I should have mentioned that I'm not interested in overclocking. I've overclocked virtually all of my systems in the past, but the I7 actually does what I've wanted all my past overclocks to do, which is basically to speed up on demand. So, I don't feel motivated to do anything beyond what Intel's already doing. I have used the pre-configured overclocks offered in the P7P55D's bios, but the increased voltage/heat cause my fans to run faster and at this stage I'm more interested in quiet than in a few mhz. speed bump.

The main reason for my post was to see if anyone knew why this processor isn't (and never has been) available as a standard retail part.

[grantmeaname]

Because it isn't a standard retail part.

[mikehodges2]

Wait for sandy bridge?

[Folk]

Because it isn't a standard retail part.

How very helpful.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/18479

[potatochobit]

that processor is the top-of-the-heap
heap of junk or heap of being ripped off

numerous people have already told you not to buy it
but you can do whatever you want

[UberGerbil]

But it's not unusual to see certain parts be non-existent in the retail channel in practice, regardless of what might be claimed in theory. Some parts are essentially OEM-only, despite showing up in Intel's lists like any other product that is easily-obtained at retail (and it's not just Intel that does this, of course). In this case, when Intel is binning its chips they may find that between the ones that they can sell at a premium to OEMs who can then claim to offer "the fastest i7 CPU" and the ones they can sell through the retail channel to enthusiasts as unlocked "-K" processors, there's nothing left over to sell as an 880 in retail. Certainly that's going to be what Intel tries to do, because it maximizes their margins. (And if there are some people who stubbornly want to buy it retail anyway, there are always resellers who buy in bulk and resell individually, at a hefty markup -- as you've discovered.)

I suspect at this point -- with the Nehalem wave over and even the bleeding-edge types waiting on Sandy Bridge -- the only people who are with you in the market for that CPU in single-unit quantities are service folks replacing a failed 880 in an OEM machine and the occasional white-box builder with a "must have the fastest thing available right now!" customer... both of which tend to be accustomed to paying through the nose.

[ozymandias]

For the price of that 880 processor, you could buy a new mobo, ram (up to 3 channel) and an i7 950. I guess that would be a better upgrade path, but then the value of it is truly questionable

[DeadOfKnight]

I can almost guarantee that if you are an average consumer, you won't even notice the difference in performance between the 860 and the 880. Wht you have really is a fast, awesome chip that you should be happy with. If you're not the average consumer and you feel that you really need the increase for whatever it is that you do, the 870/875 will be the best value that you can get. But keep in mind that if you pay $250 for a processor and then $300 for an upgrade, you just paid $550 for $300 worth of performance in your machine unless you plan on selling or recycling the old processor and putting it into a new machine.

[Folk]

I suspect at this point -- with the Nehalem wave over and even the bleeding-edge types waiting on Sandy Bridge -- the only people who are with you in the market for that CPU in single-unit quantities are service folks replacing a failed 880 in an OEM machine and the occasional white-box builder with a "must have the fastest thing available right now!" customer... both of which tend to be accustomed to paying through the nose.

I tend to agree.

I paid $280 for the 860 back in May. My hope was that the 880 would enter the market, and then when Sandy Bridge debuted the prices would drop on existing parts. Not much chance of that now I guess...

[grantmeaname]

The 880 is not even noticeably faster than the 860. And even if it did matter, you could almost certainly overclock the 860 to the 880's speed without even a voltage bump. Then you'd be getting the same chip!