Should I go for the Core i7?

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Outlawz_FC

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Hi guys I am in a bit of a dilemma.... My current gaming PC is as follows: AMD Athlon X2 3800+, 2GB DDR Ram, Asus A8N Deluxe, 8800GT and the usual rest...Now the thing is My corsair memory has died on me as i did a test and there was many errors. So I returned it to corsair normal delivery without tracking (Yes I know silly me) and it has been 2 weeks now without a pip from corsair. I looked on eBay for some decent 2gb DDR memory but its around £70.00!! ($120 USD) So I thought F it might as well build myself a new PC as my current one is old.

I have been out of the loop on the latest Processors, Motherboards, Memory etc so I have done some research in the last couple of days and have come to the conclusion that the best solution for me would be a new rig with core i7 seeing as how the prices have dropped slightly on the memory, motherboards etc. One problem is I am quite strapped on cash at the moment and a decent core i7 rig would cost me around £550-£600.

Now I have been looking at alternatives and have found that the Q9550 and some decent DDR2 Memory would save me some cash. But not much mind you, around £100 ish.

So the reason for the long post is would I be OK with the q9550 and ddr2 instead of Core i7. I plan on playing the latest games such as crysis warhead, GTA4 farcry 2 assasins creed etc. I have all these games but my PC is to crapy to play them.

Do you guys think I will notice a big difference in gaming with an i7 instead of a q9550 and is it worth the extra cash to splash out on an i7 at the moment? Thanks in Advance!
 
i7 is definitely not worth it if you're planning on using your rig for gaming mostly...get yourself a decent E8400/E8500 and it will be a much better investment...even a quad core Penryn is fine...barely any games take advantage of more then 2 cores at the moment though...if you want to go i7 then wait for the 32nm revision coming in early 2010 or Lynnfield (i5) which is coming in September
 
Generally, the difference is negligible. Get an i7 if you intend to do any intense media encoding or 3D rendering (or if you want to play ARMA 2 at greater than 12 fps). Otherwise, Core 2 is still a great and cost-effective platform.
 
I would wait for the i5's. I have heard there going to be the true predecessor regarding price performance to the Core2's.
 
Krenum said:
I would wait for the i5's. I have heard there going to be the true predecessor regarding price performance to the Core2's.
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only negative about the i5 is that it will be using a different socket then the i7's, so your future upgrade path is pretty much zero...but if you don't care about upgrading for a long time then an i5 sounds good...buying an i7 now will last you a long time as even the new 32nm revisions coming in 2010 will be using the same socket
 
Thanks for the reply guys..I have one last question can you [H]ard guys recommend me some parts that would go together nicely? There are so many different motherboards and memory types that it gives me a headache to choose between them!

Should I get PC2 8500 or 6400? I would prefer the best version of DDR2 which is PC2 8500 is that correct? What motherboard (Mid range not high end) would you guys recommend?

Processor: Q9550,
Motherboard: ????
Memory: ?????

Which motherboard and memory go well with a q9550 that you guys have found? Many Thanks :)
 
Outlawz_FC said:
Thanks for the reply guys..I have one last question can you [H]ard guys recommend me some parts that would go together nicely? There are so many different motherboards and memory types that it gives me a headache to choose between them!

Should I get PC2 8500 or 6400? I would prefer the best version of DDR2 which is PC2 8500 is that correct? What motherboard (Mid range not high end) would you guys recommend?

Processor: Q9550,
Motherboard: ????
Memory: ?????

Which motherboard and memory go well with a q9550 that you guys have found? Many Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Rig in sig.. Rock stable in Prime 24 hours plus on both memory & cpu test (and blend).

P5E is an excellent mobo and I am using G.Skill ram.

Just a modest overclock to 3.5ghz with a Scyth ninja 2 fan and everything runs like a charm with temps well in the green zone!

What vid card you getting?
 
wait for 1166, only sheeps and hardcore users who don't care much about money-performance ratio and potential of upgrade spend money on 1366 platforms, sorry but that's the way it is
 
mr_zen256 said:
Rig in sig.. Rock stable in Prime 24 hours plus on both memory & cpu test (and blend).

P5E is an excellent mobo and I am using G.Skill ram.

Just a modest overclock to 3.5ghz with a Scyth ninja 2 fan and everything runs like a charm with temps well in the green zone!

What vid card you getting?
Click to expand...

I plan to get the ATI HD4890 1GB. I have been looking at some some Intel P45 Boards, would you guys recommend them?

Is this any good? http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-P5Q

Regards to memory will this be suitable? http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CSR-X8542
 
Core i5 has little to no difference in processing power, wait for that. Its cheaper.
 
According to this article, potential i7 buyers should wait for the new chips (mentioned above) to come out.... Check this out, it shows the specs and prices of the new upcoming released i5 and i7 CPUs. Keys part to read: "The new parts are highlighted by 8MB of cache and Turbo Boost -- Intel's auto-overclocking system that speeds things up when your cooling allows it."

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/21/intel-core-i5-750-reportedly-arriving-september-6-bringing-core/

I think I'm going to wait for the cheapo i5, gotta save up anyhow D: (According to Chinamen, they are coming as soon as 9/31/09)
 
Were having a big debate about this over at nvnews. My take on it is that if youre going to be upgrading, unless you're really that broke that you cant spend an extra 200 on a 3 year upgrade, go for the i7. It'll absolutely be an improvement in games right now even with a single gpu, but not in all cases. Even those it does help in now, it could be fairly minor, like evening out framerates, not having such great drops, etc. Stuff that won't necessarily blow benchmarks and yoru fly wide open. But if you plan on gaming RTS's, ARMA II (like previous poster said, forget this guy that says it can be made to run fine...you're upgrading to play maxed out not to dial everything down so you can come within 30% of i7 performance), or use SLI/Crossfire, i7 blows shit up. Core 2 Quads aren't scaling very well at all over Core 2 Duos. Probably the lack of bandwidth is killing them. Check out some benchies with multi-gpu.
 
I just built an i7 gaming system. You'd have to be crazy not to just go i7 at this point. i7 performance begins where Core2Duo/Quad performance ends.
 
NO! as much as i love intel processors i do not thank it would be wise to go i7. i say this becasue intel has held their release for "new" processors back intil 1Q. if you are going to do a upgrade i would suggest the AMD PII, something like the 940 would do justice. pair it up with a high end motherboard such as the GIGABYTE 790FX 4GB (2x 2GB) kit of corsair DOMINATOR ram, two 4850's and a corsair 750TX powersupply, then pick up what ever case Hard Drive and ROM/burner.
 
Wow some people sipped a lil too much I7 haterade tonight I guess lol. My system rocks and cuts through every game like a hot knife through butter maxed. /Shrug

@OP
Compare prices between a c2d/c2q and an I7 system part for part and see what the price diffference would be. Then and only then can you make a truly informed decision. If you want a little more longevity and have a couple more bucks to spend then go I7. if your on a tighter budget then go C2 socket 775. Don't let the haters sway your decision though. GL. :)
 
ignore the people recommending dual cores, you need to get a quad core, games are starting to take advantage like GTA4 which run poop on even fast dual cores but run well on average quad cores.

Deffo recommend a Q9450/Q9550 and heavy overclocking if you cannot afford an i7
 
SoFGR said:
wait for 1166, only sheeps and hardcore users who don't care much about money-performance ratio and potential of upgrade spend money on 1366 platforms, sorry but that's the way it is
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its not. if you are comming fro a very old system, its worth it. i came from a pentium 4.
 
I just built my i7 machine and I never looked back. If you have the money to do it.. go for it.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
ignore the people recommending dual cores, you need to get a quad core, games are starting to take advantage like GTA4 which run poop on even fast dual cores but run well on average quad cores.

Deffo recommend a Q9450/Q9550 and heavy overclocking if you cannot afford an i7
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The Microcenter $200 i7 920 deal is still unbeatable even compared to those processors. The real kicker with the i7 platform is tacking on a $200 motherboard and another $100+ on DDR3 memory.
 
I had a 5 year old Athlon 64 3500+, 2GB, AGP (!!) graphics, etc. I built the rig in my sig for $1400 (Case, 22" LCD not listed). Considering I upgrade every 5 years (maybe longer now??) it was WELL worth it to get in on brand new technology than to build a PC with technology that is being phased out.
 
With the prices of AM3 boards and cpus I can't see spending much money on Core2. The prices on e8400/8500 are a joke now with the performance of Phenom2 at lower price points.
 
KenG10 said:
it was WELL worth it to get in on brand new technology than to build a PC with technology that is being phased out.
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Exactly what I did.

I had a amd athlon x2 6000+ with 3gb ram and an 8800gts. I found it struggling on alot of the newer games.
I found it most beneficial to upgrade to a new tech and not have to worry about hardware (atleast CPU and ram) for years.

BTW: Any game that has any sort of CPU intensive task, will benefit from a faster cpu (ie. i7)

Playing GTA @ 20fps sucked after spending $50 on it.
After upgrading JUST MY CPU I went to 60+fps @ the same settings.

You either can afford it and find deals.
or not look for deals and cry about how expensive it is.
 
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PrincessFrosty said:
ignore the people recommending dual cores, you need to get a quad core, games are starting to take advantage like GTA4 which run poop on even fast dual cores but run well on average quad cores.

Deffo recommend a Q9450/Q9550 and heavy overclocking if you cannot afford an i7
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Amen to this. The people that argue that developers wont ever bother developing game that support 4 or more cores any time in the near future is ludicrous. These are the same type of people who would have told someone not to bother with a lower clocked dual core and keep a higher clocked P4 because no developer will want to spend money training their programmers to code for two cores.

Tis funny
 
The biggest thing with socket 1366 and x58 is its longevity. 1366 is the high end workstation, low end server socket, its not meant to be the mainstream socket. If you are trying to save money long term, that is a good thing. There is only 1 chipset for 1366 and that is x58. When Intel releases the 32nm shrink, there will only be 1 chipset, the x58. Everything is pointing to if you buy a decent x58 motherboard that conforms to Intels CPU power standards you will just need a BIOS flash to put in a 6 or 4 core Gulftown. The non Extreme Edition Gulftown CPUs wont even be out until late 2010.

So if you go the I7 route you will be have a motherboard and ram that will support the newest CPUs probably well into 2011 if not longer. The only reason to upgrade the board before then is if you have to have on-board USB3 when it comes out.

Plus you can easily pick up a 920 + 6gb DDR + decent motherboard for under $500.
 
i7 systems for OC + Longevity for upgrade path (6 core chips = cheap upgrade path and extend the life of the whole system if / when you need).

There's no reason to go C2D/C2Q at this juncture. If you don't wanna get i7, hold out for the i5, but don't go backwards, its just not worth it.

And as far as the statement about i7 needing $200 motherboards. Don't expect those fresh to market i5 boards to be so dirt cheap either. Remember, those "$200 i7 boards" were $400 i7 boards at launch. Prices came down rather fast on many products.

DDR3 is at historically low prices (and should be bought now, as prices have been predicted to rise for some time and have held stable / creeped up in some instances).

I'm anxious to see the i5 platform debut, I hope it does well and offers everyone a clear upgrade path option that wants one. Me, I'm a long term upgrader these days (I used to build new systems every 12-18 months) and now, its 2-4 years.
 
krameriffic said:
The Microcenter $200 i7 920 deal is still unbeatable even compared to those processors. The real kicker with the i7 platform is tacking on a $200 motherboard and another $100+ on DDR3 memory.
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This. If you look hard enough or setup an Deals Alert on SlickDeals... you can find crazy deals on DDR3. I got my 3GB OCZ Gold Kit for $20 AR, and few days ago saw the Gigabyte EX58-UD4P for $185 AR/Bing. Sell your old rig and makes it even more affordable! :D
 
I was in this situation a week ago.

I decided to go X48, C2Q, and recycle my current RAM from my current rig and just buy 2x1GB RAM to use with my old mobo/cpu for WHS.

Reason is....
1) USB 3.0, I'm waiting until things have been smoothed out and for the next Intel chipset to include it
2) Cheaper prices all around
3) I was able to recycle parts from my old rig (4x2GB RAM, sound card, GTX 285)
4) Eventually smaller process CPUs, resulting in cooler CPUs that I can overclock higher / cool better (32nm process thats coming 2010 Q1).
 
krameriffic said:
The Microcenter $200 i7 920 deal is still unbeatable even compared to those processors. The real kicker with the <Microcenter i7 deal> is tacking on a $200 Intel motherboard and another $100+ on DDR3 memory.
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This is exactly what I just did. Loving it so far. I couldnt believe that Microcenter, a smallish brick and mortar chain, is raping even NewEgg on prices.

Besides....Task Manager shows 8 cores, what more could a man want??? :D
 
Go i7.... even with my Q6600 at 3.88Ghz it still doesn't have the processing power of an i7 920 running at the stock 2.66Ghz.
 
LordVampyre said:
I just built my i7 machine and I never looked back. If you have the money to do it.. go for it.
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Same... I was on a Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2ghz and my i7 920 @ 3.72ghz+HT on, using the same video card, stomps all over the Q6600 in my CPU-intensive games (Warhammer Online, Supreme Commander, GTA4, Burnout Paradise, Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4 (which isn't very GPU-bound nowadays), etc.). Bear in mind I'm running on a single GTX 280 @ 2560x1600 resolution and am still seeing the gains. Depending on the game it ranges from 20%-ish (CoD4) to 50%+ gains (Warhammer Online, TF2). This is strictly gaming-speaking, not even mentioning the huge gains in stuff like encoding, rendering, compiling, and whatnot :).

My new setup is in sig (i7 920 @ 3.72, 6GB DDR3 @ 1560mhz 8-8-8 1T command rate, GTX 280 1GB, 80GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD, etc.). The old setup for comparison was a C2Q Q6600 @ 3.2, 8GB DDR2 @ 820mhz 5-5--5 1T, GTX 280 1GB). As I said, the difference is phenomenal... if you can afford the extra $100-200 average build increase for an i7 vs. a C2Q, go for it. Quad vs. Dual should be obvious... so many games use multi-core now, and even those that don't benefit from dual-core usage on the quad while having Windows/everything else on the 3rd/4th cores. Many many games will support multicore in the coming months and years as well. It would be downright silly to buy a dual core if you have a choice between a dual/quad at this point of time.

akotlar said:
Were having a big debate about this over at nvnews.
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Link? :)
 
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The I7 is a fast chip, but for the price/proformance i would much rather go AMD PII. no i do not hate the I7. but if your not benching you don't need it. the intel c2q are still fase enough for any game... games still don't ulitize a dual core yet. But no matter what you chose have a good time buildin your rig
 
cyclone3d said:
Go i7.... even with my Q6600 at 3.88Ghz it still doesn't have the processing power of an i7 920 running at the stock 2.66Ghz.
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thats because when you overclock a Q6600 you turn the multithreading odd, a stock 2.66GHz is like 2.66*8 so yes it will be faster then the Q6600 at 3.88 *4
 
lilkiduno said:
The I7 is a fast chip, but for the price/proformance i would much rather go AMD PII. no i do not hate the I7. but if your not benching you don't need it. the intel c2q are still fase enough for any game... games still don't ulitize a dual core yet. But no matter what you chose have a good time buildin your rig
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Not correct... most modern games use dual-core, while some benefit from a quad. There's other reasons the quad is better beyond just more cores in any case. The i7 is significantly faster than the Core 2 Quad, as well.
 
+1 for i7, or else you might regret not doing so. It's also not that huge of a price premium, so why not?
 
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