775 or i7

Z

Zyke

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I was looking to building a gaming and rendering computer for around 500 to 600 dollars. I was wondering if I should get a 775 or should I go with i7?
 
Performance-wise, i7, hands down. Do you already have parts sitting around or is this build from the ground up?
 
It's going to be very difficult going i7, then, based on the budget. Since socket 775 systems have a lower entry point, that's your best bet.
 
Ridiculously expensive low-end i7 motherboards kill any $600 budget ideas. After the motherboard and i7 920, you're already at $480-$500, not even including any tax or shipping charges.

I wanted to build a PC for $500, too, but since I'm sick of buying low-end parts and 'waiting' to upgrade to a higher processor down the road since I always get screwed over by Intel (couldn't upgrade my last motherboard from a Pentium D to a Core 2 Duo, can't upgrade my current motherboard from a E4300 to a Q9550), I may just bite the bullet and get an i7 setup. I'll probably regret it since the next iteration of i7 probably won't even friggin work on my $250 overpriced motherboard, but that's the risk I take every time I buy a damn Intel mobo..
 
$600 bucks is not going to get you a "ground up" i7, sorry, after CPU, mobo, RAM and the cheapest you can find of both you will already be in the $550-600 range without shipping etc.
 
if you live near a microcenter you can prob get an i7 920, motherboard and 6gb ram for around $500 or so (helps if you are not overclocking). but this leaves vid card, psu, hd, optical, case, which will prob be another $500. $150 - $200 vid card, $150 psu, $100 hdd, $30 optical and from $80 up for casing. if you were to use newegg for example, it would be tough to configure an i7 920 machine for gaming/rendering from scratch for less than $1200 - $1300. i know it can be done (watch next few posts) but you will be making a few compromises.
 
If you can't go Intel i7 then go AMD Phenom II.

Or just mow a few extra lawns and get that i7.
 
You want i7 for the cheap? Hit up the For Sale forum here. I got my second i7 rig for the motherboard and the processor for 400 bucks (gigabyte extreme mobo and a 920). It's a way to save a couple of greenbacks. I had to cut a corner somewhere with all the other components I got.
 
crazyassazian said:
You want i7 for the cheap? Hit up the For Sale forum here. I got my second i7 rig for the motherboard and the processor for 400 bucks (gigabyte extreme mobo and a 920). It's a way to save a couple of greenbacks. I had to cut a corner somewhere with all the other components I got.
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I agree...you can get some pretty good deals doing this and I've never had any problems with the people in this forum.
 
If there's a MicroCenter nearby, you can get the 920 for $230 ($50 cheaper than Newegg) or occasionally on sale for $200. There are i7 boards under $200 now. There are a few different 3x2GB kits for under $80 (not the best, but will work fine for a stock i7). That's around $500 for mobo, CPU, and RAM. I doubt you can buy all the other parts needed to build a PC from scratch for $100.

However, the i7 isn't that much more than LGA775, for the boost in performance you're getting. Also keep in mind that 775 is basically dead at this point - you won't be able to upgrade the CPU in the future. I'd personally save a little more or whatever to be able to afford the i7. If you absolutely cannot afford an i7, then at least look into Phenom II like DTN107 mentioned. I'm not sure how well they do in rendering stuff, but they're competitive with the Core2's (and sometimes even the i7) and should have a decent upgrade path. The upcoming 32nm i7's will use the same LGA1366 socket and X58 chipset - they've stated that most boards actually already have support for them.

If you can save a little more money and/or use some existing parts, it shouldn't be too hard to get to an i7 system.
 
DTN107 said:
If you can't go Intel i7 then go AMD Phenom II.

Or just mow a few extra lawns and get that i7.
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agreed, PII isnt a dead end like s775, with 6-core server chips already out, it is quite possible that towards the end of the year we will see some 6-core chips on AM3, which will beat the snot out of everything intel has on 775 in threaded stuff like encoding and such.

Besides, AMD just dropped its prices here in europe, you can find a 940be for 160 euros, and the 955 as low as 175 right now, combine that with enough 100 euro mainboards (its quite easy to find a decent 790(G)X mobo for <100 euros) and no need for triple channel memory, and you can get a kick-ass system for not that much money
 
I found a mad overclocker who just had to have a D0 and sold me his 920 for $180.
Running at 3480 mhz without even changing anything from "auto"
 
I'd recommenced 775 for a budget. You can do a $100 motherboard, pick up a Q8200 or Q6600 for $125, 4GB RAM for $40, A 260GTX for $150, could do a nice system for very cheap.
 
For that budget, you should get the 775 and overclock it to the maximum overdrive ... but it's going to be hard building a decent gaming rig for $600.
 
a gaming rig for $600, you can prolly get a really good rig for <$1000 for sure. $600 is pinching it
 
Two questions for the OP:

1. What resolution will you be gaming at?
2. What games will you be playing?
 
For gaming, you should really decide on how big of a percentage of your budget you want to spend on your video card first. Then figure out how to spend whatever you have left.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
if you live near a microcenter you can prob get an i7 920, motherboard and 6gb ram for around $500 or so (helps if you are not overclocking). but this leaves vid card, psu, hd, optical, case, which will prob be another $500. $150 - $200 vid card, $150 psu, $100 hdd, $30 optical and from $80 up for casing. if you were to use newegg for example, it would be tough to configure an i7 920 machine for gaming/rendering from scratch for less than $1200 - $1300. i know it can be done (watch next few posts) but you will be making a few compromises.
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Only the PSU and RAM would be the least likely to be transferrable from an older system (and even that may not be the case if the previous motherboard took the 8-pin EPS plug that i7 mobos pretty much require). Everything else can be migrated from an older system (the drives can come from a legacy system for now).

Motherboard: ASUS P6T. Tri-SLI certified from the beginning (one of the oldest X58 motherboards with such certification) and currently clearanced by MC (near midrange LGA775 prices).

Graphics: Unless you're going CrossFireX or SLI from the beginning, any of the wide variety of midrange GPUs (nV GTS 250, AMD HD4850, nV GTX 265, AMD HD4870) would be at least as suitable for i7 as they are for LGA775. If you have your mind made up to go SLI/CrossFireX, double (or triple) the hit on the wallet.

Case: I have nothing against Lian Li cases (my current case is an older Lian Li ATX case); therefore, strongly consider MC's current clearance Lian Li lineup. An option (if you prefer Antec) is the Antec Three Hundred.
 
For the OP's question, for that kind of budget you have to go with 775. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that idea.

I'm curious about those who are saying a decent gaming rig for $600 is impossible. You can get an E8400 with 4GB and a Radeon 4870 and get in under $600. I hope you aren't saying "that's not what I'd consider decent" when less than a year ago this would have been considered top of the line and cost closer to $1000.
 
With the Microcenter pricing, In January, I was able to get into a Antec 1200, i7 920, 6GB DDR3-1600 and an Asus P6T for under 800 bucks.

I'm sure you can do better than this now, with varying components.
 
I'm curious about those who are saying a decent gaming rig for $600 is impossible.
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I think a lot of this is selecting a very expensive powersupply that 95% of users do not need. But then again if the user wanted a totally new box with no parts recycled from old systems it will be difficult. At home I always use some of the parts from my systems that get replaced.

You can get an E8400 with 4GB and a Radeon 4870 and get in under $600. I hope you aren't saying "that's not what I'd consider decent" when less than a year ago this would have been considered top of the line and cost closer to $1000.
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Last November I paid $400 for my Q9550 + Asus P5Q Pro + 6GB of quality DDR2 memory + an Antec 650W 80 plus power supply. This was with the help of live.com cashback but now you can find a Q9550 for less than $200 so the rebate should not be needed.

Add a graphics card for less than $200 and you have a $600 gaming machine. I kept my old case / monitor / keyboard / mouse and hard drives.
 
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BlueFireIce said:
$600 bucks is not going to get you a "ground up" i7, sorry, after CPU, mobo, RAM and the cheapest you can find of both you will already be in the $550-600 range without shipping etc.
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Eh?

Quick round up ..
NewEgg:
P6T Open Box Mobo - $170 (Deluxe V2 for $200)
3x2gig OCZ DDR3 (12800) - $99 after MIR

Other Retailer:
i920 Processor - $230/shipped (might find it cheaper, as I noticed some retailers selling it for cheap .. like MicroCenter)

I priced that to upgrade my system, mobo+ram+processor (power supply, audio, case, and harddrives are fine) it'd cost about $490 after any shipping/taxes.
 
Spidey329 said:
Eh?

Quick round up ..
NewEgg:
P6T Open Box Mobo - $170 (Deluxe V2 for $200)
3x2gig OCZ DDR3 (12800) - $99 after MIR

Other Retailer:
i920 Processor - $230/shipped (might find it cheaper, as I noticed some retailers selling it for cheap .. like MicroCenter)

I priced that to upgrade my system, mobo+ram+processor (power supply, audio, case, and harddrives are fine) it'd cost about $490 after any shipping/taxes.
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Yeah...That's an upgrade, he said he was doing ground up, and wile you might even then be able to put one together its not going to be a "gaming rig" as a good video card is going to bust it.
 
I say e8400, 4 gigs of ram, GTX 260, cheap gigabyte motherboard.


I mean, there is no need for i7... Its already been proven that i7 doesn't help in games much if any...

my q6600 - 6 gig - gtx260 will run any game on the highest settings save Crysis... But who plays that load of junk anyways? And I game at 1900x1200
 
Is this threadjacking?

I'm in for discussion on this thread, too. I am in the same debate right now. I am attempting to upgrade to a Q9450/Q9550 or Core i7 920 from my current e6300 [65nm]. It seems, however, that the Q9550's are sold out in the Twin Cities and I don't know if I have the budget for a Core i7 920 build.

Where can I find a Core i7 for $230 shipped ?
 
Crosshair said:
Is this threadjacking?

I'm in for discussion on this thread, too. I am in the same debate right now. I am attempting to upgrade to a Q9450/Q9550 or Core i7 920 from my current e6300 [65nm]. It seems, however, that the Q9550's are sold out in the Twin Cities and I don't know if I have the budget for a Core i7 920 build.

Where can I find a Core i7 for $230 shipped ?
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just go for a Q9550 for sale at Micro Center for $179.99 on sale right now. overclock it, and you are SET for gaming.

I7 is really not needed for a strictly gaming machine, and there are plenty of quad cores out there for you, especially at that price range.

if youre that concerned about 775 being a dead end, go for AM3
 
BlueFireIce said:
Yeah...That's an upgrade, he said he was doing ground up, and wile you might even then be able to put one together its not going to be a "gaming rig" as a good video card is going to bust it.
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That's true, but I wasn't replying to him. I was replying to your $550-$600 price range for the CPU+Mobo+Ram. =)
 
Just did a medium system for my brother, E7400 - $120, 750i (evga lifetime, trust me he needs it) $130, 2GB - ddr2 800 - $34, 9800 - $99. Just go higher end on the video and cpu, cut back to an intel on the MB. You get the idea....
 
AmongTheChosenX said:
just go for a Q9550 for sale at Micro Center for $179.99 on sale right now. overclock it, and you are SET for gaming.
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Crosshair said:
It seems, however, that the Q9550's are sold out in the Twin Cities
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I would love to get a Q9550 from Microcenter but they are out at the only place I can get them :( Any suggestions?? They are $220@Newegg
 
Crosshair said:
I would love to get a Q9550 from Microcenter but they are out at the only place I can get them :( Any suggestions?? They are $220@Newegg
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You could always try ebay with cashback or another store that offers a higher percentage of cashback. Or get to know someone who lives near a Microcenter with good heatware and have them pick it up for you and ship it out. Although, by the time you do tax and shipping you're close to $205-210.
 
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