What is happening to the i7 range?

[Farore]

I'm currently under the impression that this range is going to be discontinued and a lesser range of i5 will take its place? Is this true?

I am currently running a Q6600 on my main PC which is sat at my university accomodation, waiting to be upgraded in september when I get back. What should I do? Should I buy a core i7 chip now, or just wait til I am actually back at my student pad?

Regards,

Farore

 

[Admiral Huddy]

What's wrong with the Q6600?

Rumors are that Intel does plan to withdraw the i7 920 and 940 chips when the Lynnfield is launched because there are comparatively close.

 

[Farore]

What's wrong with the Q6600?

Rumors are that Intel does plan to withdraw the i7 920 and 940 chips when the Lynnfield is launched because there are comparatively close.

Well, I can't get the bloody thing to clock past 2.7ghz without the pc refusing to load. Also, I want to move to a totaly watercooled PC, and a new processor ect seems like a nice idea. I game at 1920 X 1200 so a fater CPU should help in CPU limited games.

Do you think I should buy a i7 920 now then?

 

[PhoenixUK]

Go to BIOS.
Disable speedstep.
Disable C1E.
Increase CPU voltage to 1.4v ( or even give it a 1.45v for start )
Increase northbridge volt by 0.1v
UNLINK the memory and set it to your default memory speed (PC6400 400mhz , PC5300, 333mhz , PC8500, 533mhz ) and default timings ( you can see that on the sticks themselv or the packaging that it came with ).

Set CPU FSB to 400
Set CPU multiplier to 8x

Save & Exit

Enjoy


After that you can test your temps and work with it higher increasing the FSB by a small bit (~10) or trying to work your temps down by decreasing the voltage by 0,01 untill it becomes unstable.


----
If those settings doesn't work, you either do something wrong or have the WORST chip or motherboard EVER in the history of those forums.

 

[Farore]

Thanks, I will try that when I get back to my place. Bookmarked and saved.

So you really think theres no benifit of upgrading to a native quad core? :\ Why are people doing it?

 

[elpedro]

So you really think theres no benifit of upgrading to a native quad core? :\ Why are people doing it?

That is the question. I'd guess the majority who upgraded to i7 had no good reason other than to get their mitts on newer tech.

Real world performance between the Core 2 Quads and i7 chips only sees a real improvement in video/audio encoding with the 8 processing threads vs 4. Going from a Core 2 Quad to i7 for gaming is pointless, fair enough if its a from single or dual core as games are beginning to use 4 cores.

I feel it could be a while before my Q6600 @ 3.60GHz becomes a bottleneck with gaming

 

[Bradley8988]

I went from a E8600 @ 4.4Ghz to current spec and not really noticed any change in gaming or general use. I dont encode but wanted something new to play with.

 

[elpedro]

I went from a E8600 @ 4.4Ghz to current spec and not really noticed any change in gaming or general use. I dont encode but wanted something new to play with.

Atleast you're honest, I'd be lying if I said the current i7 920 D0 prices haven't interested me

 

[Mark07]

The range will be extended, middle of next year i7 platform will have 6 core processors "gulftown" socket compatable with Lynnfield, also new i7 motherboards supporting sata 3 are on the way shortly.

 

[mkfk1]

If you are not doing encoding, or 3d rendering...or something that take advantage of 8 threads.... you really should save your money.

If you a gamer, you might as well spend the money of gfx card instead.

 

[drew64]

was gonna make a thread asking the same thing.
seriously considering taking the plunge with i7
but wondering what's the future gonna be like for the socket?
i get the new 6core gulftown will fit it, but for someone like me who'll use it for general desktop use, gaming AND some rendering, will it be worth it?
or will the chipset evolve into a workstation focused area?

 

[Bradley8988]

Its going to be a lot of money and no it wont really but i7 will be faster than any i5 and as you already have a really high end i set up there is no need to upgrade till the next big thing is out and even then you still have a very very powerful set up.

 

[Hesky82]

Well, I can't get the bloody thing to clock past 2.7ghz without the pc refusing to load. Also, I want to move to a totaly watercooled PC, and a new processor ect seems like a nice idea. I game at 1920 X 1200 so a fater CPU should help in CPU limited games.

Do you think I should buy a i7 920 now then?

Get your watercooling setup on your current rig 1st, if theres any processor that is limited by cooling it is the Q6600!

Dont you have a EVGA 680i and Q6600 G0? you must be doing something wrong if your stuck at 2.7GHz!

 

[Admiral Huddy]

That is the
I feel it could be a while before my Q6600 @ 3.60GHz becomes a bottleneck with gaming

Atleast you're honest, I'd be lying if I said the current i7 920 D0 prices haven't interested me

I am in the same position and have been looking as I've just order a 920 for a customer. However, when I see that I'm still running my overclocked q6600 with a 8800gtx without experiencing any slowdown in games then it seems pointless.

 

['Wes]

If the AM3 range didn't appear, then i'd get an i7 before the i5's hit.

 

[Gills]

Then you have to factor in the next 'i' range which will be the i9.

 

[Farore]

Go to BIOS.
Disable speedstep.
Disable C1E.
Increase CPU voltage to 1.4v ( or even give it a 1.45v for start )
Increase northbridge volt by 0.1v
UNLINK the memory and set it to your default memory speed (PC6400 400mhz , PC5300, 333mhz , PC8500, 533mhz ) and default timings ( you can see that on the sticks themselv or the packaging that it came with ).

Set CPU FSB to 400
Set CPU multiplier to 8x

Save & Exit

Enjoy


After that you can test your temps and work with it higher increasing the FSB by a small bit (~10) or trying to work your temps down by decreasing the voltage by 0,01 untill it becomes unstable.


----
If those settings doesn't work, you either do something wrong or have the WORST chip or motherboard EVER in the history of those forums.

I finaly got back to uni. I tried this as promised. Dude, it WORKED!!! The step I never had done before was to disable the C1E!!

THANK YOU!!

My CPU temps are at 60oc Idle atm...how do I get these to something more palatable?

 

[[timko]]

My CPU temps are at 60oc Idle atm...how do I get these to something more palatable?

Better case cooling.

Better HSF.

Watercooling.

Underclock it.

Undervolt it.

That's just a few options

 

[mmj_uk]

That is the question. I'd guess the majority who upgraded to i7 had no good reason other than to get their mitts on newer tech.

Real world performance between the Core 2 Quads and i7 chips only sees a real improvement in video/audio encoding with the 8 processing threads vs 4. Going from a Core 2 Quad to i7 for gaming is pointless, fair enough if its a from single or dual core as games are beginning to use 4 cores.

I feel it could be a while before my Q6600 @ 3.60GHz becomes a bottleneck with gaming

According to Resident Evil 5 your Q6600 is already a bottleneck with gaming, it shows a significant improvement on i5/i7 even without HyperThreading:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...nom-strong-Update-Lynnfield-results/Practice/

The problem currently lies is the fact that most games don't utilise quad core CPU's efficiently, so although most games may show different CPU's to perform the same you have to bare in mind that CPU utilization will be lower on i5/i7 meaning more headroom (less CPU bottleneck) going into the future when games utilize quad core more efficiently.

As such it's not really pointless but rather a better long term choice.

 

[Farore]

So what processor should I be looking at to upgrade to then?

Would a second graphics card not make more of a difference? Or going from a single GTX 260 to a second one (SLi) ?