im still stuck between I5 750 and I7 930

sybaris · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:26

Can anyone offer some thoughts please.
Im still stuck between I5 750 and I7 930

I use my PC for many different every day tasks.

Games- I don't always play high graphically intens FPS games though on ocasions I do. I do like to play championship manager and the thought of playing a large number of leagues with a quick processsing time for background games is very appealing. I am considering upgrading my monitor in the future and playing 1900x1080 or whatever the resolution is. Though for now I have an Nvidia 8800gts and plan to get an ATI 5770 in this upgrade.

Web development. I do quite frequently dabble in the odd website development and use various applications to do so. There is some jpg manipulation and some video editing involved but I dont hardcore video edit all day.

Movies - I do watch movies and TV either off the hard drive or streamed via a 24M conection.

Data applications - I do a lot of data movement between drives and though there are limits to Sata II, I intend to upgrade to Sata 3. I hope to have enough spare money to buy a 160gb SSD for my OS drive.

So this comes back to which CPU do I go for. In turn this will determin the type of motherboard and Dual or Tri channel Ram.

Ultimately I want the fastest option with the aim to run for 3 years on this rig.

Can anyone throw some ideas this way?

Dark_Angel · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:32

Honestly?

New CPU's are out next year (By new, I mean new socket and everything) sooooo 3 years, yeah, it'll run, but not be close to top end.

Remember that soon prices will go down a bit too (august I think)... but then, really and truly just about any CPU will do what you want on list - google for I7 930 reviews for example

cmndr_andi · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:37

For your uses, it sounds like the i5 will be more than enough (in fact an AMD system will still do all you need of it and cost you less). For games, you will be held back by your graphics card in almost everything (though championship manager may be more CPU intensive - but any modern quad core will make mincemeat out of it). For image and video editing, the i7 will be a bit faster- but the i5 (and AMD Phenom II X4) is still very fast in these tasks.

As for the i7 930 option, you probably don't need this power and it is a lot of money. However, you may want to consider the i7 920 - based purely on price. This chip only costs a bit more than a i5 (if you know where to look) and is only 5% slower than the 930 at stock speeds and overclocks just as well under air cooling. The reason for this low price is that the 920 is an End-of-life chip, so you will need to have a good hunt around for it - but IMHO it is worth it.

If you do decide to go down this i7 route - this is the only board worth looking at.

Honestly?

New CPU's are out next year (By new, I mean new socket and everything) sooooo 3 years, yeah, it'll run, but not be close to top end.

This is a good point, and if you are happy to wait at least 6-9 months before upgrading then it will likely be worth it - however if you need something now then the current generation products are certainly worth investing in.

Dark_Angel · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:39

The 920 costs more though because of board / tri channel? Or am I totally missing something?

sybaris · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:51

My PC has fried so I cant hold out until next year.

I'm tempted to go i5 then I have more money for a new graphics card or SSD

I use my xbox 360 for serious FPS gaming so these days the PC sees more strategical games that benefit from greater processor power rather than graphics power.

I do intend to overclock the CPU up to 4GHZ on a corsair water cooler (think its the H20 or something)

I noticed that both i7 mother boards and 3 channel Ram adds an extra £100 to the costs and the difference between I5 and I7 is another £80. Also power consumption is about half on I5.

What happens when cpu is over clocked though. Does an overclocked I5 have to work harder than an overclocked I7 to maintain 4GHZ? Is it like engines?

gamesaregood · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:55

Go AMD Hex core, has the best upgrade path as both the intel sockets are going to be replaced and therefore offer no upgrade path.

Dark_Angel · 24 Jun 2010 at 21:55

Another option is an I3. Before you scream no, hear me out.

It'll easily reach 4GHZ, some 4.5 on a retail cooler. Then, when the CPU's cheaper price come out, sell it and buy the new lower priced ones. More selection will be available, and sell your old one on.

Not saying it's a "good" option - but an option.

cmndr_andi · 24 Jun 2010 at 22:22

The 920 costs more though because of board / tri channel? Or am I totally missing something?

Well it certainly can, yes. However, if you go for the board I linked to (P6T Deluxe), you are getting a top-end X58 motherboard for £120. It will be very tough to find an AM3 or P55 board with similar features for the same price.

As for triple channel RAM, yes a 3x2GB kit does cost more than a 2x2GB kit. However, the X58 can happily accomodate a 1.65V 2x2GB DDR3 kit (ie. the ones sold for use in s1156 systems) just fine and it will run in dual channel mode without issue.

Therefore, if you look at it this way - the motherboard and RAM can be competitive with the P55 and AM3, but at the same time have more features and performance.

However, the main issue with the X58 (and all other current intel platforms) is that the next generation is coming next year and no current boards will support it (though admittedly X58 will support top-end chips like the hex core "Gulftown" series). In contrast, AMD will be introducing their own new chips next year and it looks like current boards (AM3) will be compatible - allowing for a relatively cheap drop-in CPU upgrade.

Also, I totally agree about the i3. If you get an i3 chip, £60 h55 board and a decent cooler - you will be able to clock it to the sky and get all the performance needed for a relative pittance.

sybaris · 24 Jun 2010 at 22:34

technology always improves. what ever I buy today will be out of date when I want to upgrade it. If I am going to spend even £150 i would rather place it in something that will last a good couple of years at least before I throw it away. I know an I5 or I7 will do that for me.

cmndr_andi · 24 Jun 2010 at 22:35

technology always improves. what ever I buy today will be out of date when I want to upgrade it. If I am going to spend even £150 i would rather place it in something that will last a good couple of years at least before I throw it away. I know an I5 or I7 will do that for me.

I think that's a good outlook. I'm certain that either the i5 or i7 would do you fine for quite some time.

What do you think of the i7 920 / P6T Deluxe option?

sybaris · 24 Jun 2010 at 22:43

ohh so many options.

Big.Wayne · 24 Jun 2010 at 22:59

sybaris said:
Can anyone throw some ideas this way?

Hello sybaris,

from what you described there is totally no need for you to even consider Intel® Core™i7 . . . it's really a specialist piece of kit and your not doing anything that will benefit from spending so much money on it!

For your needs £270 is gonna be ample budget for a CPU/Mobo/DDR3 leaving you a "possible" £273.57 left for the other nice things in life! . . . AMD® have what you need! :cool:

All specs "Future-Proofed" as much as possible (SATA III, USB 3.0, PCI-E 2.0 CrossFire etc) . . .

jbloggs · 25 Jun 2010 at 09:16

I have both an i5 750 (@ 4.1GHz) and an i7 930 (@ 4.20GHz) and if you are not going SLI/xfire, then the i5 750 will certainly be more than enough for your needs for the next 2-3 years...

McstylisT · 25 Jun 2010 at 09:34

Id say keep the budget reasonable and a i5 / AMD Hexa / 4GB DDR3 and a mid-ranged board and your be happy again , without spending fortunes.

Best of luck

coolamasta · 25 Jun 2010 at 09:56

Personally i7 all day long for me but I do cpu intensive stuff so bit bias'd

Methanoid · 29 Jun 2010 at 09:40

And no-one mentions i7 on S1156 ?? It has better performance than i5 as has HT enabled and it has the cheaper platform cost of S1156 mobos and dual channel memory. Win win!

Dark_Angel · 29 Jun 2010 at 11:25

Methanoid said:
And no-one mentions i7 on S1156 ?? It has better performance than i5 as has HT enabled and it has the cheaper platform cost of S1156 mobos and dual channel memory. Win win!

Says the man with the aforementioned stuff for sale in his signature!

I was considering it myself, but I really don't want 4GB of ram - I figure if I'm going to upgrade I'd rather do the entire thing and get 6 / 8 GB of ram. So that leads me back to waiting till late august and seeing what's going to happen there.

Methanoid · 29 Jun 2010 at 11:28

Dark_Angel said:
Says the man with the aforementioned stuff for sale in his signature!

Yes but only cos its more CPU horsepower than I need. I have another dual core i3 in 2nd machine and that does me. But I back S1156 as it gives you more choice. Where is the choice in S1366 - its Core i7 Quad ONLY....

Dark_Angel · 29 Jun 2010 at 11:48

Methanoid said:
Yes but only cos its more CPU horsepower than I need. I have another dual core i3 in 2nd machine and that does me. But I back S1156 as it gives you more choice. Where is the choice in S1366 - its Core i7 Quad ONLY....

I'm not saying it isn't... but the problem i've got (PERSONALLY) is that I want to upgrade to at least 6GB of ram. Is it worth really spending the cash on a I5 setup (from a Q6600) to an I5 with 8GB of ram, surely there's a point where it's more cost effective to simply say "you know what, It's better to go I7 9x0 with 1366 socket"