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how long do you predict i7's to last until they start to struggle.

rene.agac said:
I'd say 5 years+ as well.

Untill I replaced my 2004 Athlon 3200+ (single core) with AGP graphic last year, I was still playing all the newest games (fallout 3 etc.) !

As long as you keep doing fresh install of Windows once a year, your i7 will serve you well for a long time if you have desktop.
Click to expand...

Yup. I only replaced my a64 4000+ (@ 2.9ghz!) in Janurary. It lasted the life of 2 graphics cards.. a 7800gtx and a 8800gt..... and was fine on modern games like fallout 3, Arma and crysis. The first game that really demanded a multi-core cpu was gta4.
 
2 year now running i7, its still top of the game.
sandy bridge even if better dosnt matter as people buying dont need more power.
I be upgrading to a new videocard, the rest just runs so fast even after 2 years, I wouldnt be suprised if i7 last 5 more years.
 
My previous Q6600 PC with a GPU upgrade can easily cope with all the games out now at high detail with fast > 30fps frame rates (i.e. better than consoles) at high resolutions, and that's over 3 years old.

Most games are multiplatform and have to run on consoles these days so I don't reckon even an i7 will be severely taxed by 90% of the PC games released in the next 5 years. There'll always be the odd poorly optimised or hardware hungry game that pushes the limits though.
 
Again regarding Q6600, keep in mind that when this was released, most software couldn't even use dual cores properly. Now that games and other stuff gets better optimized for multi cores and designers know how to use their power it's a different story.

i7 is not a new CPU either, 5yrs ? Maybe, but from release date, so only around 3yrs more at best, in around 2yrs it will probably already be considered slow end just like early conroe dual cores are now.

Not to mention that most people will upgrade in a year, maximum two anyways, i7 or not.
 
Even today the majority of games don't tax a Q6600. The Xbox 360 uses 3 cores, and that's where most of the games will be ported from / to, so most games probably won't need more than 4 cores / threads for a while yet.
 
I got a Q9650 recently as more games are starting to come out, that benefit from a quad, so i thought now is a good time to repalce the dual core. I OC it to 3.8, i dont see any issues for at least 2 years, and i dont intend to upgrade the CPU till Sandybridge or whatever it's called comes along

If you have a I7, i would expect it to last as well as the prev generation of quads, and seeing as PC hardware is unlikely to be agressively pushed, gaming wise till the next round of new consoles appears, i would say a fast would last a good 3 years + at least

people who got Q6600 years ago and OC them to 3.4/3.6 are having no trouble running even really modern demanding games, it's usually the graphics card, calling time on the fun these days, i'd say a fast I7 is a good gaming bet for a few years yet
 
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