i5 750 or i7 860?

[Geckovich]

Ok gents I'm looking for opinions here.

Despite being a stalwart supporter of the kentsfields, believing that they're still more than acceptable for an up to date gaming machine, I'm looking to move to 1156.

I wouldn't ordinarily have considered the move, but I happened to find myself in possession of a p55 board and some ddr3 after my Uncle made an impromptu upgrade and gave me his "old" gear.

So here's the kicker. I can get either the i5 750 for about £140, or the i7 860 for about £190 (either of which should be covered by the sale of my old gear) but unfortunately money is an issue at the minute - Out of work and having to survive on savings until I start my new position in late March.

Basically is the 860 worth a £50 premium over the 750?

Does the HT of the 860 mean it runs a lot hotter than my current chip or the 750? I'd like to keep my low noise water loop as quiet as possible.

A few other details:

The most demanding use for the machine will be gaming.
I could do with having the £50 in my pocket (at least in the short term).
I'm not considering the i3 530, performance is too close to my q6600.
I'm not considering the i5 660 as it's daft. More costly than the 750 but arguably not as good.

Cheers for reading my disjointed train of thought. I look forward to hearing peoples' opinions and experiences.

 

[linktoinsanity]

Just get the i5 750 and save yourself a bit of money for a graphics card at a later date. I highly doubt you'll need HT which is essentially all you'll get with that i7...

Gaming wise the i5 750 will do you nicely, especially if you overclock it and most will do around 4Ghz...

 

[mmj_uk]

Hyperthreading will indeed increase the load temperature due to the extra workload.

For gaming it will make very little difference, it's only really useful for applications that can fully utilize all processing cores.

 

[coupe69]

Another vote for the core i5, unless of course you're heavily into encoding?

As LinktoInsanity mentioned they're easy to get to 4GHz and perfect for gaming.

 

[AJK]

So here's the kicker. I can get either the i5 750 for about £140, or the i7 860 for about £190 (either of which should be covered by the sale of my old gear) but unfortunately money is an issue at the minute - Out of work and having to survive on savings until I start my new position in late March.

Doesn't seem like this is the best time to buy a PC... could you not wait til late March?

The most demanding use for the machine will be gaming.
I could do with having the £50 in my pocket (at least in the short term).
I'm not considering the i3 530, performance is too close to my q6600.
I'm not considering the i5 660 as it's daft. More costly than the 750 but arguably not as good.

The 750 works perfectly for me for gaming etc. Combined with an ATI 5770 it hasn't struggled with anything I've thrown at it yet (including GRID, DIRT 2, Mass Effect 2, all maxed out). Hyperthreading only worth £50 more if you KNOW your application will see an improvement, IMO.

 

[Geckovich]

Cheers for the replies guys, You've pretty much confirmed what I was thinking, ie no need for more than 4 threads for games (nothing my q6600 hasn't already taught me).

AJK, I could wait until I'm in the new job but re-reading my OP my situation may have come across more dramatic than it actually is (a failing on my part to properly convey my situation). I'm financially sound, but that £50 or so would mean a couple more nights out with the lads/Mrs over the next few weeks is all

 

[Thekwango]

more importantly where do you get a couple of nights out for £50?!