i5/i7 CPU Recommendations

[Slyman2k4]

I've read through various threads over the last few days and I get the impression that the i7 920 D0 is the flavour of the month/best choice at the minute.

Would this be ideal for a mainly gaming setup?

Now I say mainly gaming because it will be used for plenty of apps, objectdock, mpc hc, winraring, programming and the usual newsgroup decoding processes etc.

I am looking for the good balance here and I did get that impression with the i7 920 D0 and lots of pleased posts of people who selected it.

This post is really just to clarify this or in case someone could recommend something better.

Price isn't really a problem but I don't want to get too carried away. And upgradability is only a slight concern. Hoping this will last me for a good three years like my opteron 180 has.

Thanks.

 

[McstylisT]

Yeah they are excellent chips. The i5 750 is a bit cheaper though and offers great gaming ability and performance superior to core2 quads.
For general desktop use its no slouch however due to the i7 HT support , winrar apps and encoding are much quicker on the i7 series.

Its all about what you need and your budget. Set yourself a decent affordable budget without leaving yourself short and spec up a system to comply with that. We can also help too.

McT

 

[valdai]

If budget is tight I would recommend i5 as with use of the system being mostly gaming, the i5 750 should be plenty to not be a bottleneck. It would be worth investing the money you save there in a nicer graphics card imo.

 

[CSA]

purely for gaming go for i5 , encoding and other HT needing apps then i7

 

[the wopster]

the i5 is a great chip i have mine clocked to 4.2ghz

 

[Meridiusuk]

would a i5 chip be much quicker with apps like winrar over my presscot 3.6ghz as i dont game but can not afford a i7 chip i was woundering if the i5 will blow my cpu away for video encoding and winrar and other apps ?

 

[xGaffner]

Yes easily. Make sure you overclock it as well.

 

[linktoinsanity]

would a i5 chip be much quicker with apps like winrar over my presscot 3.6ghz as i dont game but can not afford a i7 chip i was woundering if the i5 will blow my cpu away for video encoding and winrar and other apps ?

Yes. Much faster.

My dual core Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 knocked the socks off my previous Pentium 4 3.4Ghz for everything and an i5 will be quite a bit more powerful then a Core 2 Duo.

 

[Slyman2k4]

Thanks McT, thanks chaps. Think i'll go with the 920.

Dunno where the mention of budget suddenly came from. I said had the money, but didn't want to go OTT with it .

Thanks again chaps.

 

[DragonQ]

i5 [email protected] Qpi 7222Mhz cooled by EK-Supreme

I thought i5 didn't use QPI...

 

[hammber2]

i5 OC better, but i7 is not that bad you can OC the 920 D0 at 4,2GHz with a good air cooler.
i7 have HT support, grate for game that support more than 8 threads (FSX, resident evil 5).
1336 support 16x/16, 1156 support 8x/8x
1336 is more future proof than the 1156. i9 will not support 1156, only 1336.

it is a good investment to go with the i7 but if your budget is tight I would recommend i5.