i7 860 OR i7 920.

[JonJ678]

How much ram does audio editing use? Something which never seems to come up in dual vs triple channel discussions is that triple channel lets you have significantly more ram for less money than dual channel does, as 4gb sticks don't exist for reasonable money, so if its possible that the application will eat through however much ram you have, x58 makes a bit more sense.

Otherwise I echo the opinion that the 860 isn't worth the price increase over the 750.

 

[Freddie1980]

Your better of with the Core i7 860 for all the reason pointed out (less power, cheaper) and at default speeds it's quicker plus it's turbo is a lot more aggressive when it comes to ramping up the clock rate when it's been asked to do CPU intensive tasks.

 

[cupofchow]

if your gonna spend the money on i7 860 i would defo say go for the 920.

If not get the i5 750 as a cheaper option.

 

[hubby1989]

..

 

[mmj_uk]

For audio editing you would want a CPU with Hyperthreading ideally for that extra oomph, which is why I wouldn't even consider the i5 750.

 

[Freddie1980]

920..end of story. Why settle for second best?

Then why go with the 920 if you don't want 2nd best? He's not using it for gaming and the applications he using it for aren't going to tax dual channel memory let alone triple channel. The 860 is clocked faster then the 920 and it's turbo mode is a lot more aggressive to boot, I fail to see what extra advantages you will get from spending £75 more on a CPU that offers less performance. The argument that you can upgrade to hex-core CPU's is mute as well since they will be prohibitively expensive for a long time.

 

[mmj_uk]

The argument that you can upgrade to hex-core CPU's is mute as well since they will be prohibitively expensive for a long time.

In 2-3 years time they will probably be mainstream parts and be much more affordable though, I'm just thinking long term.

I can't see them wanting more power than an i7 860 can provide but you never know in a couple of years time they may start video editing (which is a lot more demanding) and phone up wanting an upgrade, in which case 6 core and 12GB ram would be the logical upgrade.

Perhaps LGA1156 will eventually have 6 core also but there's been nothing said as yet.