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i7 920 Questions

Johnz0r

Johnz0r

Johnz0r

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Hi, I am looking to get back into PC gaming after being away on consoles for the past 3-4 years.

My mate is offering an i7 920 based system and was wondering if this chip can still cut it and/or if it will last for a few years to come? I know the 1366 socket is dated but was wondering if it would be better to save a few more pennies and go for a sandy bridge setup instead?

It comes to around £350 for all the bits my mate has to offer.

Many thanks

John
 
The i7 920 is still a very capable CPU for gaming, It isn't quite as quick as a sandy bridge quad in some CPU-heavy games, but tbh you would need a serious amount of graphics power to tell the difference.

Also, make sure you overclock it - if it is a D0 stepping then you should be able to hit 4.0-4.2GHz with a good cooler.

May I ask what kit is included for the £350?
 
Depends on what are the bits for £350 to be honest as that can buy a i52500K bundle at OCUK for a few quid more and offer a bit more longevity to your system.

I'm running a i7 930 at stock at the moment alongside a gtx580 and able to play Skyrim at high level but and Arma 2 runs smoothly compared to my old E8500 but when Arma3 is out I will after see if the CPU is going to be upto it.
 
The 920 is still a capable chip, but whether it's a good deal depends on how much your getting for £350.
 
Here are the other bits:

CPU Cooler: Asus Triton 88
RAM: 3GB DDR3 Triple Channel G-SKill
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe
HDD: Samsung 1TB
Graphics: 8800GTX 768mb
Case: Antec 900
PSU: OCZ 600W StealthXStream

Was thinking of getting some more RAM and a beefier PSU and GPU to match.
 
3gb wont hack it in gaming,you need 6gb
graphics card is poor too,mb is a bit iffy tbh

i wouldnt buy,best thing is the cpu/hdd and case
 
For £350 that's not a bad deal.

I would agree with you that a RAM and GPU upgrade is in order.

The OCZ Stealthxtreme PSU is actually pretty OK (here is a review) - so unless you plan to spend £300+ on a graphics card then it should handle a new GPU.

As for RAM, if you want to go for 6GB (plenty for gaming) then this is a good kit.

If you want to push the boat out then I would suggest going for two of these kits as it will give you 16GB for £76 (only £6 more than a 3x4GB - 12GB kit) and will run fine in triple channel mode on that motherboard.

For the graphics card, do you have a budget in mind?
 
Not bothered about the budget for the graphics card just for it to play games at my max resolution of 1920x1080. Was thinking a 6950/GTX570 or even a 6870 as they seem to be bloody decent for the price!

Thing is though, for the money that I would outlay for these components would push it up to £600 and for that I have priced up a sandybridge shuttle with a 2550k and a 6870 as they are on offer at a competitor when bought together. That would include 16GB of ram too. Decisions, decisions.
 
i have a setup the same but a p6x58d-e mb,ocz 6gb 1800mhz ram,powercolor 5770 gpu for £120 more,anymore than 6gb is a waste imo,plus it will limit oc ability
 
Thing is, if you get a shuttle then you are rather limited in terms of future upgrades and overclocking.

In comparison with an Antec 900 case and 600W PSU you have a lot more scope.

Also, if you are mainly gaming you really don't need 16GB of RAM (it was just a nice idea for the money and if you had the use for it)- 6GB or 8GB is plenty as most games simply can't use more than 4GB.

As for the graphics card, I would stick with the 8800GTX fro a couple of weeks as the HD 7800 series are expected to hit the shelves on the 19th. For £200 you should be able to pick up a HD 7850 2GB - which looks to beat the HD 6950 2GB in games.
 
You are slowly making me change my mind back to the i7 920. I have worked out that the bundle I could get with the shuttle would cost me £150 more. Money is kind of tight at the moment so that could be saved to pay for my GPU upgrade.

Since you have the same motherboard as the rig in question, have you had any problems with it yourself? Wazza seems to think it's a bit of a stinker? Looking on competitors websites its going for £200, obviously paying a premium for older tech but still quite pricey? Plus I have had very good experiences with Asus equipment in the past.

Is the cooler mentioned any good for overclocking potential also? I could really care less about overclocking to be honest but if the potential is there it would be handy I guess if later games are starting to struggle.

Thanks for the help buddy, very much appreciated :)
 
The P6T Deluxe is a very nice X58 board - overclocks great, is very stable and has a triple spacing between the main graphics card slots - so if you run two cards in SLI/CF then the cooling is better than most other X58 boards (which usually only have double spacing). I personally haven't had any problems with it and have been running it almost constantly for almost three years now (when I bought it new it cost ~£220).

Maybe he is just referring it to being old tech (which it is - first released in 2008) and will likely be out of warranty by now.

There are also plenty of reviews out there for it which show it to be a good motherboard (here is one).

As for the Triton 88 cooler - it's a pretty good one (here is a review).
 
I have the v2 edition/version of the P6T deluxe x58 and its great. Never had a problem with it.

iirc there was something murky with the v1. Which resulted in the rev2. depending on how much tinfoil you want to wear on your head, the only difference between the revisions was the lack of a SAS marvell controller on the v2.

The only negative thing I could say about the chip is that it can put out some heat (when overclocked).

Might be worth asking what stepping the chip is?

If its a D0, offer him a cheeky three hundred ;)
 
its ok but its one of the first x58 boards,the p6x58 has sata3 and usb 3 ect,dont worry about heat aslong as it stays below 80c,they run hot anyway
 
I have the setup that you are thinking of getting and can say that all games run on max graphics on the single monitor setup / resolution you're going to play on. So you're making a good deal if all you have to do is buy new memory and a gfx card. :)
 
Quite a few people on these forums are still running X58 rigs, me inclusive, and yes they still cut it for gaming. So if you really cant stretch your budget then they're still a decent purchase. But if you can stretch a bit then I'd try for a 2500k (not in a shuttle case though), simply because they are slightly quicker, run cooler, and OC better. And on a gen 3 board you also have a decent shot at an upgrade path to ivy bridge.
 
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