i7 - still worth getting?

DiscoDave · 1 Nov 2008 at 19:39

Hey all,

So a few months ago i was thinking about replacing my old (but faithful rig) :

AMD 64 3700+
2GB DDR 400
nVidia 7800GT

etc etc etc...

I posted a thread asking for advice a while ago, most of the people mentioned waiting for the i7. Now the time is nearer and more information has been made avaliable regarding the CPU i'm just wondering if it's still worth it?

Ive seen the pre order prices on OCUK and they're a bit steep... I was going to get the 940 but I'm not comfortable with splashing out £500 on just a processor.

Therefore, I'm looking at the 920 which is more reasonably priced. Does anyone know how this processor is stacking up with the latest core2 quads? At the moment my provisional shopping list looks a bit like the following although a bit incomplete(going to transfer my current 500GB Samsung SpinPoint over)

Any thoughts on this setup? This machine will be primarialy used for gaming. I was considering getting a core2quad setup now, but I was thinking that although GPU's and such come and go fairly quickly, motherboards and sockets tend to stay around for much longer. Therefore if i get a i7 motherboard, i'd be better off in the long term for any future upgrading opportunities.

Also, how easy is it to get parts fom America over here, could probably save hundreds of pounds getting some parts from an American store.

I appreciate your comments.

David

fobose · 1 Nov 2008 at 19:47

Thats a lot of money. I dont think i7 will drop a lot in price for quite a while, not to mention DDR3 is still expensive. Why not go for a small upgrade such as this:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) - Retail
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)
Asus P5QL Pro Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCS Extreme 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Total : £303.04 (inc delivery, you need 250 post IIRC to get free delivery, so -£8 if you post a bit more, without spamming).

Thats a cheap upgrade and will be good for gaming, you could always add a third party cooler, such as the Akasa AK-965 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) for £12.91 inc VAT and overclock for even more performance!

EsaT · 1 Nov 2008 at 20:09

DiscoDave said:
Does anyone know how this processor is stacking up with the latest core2 quads?

Of course official reviews aren't up yet because of NDAs but in all places they don't feel obligation to them...
In some raw processing and well multithreading code difference can be apparently up to 30-40% per clock but for gaming there isn't anything new in it.

Games like big fast L2 cache of Yorkfield as much as they like Nehalem's integrated memory controller and slow L3 cache.

86JR · 1 Nov 2008 at 21:08

with that budget id be buying something like this!

DiscoDave · 1 Nov 2008 at 21:14

twoblacklines said:
with that budget id be buying something like this!

Well to be honest this is a present for myself (graduating from uni and finding a job etc...) I'm living at home at the moment so have a fair amount of expendable cash. But will be saving like a git in Jan for a few years so this will probably be my last big buy for a while..

David

mpj88 · 2 Nov 2008 at 00:17

if jus focused on gaming with that much money you could almost get sli/tri sli gtx280 rig with a mint e8xx chip

DiscoDave · 3 Nov 2008 at 18:41

mpj88 said:
if jus focused on gaming with that much money you could almost get sli/tri sli gtx280 rig with a mint e8xx chip

True, but i'd be limiting my future upgrade options.

WantoN · 3 Nov 2008 at 19:06

DiscoDave said:
True, but i'd be limiting my future upgrade options.

I've found I, and many others never 'upgrade'. We always say we will, but in the end we just get a brand new rig like you are now.

Technology moves so quickly that by the time you're ready to upgrade again your rig is obsolete.

Ant :cool:

sja360 · 3 Nov 2008 at 19:48

i'd go with just a current quad core, either a GTX280 or 4870 X2. spend the rest of the cash on i dunno a car or going out or a holiday?

Mr Kingston · 3 Nov 2008 at 19:54

sja360 said:
i'd go with just a current quad core, either a GTX280 or 4870 X2. spend the rest of the cash on i dunno a car or going out or a holiday?

I have to agree, the i7 dosnt look like its going to be as good as all the hype is. A current quad like a q9550 will be perfect and probably better at games to. Theirs a lot of reviews out there read them but i will be keeping my rig and buying a better cpu or monitor