i7 with it for future games and rendering?

[MonsterMoshi]

I will be getting an ivybridge cpu when they are released and i'm debating between the i5 and i7....
The PC has to last me at least 3 years most likely around 5.
Main use right now at least, is games. But i do some 3d modeling and rendering and i am likely to be doing more of that as time moves on.
I know the i5 is a very capable CPU but i'm wandering if in the long term it is worth spending the extra £100-ish to get the 3770K over the 3570K
Do you think future games will work with hyperthreading? Is it going to give a noticeable performance difference over the i5 in 3D rendering applications?

Thanks

 

[cmndr_andi]

In 3D rendering there will be a definite performance difference between the i5 and i7. You can see this with the current i5 and i7 here - the performance difference in these applications with the new ivy bridge i5 and i7 should be similar.

As for gaming, I don't think we will really see proper usage of more than four cores and hyperthreading until the release of the next generation of consoles (expected to be 2013-2014). I say this because there are quite a few rumours swirling around that they will be using much more PC-type hardware and a relatively large number of slower cores. Therefore, if this happens ports to the PC may well also make good use of many cores. But before then there really aren't many upcoming games expected to make use of more than four cores, plus with an i5 2500K/i5 3570K you will only be CPU limited in modern games if you have a very expensive set of graphics cards.

 

[MonsterMoshi]

Sweet. Thanks for that link
The main thing is that there are no circumstances (at least in bench marking) where the i7 falls short so i wouldn't be losing out. It does give a pretty solid performance increase in most cases too and many times better than my Q6600
I just think i may find my self itching to get an i7 later on if i don't do it now anyway