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Intel i7 950???

Associate
Joined
1 Jan 2011
Posts
120
Hi,can someone give me some advice please?? I'm wanting to build a new setup & things have come a long way since my amd athlon! I'll be using the new setup for digital music production (pro tools) & photo/video editing only. Please bear in mind when replying that I'm not an overclocker or a gamer. I also remain a novice therefore Lamens would be appreciated, thanks in advance for any help you can offer!! Any suggestions for a suitable setup for my needs please? Have been looking at the i7 950, looks to be a good performer & I would guess sufficient for what I need? Thought about the i7 860/870 but I want a setup that is as future proof as possible, therefore do you think the Bloomfield & X58 chipset is the way to go? :)
 
The i7's are great CPUs (I'm still on a Q6600) but in about a week and a half the new Intel offerings are supposed to appear, when the NDA is lifted I'm not sure, so it may be worth while waiting a couple of weeks and seeing how things are looking.
 
The i7's are great CPUs (I'm still on a Q6600) but in about a week and a half the new Intel offerings are supposed to appear, when the NDA is lifted I'm not sure, so it may be worth while waiting a couple of weeks and seeing how things are looking.

roadmap_sm.jpg


i7 960 > Sandy Bridge
 
In term of price point, the 960 will cost more than the mainstream-level sandy bridge chips - but that is just an anomaly until Intel release the 960's replacement chips in Q3.

In terms of performance the s1155 i7 (sandy bridge) chips will be faster clock-for-clock than nahalem i7s (like the 960) and will be clocked higher at stock.

Hence, if you are considering spending i7 950 money then you would do very well to wait for January 9th when these new CPUs will arrive.

Have a read of this performance preview- its not a lot more powerful than current i7, but if it costs the same then its a good deal imho.
 
In term of price point, the 960 will cost more than the mainstream-level sandy bridge chips - but that is just an anomaly until Intel release the 960's replacement chips in Q3.

In terms of performance the s1155 i7 (sandy bridge) chips will be faster clock-for-clock than nahalem i7s (like the 960) and will be clocked higher at stock.

Hence, if you are considering spending i7 950 money then you would do very well to wait for January 9th when these new CPUs will arrive.

Have a read of this performance preview- its not a lot more powerful than current i7, but if it costs the same then its a good deal imho.

Wait you mean performance chip 960 is going to be more expensive than mainstream sandy bridge chips ? NOWAI
 
The point I was trying to make was that the 960 is a more expensive chip than the newer, cheaper chips (eg i7 2600K) and the 960 performs worse - hence the anomaly.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Do you think the i7 950 is overdoing it for what I need it for? Would a lesser performance chip (I don't overclock nor play games by the way) still be plenty for what I need it for, (digital music recording,editing & mixing & video/photo editing only)therefore saving money? I just want to get the right chip that easily handles the job with no hesitation, but don't want to over spend unescessarily. Saying that, I do want it to be future proof (as much as it can be). Will the new SandyBridge chips be based on a new socket? In which case, will I be best to wait for those if they are around the same price as the 950 & therefore choose a more future proof mobo? What benefits will the sandbridge give me (cost for cost) over the i 950?

Thanks in advance
 
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