my dilema?!

ninefoureight · 24 Mar 2009 at 22:59

Wavering between topend and damn damn reasonable, is the £300 difference worth it in the below systems? Anything i should change?

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £229.99
(£199.99) £229.99
(£199.99)
Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £209.29
(£181.99) £209.29
(£181.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £164.99
(£143.47) £164.99
(£143.47)
OCZ Gold 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel Kit (3 X 2GB) (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) OCZ Gold 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel Kit (3 X 2GB) (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £68.99
(£59.99) £137.98
(£119.98)
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) £57.49
(£49.99) £57.49
(£49.99)
Sub Total : £695.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £105.81
Total : £811.23

vs

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £164.99
(£143.47) £164.99
(£143.47)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6700 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - OEM Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6700 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £140.29
(£121.99) £140.29
(£121.99)
Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £68.99
(£59.99) £68.99
(£59.99)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 X 2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX8500D2K2/4G) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 X 2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £38.99
(£33.90) £77.98
(£67.80)
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) £28.74
(£24.99) £28.74
(£24.99)
Sub Total : £418.24
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £64.24
Total : £492.48

Pros and cons??

formatuk · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:05

The performance gain from i7 is well worth it in my case plus you have 6GB of ram so better future proofing. My 2 cents

kerrgreg · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:06

the cheaper build is much slower

Subliminal Aura · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:08

twice the cost ... three times as quick ?

95thrifles · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:31

Id debate 3X as quick but certainly with the i7 build you're much more likely to have a future upgrade path, with the 775 you'll have to bin everything and start again, and the mobo is ****

JTrickle · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:38

kerrgreg said:
the cheaper build is much slower

As in 2/3 as quick?

Subliminal Aura · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:48

95thrifles said:
Id debate 3X as quick but certainly with the i7 build you're much more likely to have a future upgrade path, with the 775 you'll have to bin everything and start again, and the mobo is ****

Oh yeah ... got my maths wrong (I always think of overclocked values)... the i7 is 'almost' twice as quick but is highly clockable. Overclocked it'll kick ass... If you're gonna waste it at stock then so be it

Ninja Please! · 25 Mar 2009 at 00:27

My vote is the i7. I bought one and I do not regret it. I'd rather have my i7 and be broke than have not even half the pc and end up blowing the other $400 with nothing to show probably. $400 more than your other option gets you the best cpu money can buy, ddr3 tri-channel ram, and is way easy to overclock on air even. I'm at 3.84GHZ on air with coolermaster v8. The kicker is my cpu voltage is 1.16 and runs smooth as silk never hitting more than 65c on any core. ram speed is 1460mhz so of course I am going to suggest the i7.

ninefoureight · 25 Mar 2009 at 08:30

95thrifles said:
Id debate 3X as quick but certainly with the i7 build you're much more likely to have a future upgrade path, with the 775 you'll have to bin everything and start again, and the mobo is ****

Thanks for all the comment, appreciated. With regard to the motherboard, it was a shot in the dark and chosen as it was the cheapest option with 6 ram slots. Is there a better option close by in the price range that would be recommended?

95thrifles · 25 Mar 2009 at 08:32

No I was saying the 775 mobo was crap, the 1366 one you've chosen is very good. abit are bust so no support and P35 is a couple generations old now, if you were to go down the 775 route Id suggest you look at a P43 such as the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L for £80. But I thoroughly recomend you stick with i7 if you can afford it
Edit: Although your other option is to look at AMD, the tri-cores are scoring very well and a decent set up of AM3 mobo, 720BE CPU and 4 gig DDR3 would come in between the two intel systems you specced up, both in performance and money

hawker1986 · 25 Mar 2009 at 08:48

I would support everything people have said i7 is the way to go now and is definately worth the extra spend if you can afford it.

Hawker

danielmp007 · 25 Mar 2009 at 09:19

How about something like this?

Save a bit of money and the i7 is still better but IMO this is better than your second spec

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
*OVERCLOCKED* AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 2.8GHz @ 3.5GHz (Skt AM3) / Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P Motherboard / Corsair 4GB DDR3 XMS3 PC2-1600C9DHX TwinX (2x2GB) Bundle. £356.49
(£309.99) £356.49
(£309.99)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £164.99
(£143.47) £164.99
(£143.47)
Sub Total : £453.46
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £69.52
Total : £532.98