New Build. CPU Questions

[Duff]Chef · 23 Oct 2009 at 21:01

Going through the process of a new build to replace my Q6600 and 4870 and as now no longer a student and have a decent job, looking at a xfire setup with I7.

The question is, currently I am at the following products, but concerned over CPU and if I am doing the right thing.

Current looking at.

Asus Rampage 2
12Gb OCZ Reaper 12800C7
Corsair Extreme SSD 64Gb (Windows Boot Drive for Win7)
Dual 5870 in Xfire

I already have case, psu and a couple of TB of storage, sound cards etc. But looking into a CPU.

I can afford an i7 975 EE and putting serious consideration into this, but not certain if it is really worth the extra £560 over a 920.

THe computer will be used for work (vid editing, ps, maya,) and gaming.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Chef,

P.S Whislt this is a build post, it is only regarding the CPU hence why being in CPU section.

[Duff]Chef · 23 Oct 2009 at 22:59

Anyone,

someone must have some input on this?

Locke · 23 Oct 2009 at 23:02

Save yourself £500 or so and get the 920 with an aftermarket cooler.... then spend the savings on beer. /win

McstylisT · 23 Oct 2009 at 23:07

Hi there ,

No , cant say the 975 is worth the extra to be honest. Do not get me wrong its a superior chip probably using better silicon and probably all round beefier. However since you can clock the 920 into the region of 4ghz ( clock lowers when using 12GB of ram in some cases , including me ). You are getting a decent deal from the 920 for the cash. The 920 is a good a CPU there is around now. Its all one could need and even though you can afford to spend more , there really is no point in my opinion.

Great spec by the way. You must have a good job. Any back hand vacancies you can offer me. ? ? lmao.

Good luck

McT

Poontun · 23 Oct 2009 at 23:11

Get the 920 along with a Megahalems and overclock it to 4GHZ+

thebandit · 24 Oct 2009 at 19:55

Agree with all the above, if you're going to OC the 920 you will not notice any difference day to day, no matter your budget, save 500 notes and get SSD raid or something to really kick your PC build into life.

=VTA=MANFACE · 24 Oct 2009 at 20:23

Get the 975. Great chip if you can afford it.

entireweb · 25 Oct 2009 at 01:40

=VTA=MANFACE said:
Get the 975. Great chip if you can afford it.

What about the i7 860? I have mine running at 4ghz with 8gb of ram. The TPD is less than the 920 and the performance is the same.

I use mine as a hobby PC, mainly distributed computing.

I have a few PCs

The setup of 64gb SSD and 1TB (etc) second drive is spot on. This combo was the biggest improvement I noticed (in real world) as to say an overclocked q6600 using windows 7.

Also dont IMO get to anal over the 5870's. The gtx295 beats it and its at the same price. I know the current draw of the gtx is greater, but beaten is beaten IMO. BTW, I dont buy into the next gen of dx11 games and I would buy a GPU based on STALKER 2010. Open GL is the way forward IMO.

thebandit · 25 Oct 2009 at 11:34

entireweb said:
Also dont IMO get to anal over the 5870's. The gtx295 beats it and its at the same price. I know the current draw of the gtx is greater, but beaten is beaten IMO. BTW, I dont buy into the next gen of dx11 games and I would buy a GPU based on STALKER 2010. Open GL is the way forward IMO.

While you may have a point on open GL you can't simply dismiss DX11 out of hand entirely. I think if you're buying a PC today and have the money it's daft not to buy DX11 capable hardware. Whats the guy going to do with the extra few FPS on a 295 ? far better to get all the new tech in the 58** series. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying buy ATI over Nvidia, if nvidia had DX11 hardware out I would be saying simply pick the DX11 card from either which suits your needs better. I think telling anyone now to buy a 295 now is like saying, don't get i7 buy a core2 Q9650 instead!

[Duff]Chef · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:25

Thanks for the info guys,

Looks like I will be saving a few pennies and going for the 920. As the £560 difference will allow for a few extra items.

Regarding the 920, what are the differences between the 920 and the 920 D0. I will be overclockings under water cooling, so I take it the 920 D0 is the ideal choice? Can someone explain the differences?

Regarding the 5870, apart from the obvious, my other reasoning is due to ATI's Evefinity.

McT, as for the job, I work in marketing for Samsung.

domthecondom · 26 Oct 2009 at 13:28

get the 920 D0 stepping

It overclocks a lot nicer from what I read on the forums the 920 C0 is ment to be worse

ETNiES · 26 Oct 2009 at 13:32

Well get yourself a few freebie Samsung SSD's to go with your new build ^^

SMAndy · 26 Oct 2009 at 14:47

Why even spend that much on an i7 when an i5 is better in some situations? It's cheaper for one, clocks just as nicely, and it should run better in games.

I've seen many benchmarks where the hyperthreading of an i7 slows its gaming performance down. You've got 8 threads worth of memory in 7MB L3 cache, since the 1MB L2 is copied into there..

On an i5, there are 4 threads in that same amount of memory. Works better when you consider that not much is multi-core enabled yet. I don't know if theres a proper term for it, but i call it cache flooding.

Of course, the i7 is often considered the superior chip, but isn't socket 1156 supposed to be the way forward for upgrades? or are Intel going to make their next chip on yet another new socket? Upgradeability for the win.

ETNiES · 26 Oct 2009 at 18:06

SMAndy said:
Why even spend that much on an i7 when an i5 is better in some situations? It's cheaper for one, clocks just as nicely, and it should run better in games.

I've seen many benchmarks where the hyperthreading of an i7 slows its gaming performance down. You've got 8 threads worth of memory in 7MB L3 cache, since the 1MB L2 is copied into there..

On an i5, there are 4 threads in that same amount of memory. Works better when you consider that not much is multi-core enabled yet. I don't know if theres a proper term for it, but i call it cache flooding.

Of course, the i7 is often considered the superior chip, but isn't socket 1156 supposed to be the way forward for upgrades? or are Intel going to make their next chip on yet another new socket? Upgradeability for the win.

Eh i9's are gonna be on socket 1366 i.e the i7 socket, so that's where the upgrade ability is.

[Duff]Chef · 26 Oct 2009 at 19:35

SMAndy, I use the computer for work and some gaming, but mainly work and as that is based in Maya, Photoshop etc then the I7 is the better CPU. PLus if I go I7 920, then I will be making the move into I9 when it comes out.

entireweb · 28 Oct 2009 at 13:11

[Duff]Chef;15180591 said:
SMAndy, I use the computer for work and some gaming, but mainly work and as that is based in Maya, Photoshop etc then the I7 is the better CPU. PLus if I go I7 920, then I will be making the move into I9 when it comes out.

You are making two assumptions regarding I9. The first is that, whilst it may be pin compatible with 1366, who is to say todays x58 motherboards will run it. Second it could be 995 pounds, like the current extreme editions.

GunRunner · 28 Oct 2009 at 14:34

domthecondom said:
get the 920 D0 stepping

It overclocks a lot nicer from what I read on the forums the 920 C0 is ment to be worse

Perhaps in general, but there are some fine examples of the C0 out there! Perhaps I should say in here

.

feeddagoat · 28 Oct 2009 at 14:37

thebandit said:
While you may have a point on open GL you can't simply dismiss DX11 out of hand entirely. I think if you're buying a PC today and have the money it's daft not to buy DX11 capable hardware. Whats the guy going to do with the extra few FPS on a 295 ? far better to get all the new tech in the 58** series. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying buy ATI over Nvidia, if nvidia had DX11 hardware out I would be saying simply pick the DX11 card from either which suits your needs better. I think telling anyone now to buy a 295 now is like saying, don't get i7 buy a core2 Q9650 instead!

Dont forget either, Power draw, heat and the way ATI are pushing multimonitor settups with the new 5xxx cards would make me favour them over the faster last series cards from both companies.

entireweb · 28 Oct 2009 at 18:11

thebandit said:
While you may have a point on open GL you can't simply dismiss DX11 out of hand entirely. I think if you're buying a PC today and have the money it's daft not to buy DX11 capable hardware. Whats the guy going to do with the extra few FPS on a 295 ? far better to get all the new tech in the 58** series. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying buy ATI over Nvidia, if nvidia had DX11 hardware out I would be saying simply pick the DX11 card from either which suits your needs better. I think telling anyone now to buy a 295 now is like saying, don't get i7 buy a core2 Q9650 instead!

I dont think its quite as simple as that.

There will be no decent games out for dx 11 IMO until end of next year. By then there will be new dx11 cards. a lot of dx11 functionality will also work on dx10 cards. The most important function of multithreading in directx11 will also work on dx10 cards. Tessellation wont but then again where are the games, again IMO end of next year (crysis 2??), or the new Stalker. IMO the next killer game will be RAGE from ID software, which doesnt even use directx but openGL. Also I do like PhysX and am running an 8800gt along side the gtx295. Also I need to use CUDA, so thats the main reason I am using nvidia. I am not saying the 5870 is a bad card. Its not (if you can get one) but I am just sayinjg I dont think its the be all and end all.

Yjani · 28 Oct 2009 at 23:33

Id go with the 920 Do also, phenominal chip