Understanding the current crop of chips

[dangerstat]

So lets break this down.

For everything the i7 is best.
The i5 is close the i7 for gaming tasks. Bar gaming it's pretty much on bar with a highly clocked Phenom II

Though performace per pound the Phenom II beats the i5 (at the moment)


So:
"I love games but I'm no rich guy" -> buy the i5
"I've got so much money I wipe my bottom with 20's" -> buy the i7
"I want the best value CPU" -> buy the Phenom II

 

[fizzle-187]

Thank you for your clear statements! It's really helped mate.

 

[feeddagoat]

from bit-tech it seems that the best option is to buy the i7 920. Mobos are cheaper and the processor its self overclocks much further if your willing to do it manually rather than the turbo bust. Note, i7 processors contain hyperthreading and there will be LGA1156 i7's aswell as i5's. The other advantage LGA1366 has for gaming is 2 or more 16X PCI lanes where as i5's drop to 8X

review at http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/09/08/intel-core-i5-and-i7-lynnfield-cpu-review/1

 

[dangerstat]

Thank you for your clear statements! It's really helped mate.

No worries, I'm following all this and I think it's just getting stupid with the amount of chipsets, CPUs and the like. How on earth the general population is meant to make a choice right now, god only knows

 

[AJK]

So lets break this down.Though performace per pound the Phenom II beats the i5 (at the moment)

Most reviews I've seen/heard have concluded that the i5 beats the Phenom in most apps, basically thanks to the Turbo Boost. I guess this isn't a universal viewpoint tho...