which new generation processor is best for gaming?

[mythrandyr]

hi guys,

i'm working on upgrading my rig at the end of the month with gaming/light desktop work (browsing the internet, working in microsoft office, the odd dvd rip and conversion here and there and that's about it) in mind.

what i can't make my mind up on is what platform would be best. I am kind of torn between the I7 920 or the AM3 955. Now i feel that i must state that i am not interested anymore in trying to overclock the processor when i get it but i don't know which one would best suit my needs.

I know that the I7 is the most powerful multicore processor going at the minute (in truth i am more interested in the I5 with the intergrated gpu when they are released) but i would have also thought that the AM3 955 was better than the i7 for gaming due to it's higher core clock speed (and would provide a nice even keele for both desktop work/gaming and cost), even though it does fall way behind on many benchmark tests against the I7.

i could just use some advice on this and appreciate different points of view.

cheers.


Myth.

 

[Ninja Please!]

One advantage to a gamer going for an i7 is the fact they are all sli/crossfire (motherboards). It's hard to find sli am3 socket motherboard atm.

It is overkill as far as gaming is concerned though. Really if you wait till later this year I think intel is releasing the i5 processors and they will be much more reasonable price wise from what I hear.

 

[mythrandyr]

yeah i was thinking of waiting tbh but from what i can tell prices are not going to be too different between the I5 and the I7. If i remember right the I5 is going to start retailing at around $200, and translate that to sterling probably means that the processors are only going to be around £30 cheaper than the I7 equivical.

we also don't know too much about the 1st batch of I5's at the minute either. All that i know is that they are going to be similar to the I7 but instead of being tripple channel they will support dual channel only, they will also have a 45NM graphics core and a 32NM processing Core and should be capable of running in 8X/8X crossfire or single lane 16X graphics (ofcourse this can be disabled once a superior slot based GPU is inserted into the mainboard, or so some sites say). I have also heard that the IGPU will be a superior upgrade based on modern day laptop IGPU devices however it is sketchy to me at the minute as to wether or not Desktop CPU's will use the IGPU or if the IGPU will only be put into mobile processors aimed at the laptop market.

As far as sli/crossfire go, i know here and now that i will be sticking with ATI and i sincerely doubt that i will be using crossfire. If anything i plan to buy an X2. I'm currently using an 4870 and was going to upgrade to the 4890 but it does'nt seem worth it too me at the minute.

 

[yashiro]

You don't need an i7. A mid spec Core2Duo would be fine for you or a quad core AMD.

Set yourself a budget, then spec to it. Without any financial limitations i7 is always 'the best'.

 

[cmndr_andi]

but i would have also thought that the AM3 955 was better than the i7 for gaming due to it's higher core clock speed (and would provide a nice even keele for both desktop work/gaming and cost), even though it does fall way behind on many benchmark tests against the I7.

The Phenom II 955 may look like it will be faster due to higher clock speed, but this is rather misleading. Phenom II's are clock-for-clock slower than i7 processors. That's how i7s beat the phenom in gaming benchmarks. Also, i7 has 8 threads compared to the 4 on the Phenom II. When games become properly multi threaded - the i7 will widen it's performance lead over the Phenom II.

As the i7 920 is around the same price as a Phenom II 955 and the X58 boards are much better featured than the AM3 ones then I think the clear winner between the two is the i7.