I'm looking to build a new machine now that I have put some money away and I was just wondering if the new i7/x58 tech was worth waiting for if it really should be on shelves sometime this month. The initial review make it sound like it is indeed worth it, however the price will obviously be high to begin with. So, basically do you think it's worth it to wait or to pick up a nicer yet older quad core or even a nice dual core along with a Rampage board or something.

P.S. I plan on using this computer primarily for gaming with occasional video editing and 3d design and I like high resolutions.

its up to you. i would buy now since the new technology will be overpriced

I was basically debating between the i7 920 or the Q9550. I'm really just debating whether or not it's worth it from a performance standpoint. Is the new tech with the i7/x58 setup worth getting over a current chip with an x48 setup is what I'm trying to figure out. I'm willing to spend some money if it's within reason and it reflects a significant enough performance upgrade. Also, anyone actually have an idea when i7's will be on shelves? I just haven't seen if an exact date has been released yet.

it suppose to be on q4 this year. it wont hurt for you to wait when they get released, there will be benchmarks if its really worth switching and at the same time the prices for lga 775 cpus will probably drop

I built a q9550 machine (look in profile) on Sept 9 because i am impatient...

I feel i should have waited for i7

I think this depends on how much cash you plan to spend, If you have 2k wait for Nehalem if you have 1k, buy now.

The big deal w/ i7 is that it will use a new type of hyperthreading. I'm not sure where I read it but the performance per core is suppose to be about 15 percent higher then the core 2. For gaming this doesn't mean a whole lot. And it won't mean a lot for video editing unless you have a software solution that is heavily optimized. I would buy now, with i7 being completely new it will have some growing up to do in the market before it's worth my dollar.

If your primary concern is gaming, then don't wait. The gain in gaming performance on i7 will be minimal:

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=480
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php? [...] &Itemid=35

The entry i7 920 2.66 cpu will wholesale at $284. If your cpu budget is in the $300+ range, then it would pay to wait and see. Any current quad over $300 will not be able to compete, and I would expect those type cpu's to drop in price accordingly. Availability is supposed to be November.

For games, A E8400 or a quad with a clock rate of 3.0 will run anything our there well. A possible exception is FSX or supreme commander, cpu bound and multicore optimized games which do better with any quads.
For games, the vga system is much more important.

If you will do heavy cpu multitasking or run multicore optimized tasks then a quad is better.

If you can wait, wait.

Well considering that after Core i7 is out LGA775 will be a dead end and from what I have seen it looks like Intel plans on LGA1366 for the Westmere 32nm die shrink as well so future upgrads should be easier.

That being said, from a performance standpoint its truly hard to say. We have yet to see a complete system performing with finalized drivers in a uncontrolled benchmark. Until then its really a toss up.

About I7 (NEHALEM) , is that news for real?

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inqu [...] ge-nehalem

I am not sure I can believe that. Considering that the RAM voltage itself has nothing to do with the CPU. Either way since the CPU is no longer tied to the FSB and has the IMC I don't think OCing will be as limited as people think.

I was on a site couple days ago..
Guy had a Gigabyte MB, with the Nehalem CPU, Running 2 4870 X2s OC,
w/ 8gb 1600 MHz DDR3, ran the performance benchmarks,..
Shredded everything that I've seen to date.. I'm talking in the 30000 range.. Ha a weird H2O setup on it.. looked like he had it wired up to his house AC.. Will try and find the site again, and post the thread to it here..
Looks like it will Run in the 5.4 - 5.5 Ghz range OC'd.. according to the stuff that I saw..