i7 vs. core 2 Quad

Okay, so I'm building a new computer and basically want to know which way to go. Which would be better, the Q9550, Quad 2.83, or the 920 i7, 2.66. I don't know all there is to know about i7's yet but I will be looking for shear performance and gaming experience. Also, in the same respect the Q9650(3.0 quad) or the 940 i7 (2.93). Last question, for the money, which one, 920 vs 940 would be a better value?

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an i7 would be a fair deal faster, but you have to consider the price of the entire platform. at this time, you'll need to spend at least ~$285 on an i7 cpu, and at least $250 on an X58 motherboard. don't forget about the ridiculous prices of DDR3 compared to DDR2. but if you don't mind paying that extra, then it'll be worth it. as for 920 vs 940, i don't think the 940 is worth the extra ~$280.

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Reply to Nik_I

Thanks, that's pretty much what I've been thinking...and my quad platform had a $250 MoBo and DDR3 1600 already so I'm game for an i7!

Reply to jeteryankees22

since you already got DDR3 ram you'd be a fool not to go i7. Any core 2 duo mobo with ddr3 will run about as much as a x58 mobo.

Reply to roadrunner197069

Agreed, if your not put off by the price or already have DDR3 its well worth it.

------------------------------ "This thread made me strap on my lolerskates and head for my roflcopter."
Reply to chookman

Gaming performance all depends on how many graphics cards are you using. Cpus behave differently. i7 possess more calculation power, although depending on shared L3 cache means more latency. For single cards, i7 amounts to a slight downgrade over current quads. For dual, i7's performance edge is significant. For quad, i7's lead becomes huge.

http://techgage.com/article/intel_ [...] preview/11

Get at least dual gpus for that i7.

Reply to dagger

The quick answer is you didn't give enough information. Basically, it boils down to how much you wish to spend.

If you have the money, I might recommend getting a Core i7 920 system with 6GB (3x2GB) RAM and Vista 64-bit. Go either Crossfire or SLI with this.

I'd then upgrade the video cards in two years to give this system a good 4-year life span as a high-end gaming system.

The other way to go is to start with something like 2xHD4850 and the E8500 and build a good bang-for-the-buck system which is balanced but not worth upgrading.

Both methods have merit and depend on cash and how much you want to play the latest games at high settings. Personally, I think i might choose to get a SONY PS4 and get out of the upgrading/tweaking nightmare of PC's completely.

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Message edited by photonboy on 11-21-2008 at 06:50:27 AM

Reply to photonboy

To upgrade to I7 would require new mobo, memory, and the chip. This could cost $600 plus. The performance gains over the previous Quad cores are good, not impressive. And with 8 cores to be rumored in the pipeline I would wait and maybe get a Gtx 295 or two if you need bragging rights.

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Reply to ministerpaul

photonboy wrote :

The quick answer is you didn't give enough information. Basically, it boils down to how much you wish to spend.

If you have the money, I might recommend getting a Core i7 920 system with 6GB (3x2GB) RAM and Vista 64-bit. Go either Crossfire or SLI with this.

I'd then upgrade the video cards in two years to give this system a good 4-year life span as a high-end gaming system.

The other way to go is to start with something like 2xHD4850 and the E8500 and build a good bang-for-the-buck system which is balanced but not worth upgrading.

Both methods have merit and depend on cash and how much you want to play the latest games at high settings. Personally, I think i might choose to get a SONY PS4 and get out of the upgrading/tweaking nightmare of PC's completely.

Tell that to the Fallout 3 PS3 owners. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up.)

Reply to knuxkles

i7. He already has the DDR3, cost of the CPU is about the same, so he's only looking at an extra $75 for the mobo.

Reply to gamerk316

I sit corrected, Micro center sells the I7 Core 920 for $230, the Asus P6t x58 motherboard for $250, and had the Corsair XMS3 DDR3 6GB for $122; so I bought 2 for a total of 12GB. They finally dropped the price of the GTX 295 to $480 so I grabbed 2 of those. I tried in vain to stuff all that technology in a Antec 9 Hundred and saw air flow would be a serious problem so I went back to Micro center and purchase a Enermax Chakra full tower for $138. The total for all of it was $1801.98...it was my birthday. After installing Windows Vista 32-bit, (which took five hours due to poor memory access) and installing updates.... the Beast of a machine ran smooth as silk. Vista 32-bit recognized 12GB, but only utilizes about 3.5GB of memory. So to test the I7 Core 920 I threw a CPU hungry game GTA IV at it and I have to say I was impressed how it smoothly it ran. Even with the programming limitation and quirks Rockstar is scrambling to fix. The two GTX in SLI made things worst since GTA IV does not support SLI, so I just disabled SLI in the 3D settings for GTA IV. Ultimately I can not believe how stable Vista has become, so I ordered my $10 copy of Vista Home 64-bit from Microsoft. Yes if you purchased a copy of Vista 32-bit you can order a free copy of the 64-bit version for the price of shipping. I think they send it via snail mail...haven't gotten it yet.

If you got the cash and live near a Micro center go for the I7 Core 920 which is very overclockable and nearly rivals the speed of its $1000 brother. Even if you are on a budget....the X58 is the fastest platform available to the public on the planet. It manhandles anything you throw at it and sends it to work with oversized sunglasses. With this powerful rig I finally realize...I'M A SUPERPOWER!

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Reply to ministerpaul

It's definitely true - the i7 with 12 gigs of RAM does allow for a level of speed which is quite awesome, honestly

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------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
Reply to cjl

cjl wrote :

It's definitely true - the i7 with 12 gigs of RAM does allow for a level of speed which is quite awesome, honestly

Show off! LOL!

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Reply to ministerpaul

ministerpaul wrote :

I sit corrected, Micro center sells the I7 Core 920 for $230, the Asus P6t x58 motherboard for $250, and had the Corsair XMS3 DDR3 6GB for $122; so I bought 2 for a total of 12GB. They finally dropped the price of the GTX 295 to $480 so I grabbed 2 of those. I tried in vain to stuff all that technology in a Antec 9 Hundred and saw air flow would be a serious problem so I went back to Micro center and purchase a Enermax Chakra full tower for $138. The total for all of it was $1801.98...it was my birthday. After installing Windows Vista 32-bit, (which took five hours due to poor memory access) and installing updates.... the Beast of a machine ran smooth as silk. Vista 32-bit recognized 12GB, but only utilizes about 3.5GB of memory. So to test the I7 Core 920 I threw a CPU hungry game GTA IV at it and I have to say I was impressed how it smoothly it ran. Even with the programming limitation and quirks Rockstar is scrambling to fix. The two GTX in SLI made things worst since GTA IV does not support SLI, so I just disabled SLI in the 3D settings for GTA IV. Ultimately I can not believe how stable Vista has become, so I ordered my $10 copy of Vista Home 64-bit from Microsoft. Yes if you purchased a copy of Vista 32-bit you can order a free copy of the 64-bit version for the price of shipping. I think they send it via snail mail...haven't gotten it yet.

If you got the cash and live near a Micro center go for the I7 Core 920 which is very overclockable and nearly rivals the speed of its $1000 brother. Even if you are on a budget....the X58 is the fastest platform available to the public on the planet. It manhandles anything you throw at it and sends it to work with oversized sunglasses. With this powerful rig I finally realize...I'M A SUPERPOWER!

Well I think you're just being a cheeky git with too much money on his hands. The only remedy for this is to donate some of that money to others. Might I suggest me for example? =]

Your system seems pretty set for the next 6 years easily.

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Reply to Rain1406

Go to Micro center. The I7 Core 920 is $229 and is the better value. The speed is amazing.

------------------------------ EVGA X58 3X SLI 12GB Corsair XM3 1600 2X GTX 295s SLI
1 TB HD Vista 32bit 1 TB Vista 64bit 400 GB HD Xp 1200 Watt PS Enermax Chakra Case w/ 2 250 mm fans
Reply to ministerpaul

i'm upgrading to an i7 rig fairly soon, and unfortunately I don't live in America so can't.

Reply to Rain1406

ministerpaul wrote :

Show off! LOL!

That's kind of a funny statement coming from someone with 2 GTX 295's

(I've got a single 4870x2 - no reason to quadfire yet for me IMHO)

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Message edited by cjl on 03-19-2009 at 02:26:56 AM

------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
Reply to cjl

cjl wrote :

That's kind of a funny statement coming from someone with 2 GTX 295's

(I've got a single 4870x2 - no reason to quadfire yet for me IMHO)

You right. I just wanted the POWER!

------------------------------ EVGA X58 3X SLI 12GB Corsair XM3 1600 2X GTX 295s SLI
1 TB HD Vista 32bit 1 TB Vista 64bit 400 GB HD Xp 1200 Watt PS Enermax Chakra Case w/ 2 250 mm fans
Reply to ministerpaul

Rain1406 wrote :

Well I think you're just being a cheeky git with too much money on his hands. The only remedy for this is to donate some of that money to others. Might I suggest me for example? =]

Your system seems pretty set for the next 6 years easily.

I do donate to KIVA. I don't have too much money, as a nurse I'm comfortable, own my home, and my bills are paid. But don't worry those price will drop further. I patiently circle those retailers like a vulture over a dying creature in the Sahara desert

------------------------------ EVGA X58 3X SLI 12GB Corsair XM3 1600 2X GTX 295s SLI
1 TB HD Vista 32bit 1 TB Vista 64bit 400 GB HD Xp 1200 Watt PS Enermax Chakra Case w/ 2 250 mm fans
Reply to ministerpaul

Ugh you guys are utterly or severely delusional. Unless your a hardcore crysis fan there are no games right now or should I say sufficient GOOD games that are not first person shooters that require such power.

Its going to take another 3-5 years for i7 to be fully in need to us gamers.

Here is a set thats going to last you at least another four years.

OS stay with xp, who cares about directx 10 right now wait till windows 7 comes out or they finally fix all those vista bugs.

Asus or 790i ultra sli mother board
9800 sli x2 or a single 260
8300 quad intel processor (no risk of heating up, can overclock not as much, however u dont run the risk of killing your pc)

Thats as low as I would go to play crysis, other than that anyone right now who purchases an i7 needs to have a good reason or is just a spoiled bratt. Unless your using intensive 3d gaming design studios or need the power to create world domination its useless at this point.

Ask any CERTIFIED comp tech they will all tell you the same response "Theres nothing in a mass right now that really needs i7, yet again its like all new things that come out we dont really need them until 3-4 years from now, and by the time that happens new processor is already coming out, you'll never have the top gaming gear for more than year or less."

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Reply to pcwiz1983

pcwiz1983 wrote :

Ugh you guys are utterly or severely delusional. Unless your a hardcore crysis fan there are no games right now or should I say sufficient GOOD games that are not first person shooters that require such power.

Its going to take another 3-5 years for i7 to be fully in need to us gamers.

Here is a set thats going to last you at least another four years.

OS stay with xp, who cares about directx 10 right now wait till windows 7 comes out or they finally fix all those vista bugs.

Asus or 790i ultra sli mother board
9800 sli x2 or a single 260
8300 quad intel processor (no risk of heating up, can overclock not as much, however u dont run the risk of killing your pc)

Thats as low as I would go to play crysis, other than that anyone right now who purchases an i7 needs to have a good reason or is just a spoiled bratt. Unless your using intensive 3d gaming design studios or need the power to create world domination its useless at this point.

Ask any CERTIFIED comp tech they will all tell you the same response "Theres nothing in a mass right now that really needs i7, yet again its like all new things that come out we dont really need them until 3-4 years from now, and by the time that happens new processor is already coming out, you'll never have the top gaming gear for more than year or less."

World Domination is not a bad idea.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ EVGA X58 3X SLI 12GB Corsair XM3 1600 2X GTX 295s SLI
1 TB HD Vista 32bit 1 TB Vista 64bit 400 GB HD Xp 1200 Watt PS Enermax Chakra Case w/ 2 250 mm fans
Reply to ministerpaul

What about using a Dell Studio and doing a single 260 card?

My reasoning is that I just bought a Dell Inspiron 530 (budget yes) and will be putting in a 700w PS and a GTX260....but then I saw this deal below...should I cancel and go for the i7 with this 260 video card or just stick with the 530 which I upgraded the proc to the Quad 9550....

Help!

http://configure.us.dell.com/dells [...] 57725-n-20

Reply to wreed09

ministerpaul wrote :

World Domination is not a bad idea.

Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight ?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to siggy19

ministerpaul wrote :

To upgrade to I7 would require new mobo, memory, and the chip. This could cost $600 plus. The performance gains over the previous Quad cores are good, not impressive. And with 8 cores to be rumored in the pipeline I would wait and maybe get a Gtx 295 or two if you need bragging rights.

Absolutely dude !!! With such minute difference in performance and a possible 8 core cpu in the horizon, is wise to say that upgrading now is wasting the money. Even if you're starting a new rig right now, I would consider a Core 2 Quad at much cheaper price and overclock the hell out of it.

However it comes down to money... if you have, you'll want to spend it.

Reply to montollo

Will the 8 core CPU be incompatible with x58 motherboards? If it is compatible then there's no harm in upgrading. I would imagine the Core i7 920 will have decent resell value until something cheaper and better gets here.

Reply to fuzz54

well the 6 core comes first in Q1 2010 so 8 cores is going to be a bit away.

also take in mind the reason why they couldn't put on 8 core's is because there wasn't enough space on the CPU and you might be waiting til Q3 at the earliest.

and I think they will be compatible with X58 mobo's, not sure on that one though.

Reply to Helloworld_98

Nik_I wrote :

an i7 would be a fair deal faster, but you have to consider the price of the entire platform. at this time, you'll need to spend at least ~$285 on an i7 cpu, and at least $250 on an X58 motherboard. don't forget about the ridiculous prices of DDR3 compared to DDR2. but if you don't mind paying that extra, then it'll be worth it. as for 920 vs 940, i don't think the 940 is worth the extra ~$280.

do you know how cheap DDR3 will become in 2 yrs?

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notguru wrote :

do you know how cheap DDR3 will become in 2 yrs?

You do realise he said that back in 2008?

Reply to randomizer

oh lol

its been a year and all the same cpus are still expensive

i7 is a high-end desktop CPU. If it wasn't expensive then why would you buy Core 2 Quad? Intel need to dump their old stock as well.

Reply to randomizer

Go with core i7 man, you already have the DDR3 and it doesn't look like that build will be alot more expensive...plus who doesn't want bragging right heh

Reply to thefox14

im just gonna wait till the i9 comes out

I've just ordered my new 2.66GHz i7 920 x58 with 4Gb DDR3 RAM, should last me a while I hope, but I'm in the audio production industry. Interesting to see the views of i7 versus dual core though!

Reply to sgtdd

hello, what is the better for 3dsmax? Intel Xeon 55xx vs Intel core i7 965? If the xeon is the better, with how much better intel xeon 55xx than intel core i7 965 to render in 3dsmax

Message edited by toth_imre1988 on 07-19-2009 at 11:19:25 PM

Reply to toth_imre1988

They're the same architecture, so whichever is clocked higher will be faster.

------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
Reply to cjl

OK, I'm going to post this again. i7 > Core2Quad with multiple GPUs.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core [...] e-review/7

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Antec P182, i7 920 3.7Ghz @ 1.3V, Xigmatek 1283, Asus P6T X58, 3 x 2048MB OCZ Plat DDR3 1600 RAM, 2 EVGA GTX260 Core 216 in SLI, WD 160gb,320GB 1TB WD Black. Corsair 750TX. Acer 24" Monitor. Vista x64 Home Premium.
Reply to one-shot

one-shot wrote :

OK, I'm going to post this again. i7 > Core2Quad with multiple GPUs.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core [...] e-review/7

That link you listed compares the i7 to core 2 duo's, not core 2 quads

Reply to spydermunkie

Ok, I'm someone who's not a gamer & is asking the core i7 920 vs core 2 quad question. I'm getting 2 new PC's built from scratch for business. Main programs are AutoCAD, MYOB, CS4 Suite, Office. I'm a massive multi-tasker. Which option is best value for money?

Other specs I'm looking at are 4GB DDR2 800MHz, 500GB SATA2 HDD 7200rpm.

Message edited by Lexie on 10-15-2009 at 05:35:41 AM

Reply to Lexie

siggy19 wrote :

Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight ?

The same thing Viacom does every night Pinky...

Reply to Anonymous

Hey can anybody give me a bit of advice?

I'm in desperate need of a new laptop but don't really know much about all this spec nonsense. What I'm really after is something that can play the latest games at lightning fast speeds. Preferrably whilst playing music, downloading files and burning DVD's. Gaming would be the priority though. I was looking for something with a quadcore but then stumbled on this i7 thingummy and now I'm totally confused!

In short, I want a laptop that has the speed and power of an AWESOME desktop (please don't tell me its impossible)!

I know it will cost a small fortune, I'm fully prepared for that so just forget about figures and gimme technical details!!

Thankyou!!

Reply to The Fairyboy

Focus On

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - i7 vs. core 2 Quad