Will I regret ditching Core i7?

[madu]

Hey guys,

I finally decided against going Core i7. Wasn't easy to do after spending quite a bit of time to find the right mobo and all..
But I'm worried if I will regret going Core 2 Quad to save around $200.
The main thing that put me off from COre i7 is the fact that the cpu and mobo's are still rev.1. ppl say there can still be bugs in both.. especially since this is a new platform.
The other thing is, I am not a hardcore enthusiast. I want a gaming pc + multitasking pc.. not trying to break records... although I am going to OC, but do not want to break the 4Ghz barrier or anything...
Although I will be doing a lot of (high speed) downloading and (un)rar'ing 'ALL' the time and also running a virtual machine, I don't think Core i7 will be able to give me an edge in that.

I went from [Core i7 920 + Asus P6T + 3GB DDR3] ---> [Q9550 + Asus P5Q Deluxe + 4GB DDR2].
Main idea is not to save money, but I thought I can spend that money on something else for the rig

So do you guys think I will regret this? will I regret after 6 moths about this?

Thanks guys.

 

[cjl]

I'd go with the i7 personally, but either will give you a fast machine.

 

[aznguy0028]

i don't think the choice you made is wrong. a Q9550 is not a chip that will be outdated anytime soon. 3.4ghz is so easy on that thing. and w/the money you saved, you could get a very nice monitor or another graphics card or whatever accessories you need.

bottom line, it'll last you awhile, and you always got sandybridge around the corner if you wanna upgrade by then.

 

[icyicy]

Don't forget you may need a new motherboard when the 32nm i7 comes next year, or even PCIe 3.0 for DirectX 11 cards that are coming with Windows 7 (or even earlier, in August), so buying i7 now might not have been a good idea indeed. By the time a Q9550 is outdated, which it won't be for a long time, there will probably be a bigger selection of motherboards, revised steppings and so forth. And most likely a big drop in price especially when it comes to DDR3 RAM.

 

[amdfangirl]

Aww... the i7 can't really upgrade and neither can the Core 2 Quad so just buy the cheaper option.

 

[ainarssems]

Don't forget about Q6600

 

[cjl]

Aww... the i7 can't really upgrade and neither can the Core 2 Quad so just buy the cheaper option.

IIRC, the higher end 32nm parts will use the same socket 1366 as the current Nehalems. There should be an upgrade path there once those arrive.

 

[madu]

Thanks guys.
The 32nm cpu's will not fit the same socket?? that sucks!

guys what you think about this.. considering I will not be going 32-nm next year (in that case I will be facing virtually same dillemma I am facing now):

I get:
(Core i7 920 + Gigabyte GA-X58-DS4 + 3GB)

Now the main difference is the mobo, which is a good $120 cheaper ( here in Japan) than the originally opted Asus P6T. But the mobo has not fancy accessories but still will get the job done. Now the price difference narrows to $80 which I think can probably be justified with going i7.

Why I wanted to do this is, in 1 year, when I want to upgrade, I can get a good motherboard + 3GB more and I would still have a better system than the Q9550. If I go for Q9550 now, when I want to upgrade to i7, I will have to buy everything...

Don't you guys think this is a better option giving me a good upgrade path? OR NOT?

Thanks guys.

 

[Pico_w]

I think going with the Core i7 is a better idea. You overclock it slightly and it will give you a lot of edge in multi-threading programs. It has a lot of processing powers. It can outperform a Core 2 Extreme. Since the difference is so little, go for the i7.

 

[amdfangirl]

^ Ok, I agree now.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

For your usage, i7 is what to get. Q's are good, but for your usage i7 excels, maybe not so much in gaming, but all those other apps for all the time it will

 

[amdfangirl]

Other apps are good with i7. Gaming is more... balanced.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yeah, its what I meant. Im sure someone will slaughter this too, as meaning something it doesnt

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

One thing I learned, buy just behind the edge. Not on the leading edge of tech, but right behind it, and get the fastest you can afford. That way you still have a higher end rig, but your not paying as much, and you make it last longer.

 

[madu]

Thanks a lot guys...
I think I will go i7 but with the cheaper motherboard... that way I can just upgrade sometime later with a better motherboard with a good revision... paying $300+ for a rev. 1 isnt worth I guess...
besides, I'm still on DDR, if I get DDR2, I will have no use of them when I upgrade to i7 or even Phenom II (AM3) (who knows it might beat i7)... so getting DDR3 now makes sense when I upgrade...

do you guys think I should suck it up and get the expensive mobo?

Thanks a lot again guys...

 

[Narr]

It's no big deal if your going to i7 as long time upgrade, if you have a C2D stick with it. Like what most people are doing until the prices drop.

 

[XRWKEN]

Coolermaster rc690 $57.00 from provantage.com
Corasir tx650w ps $49.99 from newegg
Intel I7 920 +Asus p6 deluxe combo deal, new from ebay $535.00
OCZ Platinum 6 gig (3x2) pc 10666 $170. new egg
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB $84.00
MSI R4830-T2D512 OC Radeon HD 4830 512MB $97.00

so far $992.99, I thinks thats a great deal for an I7 sys
If you were to price a q9550 cpu and a asus or gigabyte mobo you wouldnt save much $100.+- plus about $100 savings on memory, so for MAYBE a $200. diff the performance increase is well worth it to me.

I read tons of reviews on the Asus p6 deluxe and all say its super stable no errors with anything at all, it just works


Still on the hunt for a good fan controller and CPU cooler


$200.00 can make or break a persons budget, so its a personal choice in the end


either way gl

Ken

 

[WR]

Considering that 32nm aims for the same 1366 socket, which just came out, I'd put the chances of needing a new motherboard a year from now at around 20-30% tops, and the chances of needing new RAM at almost nil. You'll certainly need to flash the BIOS before the upgrade, though.

PCIe 3.0 should be backward compatible just as 2.0 is.

I'm siding with i7. DDR2 may be cheap but it's still going to waste with your next build. And the i7 in many cases runs much faster than Q9xxx - unRAR'ing included. I reinstalled a lot of software with my i7 and haven't encountered a single i7 or X58 specific issue so far. Other people also haven't reported anything unstable.

 

[madu]

Thanks a lot XRWKEN.
I am in Japan so the figures are alittle different here. The P6T is about $380 (Yen is pretty strong these days) and the GB X58-DS4 is about $240.
Reviews all show P6T as a solid mobo, but these rev. 1.0s, mobos and even cpus have quite a bit of bugs and needs ironing out over the time.
That is why I thought of going DS4, and maybe around a year, I can upgrade to a better mobo.. maybe the new P55 will give better performance...

Don't you think it is a better choice than spending $350+ on a rev.1.0 board?

Thanks WR.
Nice to hear that so far no bugs are there. fortunately there wont be any in i7. I would def go for i7. Don't want my DDR2 sticks going to waste..
I want to read some reviews on DS4, which is very hard to find... P6T is a solid board, but I think it is still an average board although priced at the enthusiast ROG level..
So I think by H2 2009 prices will settle down with more mobos coming out and by next christmas I will be able to upgrade to a better revised mobo and probably another 3GB ram...

Thank you.

 

[XRWKEN]

Im not to concerned about the rev 1 boards, Asus has always been great with easy flash bios to fix any early issues.

When evga came out with the nvidia 680I mobo/chipsets I had(and still use) a rev 1 board, Did a few bios flashes over time with no issues and good fixes.
For the most part well name boards will fix any bugs with bios flashes

Ken

 

[madu]

I am a little worried about rev.1 is because, for example, the Gigabyte X58-UD5 boards' load lina calibration is not working... I am not sure if it deliberately done that way but ppl need to do a mod to get it working (even the option is there in the bios)... so seems there is a votage regulator problem which they need to fix (cannot be done through a bios revision as far as the reviewers are reporting)...

 

[XRWKEN]

madu,
That sounds like a design flaw, component failure, Looking at an issue like that, adopting a new platform early on can be risky. i would think, that Gigabyte would acknowledge that problem and do something about it. I cant believe a company like gigabyte would leave there customers out in cold to fix the problem themselves when the mobo came out of the box like that. I know if it were me I would either exchance for a new one that had the problem fixed or return it for a differant brand all together. I wouldnt just except a faulty mobo, at those prices.

I hope asus doesn't have any issues like that, I haven't heard of any Yet

Ken

 

[werxen]

Don't forget about Q6600

can i go one thread without the Q6600 being mentioned?

 

[madu]

Thanks Ken.
As far as they report, the load line calibration works perfectly in the P6T... seems only GB model has the fluctuation.. I havent heard anybody mentioning about GB recalling them or anything.. after all LLC is not something Intel specifies so maybe they can get away with it.. and the performance isnt going to hinder as well... as far as one review (cant remember which one), they specified it as a hardware fault and mentioned that GB will update it in their future boards... thanks again mate. will look into whether it makes sense to pay such a price for mid-range board is worth it...

 

[pausert20]

Aww... the i7 can't really upgrade and neither can the Core 2 Quad so just buy the cheaper option.

Hey AMDFanGirl, where did you see that the Core i7 can't really upgrade? Did you read somewhere the X58 motherboards will not be able to use the next Generation 32nm based Intel Processors?

Please provide links.