When will you look to switch to i7?

[boogaloo]

Hi all

Obviously many people won't be switching to i7, but if you're thinking hard about it when do you think it will start to become financially sound to do so. Personally I would be prepared to switch to i7, buying a new mobo, ddr3 and cpu now, but I get the sense that prices will drop fairly significantly in the coming months. Add to that the fact that I'd expect socket 775 chips to drop substantially fairly soon I'm tempted by the 'cheap' upgrade option.

If you're going to switch, when do you think you'll go for it?

Opinions welcome!

 

[djcoolmasterx]

Waiting for 32nm

 

[gamerk316]

Wating for Sandy Bridge

 

[pr2thej]

Waiting for a scratchcard win

 

[Mousemonkey]

Waiting for fries

 

[rooseveltdon]

Probably never, i don't really need it, I am not a major gamer (World of Warcraft isn't that demanding) and the other games i play don't require crazy power plus i don't care about playing crysis on the highest possible settings (mid settings are just fine for me lol i am cheap)or any of that, and i am not a a major overclocker, so i am will be fine with my dual core amd x2 7 series kuma...but if i were a major enthusiast or gamer i would wait before switching to i7, at least for six months in order to get the best deal, there is no point spending so much money on something that is going to be worth a lot less in six months, moreover switching to i7would require a complete change of mobo and ram and while your computer's performance will increase in that time, it won't be enough of an increase to warrant such spending...plus by then you will be able to get a nice core 2 duo or core 2 quad for cheap and still get top performance in everything....and another thing you have to keep in mind is that very soon they will come out with 32nm processors and the i5, these are going to be cheaper than the i7 but built on similar technology and would probably better suit your needs just as well...so when you take all that into consideration, at least realistically speaking there is really no need to switch yet.

 

[roofus]

product maturity is a deciding factor. there are alot of i7 success stories but there are also bugs to squash as with all new architectures. the cost is about or even less than what i would typically invest every couple years but i am not satisfied that it is a pure product yet.

 

[cjl]

I'm running it already, and love it

 

[joefriday]

How 'bout never? Lol. The current AMD X2/Intel Core 2 generation is all I'll need for the foreseeable future. Seriously. XP should be good for at least another 3 years, so it's not like I need faster hardware just to do the same things I do today, and by then there's a good chance I might become one of those old guys that never upgrade their systems anymore. Hell, right now all I run are single core CPUs! I still have dual core and Kentsfield/Penryn quadcore at my disposal! Besides, even when the fairly thrifty Core i5 launches, it is still going to be a little spendy right off the bat, considering the new motherboard and all. Nope, I'm going to completely skip i7/i5 45nm generation. Celeron 420 @ 2.66GHz is good enough for me for right now.

 

[bravo29]

Allready went into it.

I can say it a major difference running maya, stuiomax, my games, photoshop over my other 3 q6600.

Eventually the other 3 will be upgraded by Q3 or Q4 this year what ever intel push's out.

 

[spud]

How 'bout never? Lol. The current AMD X2/Intel Core 2 generation is all I'll need for the foreseeable future. Seriously. XP should be good for at least another 3 years, so it's not like I need faster hardware just to do the same things I do today, and by then there's a good chance I might become one of those old guys that never upgrade their systems anymore. Hell, right now all I run are single core CPUs! I still have dual core and Kentsfield/Penryn quadcore at my disposal! Besides, even when the fairly thrifty Core i5 launches, it is still going to be a little spendy right off the bat, considering the new motherboard and all. Nope, I'm going to completely skip i7/i5 45nm generation. Celeron 420 @ 2.66GHz is good enough for me for right now.

I heard the same mantra in the 3.1 and 95 era, another decade another sheep.

Word, Playa.

 

[joefriday]

I heard the same mantra in the 3.1 and 95 era, another decade another sheep.

Word, Playa.

When another breakthrough OS arrives, let me know. lol

 

[DS86]

Waiting for windows 7 then

Im about to buy a new rig for just over £900 and think the I7 core is very nice, but the price isnt just for the processor alone.
It requires DDR3 ram and a expensive motherboard.

Any build above £1500 should be using it for future proof.
But till the time games start using quad core efficiantly enough to warrant it, i don't think il be buying it anytime soon.

 

[Hellboy]

Im gonna wait for a native 8 core to be released then ill jump over..

My current Q9550 does all i want.. Youll proberly need a new motherboard when 1366 goes to 8 core anyway just like all intel processors...

Im sure its done on purpose..

 

[17rawr]

I agree with Hellboy. Xeon/8 core cpus have been confirmed to come out sometime next month. So I am expecting a huge price drop for the i7 and hopefully x58 motherboards.
That or Xeon/8 core will be extremely overpriced!

When another breakthrough OS arrives, let me know. lol

Windows 7??

 

[cjl]

8 core next month? Not happening.

Where did you hear that?

 

[17rawr]

Ive got a couple of links:
Link 1: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/29/intel.8.core.xeon.on.feb.9/
Link 2: http://www.macworld.com/article/138510/2009/01/intel.html
Link 3: http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-7699-view-Intel-8-core-processor-in-ISSCC.html
Link 4: http://www.youtube.com/user/TigerDirectBlog - go to 10:30 - youtube.

There you go I am surprised that you dont know that.

Edit: here's a 5th: http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/605404/intel-to-unveil-eight-core-cpu-next-month.html - much more detailed.

 

[blackpanther26]

I would probally upgrade in 2-3 Years. I just built this system out of the Core 2 Quad Q9650. I was thinking about it. Then I said it was not worth it. For a Few extra FPS it was a better Idea going Core 2 Quad than Core i7.

 

[17rawr]

BTW djcoolmasterx you have the best avatar ever

 

[archibael]

"Will be shown in February" != "coming out next month" unless your definition of "coming out" includes getting an engineering sample.

 

[17rawr]

Im guessing coming out to the retail market b/c Intel has been talking about 8 cores for while now

 

[cadder]

when do you think it will start to become financially sound to do so

This is hard to answer, and of course it is a relative question anyway. Current quads that are priced less than the i7's can go 3.2 to 3.6GHz. Tom's marathon builds got their i7's to 3.7 and 4.0GHz. I've compared some of the benchmark tests between their faster i7 build and their older builds, and depending on the benchmark there may not be any performance increase for the i7. For instance if you just look at their "itunes" test, the i7 was beaten by their previous builds using the E8500 and the Q9650, and almost beaten by their build using the little old E5200.

Prices will go down on the i7's, and their motherboards and ram, and prices will go down on the older quads too. At this time it is hard to see a big benefit for the i7 over the older processors, unless you are running an app that the i7 really shines on. A year from now the price comparisons might be totally different. I suspect within the next 12 months an i7 build would become not that much more than an older quad build, and it would make sense to go i7 just because it is the latest.

I've been working on a list of components for my next build and a relatively modest budget. I was considering the E5200, but got a Q9400 on sale instead, adding about $100 to my build. I've seen the i7, ram and motherboards on sale, and to go with one of them would have increased my budget by about $250. I can probably get the Q9400 up to the 3.4GHz ballpark, an i7 to nearly 4.0GHz. I didn't think that increase in performance would justify the cost.

But the i7 is the next step in the performance ladder, and eventually we will need it even if it costs more. The machine that I am replacing is older, and although it had more than enough performance for me when I got it, now I need more performance. Our performance needs will continue to escalate just as processor speed escalates, so got to keep up.

 

[17rawr]

-> Cadder can you give me a link to the benchmarks you talked abut in teh 1st paragraph??

 

[cjl]

Ahh - xeons. My bet is that they will have insane TDPs though. It should still be interesting.

(What socket will they have? 1536?)

 

[werxen]

my next leap will be at 32nm or whenever i decide to run my E8500 @ 1.5 vcore at 4.5+ gighz.