First Build

[B_Cox]

Hey everyone,

I've decided to build my first computer, and just when i thought i had my mind made up, the new intel i7 was released.

I plan to use the rig primarily for gaming, so here's my dilemma:

I want my computer to be upgradable for the next few years, so i guess the issue is should i use a socket 1366 MB to support the i7, or stick with 775 and the c2d/q?


I've read that the i7's arent "built" for gaming, more for completing multiple tasks at once, but considering i dont have a computer at all and will be starting from scratch, does that make the i7 more appealing?


Please feel free to add your two bits

 

[slomo4sho]

The i7s are quads and as such do not perform much better than a dual core CPU when it comes to gaming due to the fact that most current games do not take advantage of multiple cores. With that said, the future will be the 1366 socket type and future games should start taking advantage of multiple cores so the i7 is a solid choice if you are willing to invest around $1500 for a system today.

The great thing about gaming is that unless your planing on playing Crysis, you can actually get very good performance with a system that costs around $650

The question really comes down to how much your willing to spend and at what resolution you plan on gaming. The bigger the monitor the better they system you will need and vice versa

 

[B_Cox]

so assuming i had a large budget and was going with a 1900x1200 resolution or so, the i7 would not be abad choice.


What i dont want is to spend like, 2,000 dollars on a machine that i cant upgrade without switching out a mobo in 6 months

 

[kubes]

I guess I'm questioning what you plan on upgrading? A lot of people say they want to be comptable with future technology. Yet they wait till their computer is so bogged down that they basically need to build a whole new rig. They do not regularly update items within their rig so that it never needs to be completely rebuilt. So it might be worth asking yourself do you really plan on upgrading on a regular basis to keep your computer from being completely outdated and in need of a rebuilt vs update?

I have found it to being very expensive trying to live on the update curve vs a rebuilding curve. You have to buy parts that are currently overpriced most of the time and it limits what you can use in your rig. A 2000 dollar rig shouldn't need any upgrades for a few years (4+ years?) until it start showing its age and is need of a rebuild. Just wanted to throw this out to you.

 

[B_Cox]

well, okay i dont have a computer that i can game on right now, so this could be considered a fresh start. So i understand what you are saying, i think: no point in going with the i7 build for the fresh technology, if the C2D will last for a reasonable amount of time.

Either cpu i choose, i plan on going with DDR3 RAM, and most likely x64 vista ultimate. That ought to allow me to upgrade to a certain extent on the fly

So i guess then i'm asking a question no one can really know the answer to, which is will the C2D allow me to play games for the next 3 or 4 years?

I'll try to make a choice that feels right, since no one here can actually predict the future.

Thanks everoyne for your input

 

[lunyone]

My personal opinion is that if you go with a C2D or C2Q system, you'll be able to have a really good system for less than a i7 system. This doesn't make it better, but the $ can be saved for other parts down the road. Here are my thoughts on a current gaming system:
* I'm not a big believer in the DDR3 situation right now (it's getting better, but not just yet). For good performing DDR3 right now it's still quite a bit more $, compared to DDR2. Yes DDR2 will not be mainstream for too much longer, but it's really cheap right now and with at least 4 gb's of DDR2 800mHz, it should last for quite a while.
* i7 mobo's right now are just too spendy for my likings (>$200). A good p45 based mobo ~$125 or so is plenty to last you for years to come, IMHO. Yes the i7 mobo should hold up for years too, just don't know if they will come out with a newer chipset that will give you more options and features that you might want anyway. This may or may not work out in your favor.
* I still think 2 core CPU's will still be the norm for 95% of games for the next year or 2. Yes there are some games that take advantage of the extra cores, but for the price premium of >$100 (compared to the new i7's), I'm not sure it's worth it or not.
* The current $300 or more price difference between a C2D/C2Q system over an i7 system isn't worth it to me at this point. You may see the $300 as an investiment in the future, but the future might change and you might want to change your mobo anyway for whatever reason. I'm still gaming well on a AMD Athalon x2 s939 system and don't really intend on upgrading until sometime next year or so. I don't play the latest on the highest settings, but I can still do whatever I want and don't really need to have the latest stuff out. Do I want the latest stuff? Yes, but financially I can't do it right now. This may be different in your case, so I thought I'd let you know where I'm coming from.

Here is how I see the comparisons (money wise):
i7 system:
CPU - $300 or more
Mobo - Starts at $220 right now
DDR3 - El cheapo RAM starts around $115 or so for 4 gb sets

Total i7 system (before adding in the rest of the parts) = ~$630

C2D/C2Q - $83 for e5200 (still can easily OC to 3.2-3.8 gHz) just add a $30 CPU HSF.
$120-190 for C2D's (e7200, e8400, e8500) or a q6600 (good choice still, OC's well too)
Mobo - $100-140 for a quality standard or above average p45 based mobo!
DDR2 - $30-50 for most quality DDR2 800 mHz RAM (4 gb sets)

Total for C2D/C2Q system (before adding in other parts) ~$210-$380 or so, depending on which configuration you go with.

Difference between the 2, before adding in the other parts (which will probably be about the same) = ~$250-480 or so. This difference is still quite large, AFAIC. This still may not be an issue to you, but I thought I'd throw out the basics between the 2 different systems (as far as costs go).

Is the $250-480 cost difference make a difference to you? I don't know, but for me, I'd rather spend the difference on upgrading any and all parts, especially the GPU, since this will be a "Gaming" system.

To answer you last question: Which C2D would allow you to play games for quite some time? I'd have to say the e8400 or e8500. They have a bit more cache and are already clocked pretty well, so if you start to feel that your system is lagging a bit, you can then just OC them up to 4 gHz or more for little to no cost to you! The e5200 (little brother of the e8400/e8500) is quite a nice chip that can OC to about 4 gHz too, but might not be the best choice for longevity. You could always upgrade the CPU (if you got the e5200 now) to a C2Q, when they come down in price within the next 6-18 months or so, but that would be something that you might consider ahead of time.

 

[B_Cox]

thank you for the advice lunyone

 

[lunyone]

Hopefully I spelled out the differences enough so you can make a more educated decision? I know it can be a big decision, but as far as the $ is concerned, I think the C2D setup is a good option to consider. Who knows what the mobo's will be in 1-2 years from now. Maybe will be looking at DDR4 and quad channel DDR4?? Don't know, but either option is a good one, so go with what you want, since your the one spending the $ on it!!

 

[B_Cox]

yeah, it helped. I agree that putting that much money into a system that theoretically could be outdated around the same time as a much cheaper system doesnt make much sense.

I will continue to look around, but since there really isnt a lot of evidence pointing to i7's dominance in gaming (and in fact the evidence seems to point to the contrary) i will probably stick with the e8400

so again, thank you

 

[kubes]

its important to note that the i7 really was not designed as a gaming cpu. It was designed for the enterpise enivorment. Meaning for bussiness purposes. However this processor is still the best processor on the market in terms of gaming and bussiness use. Even though its a bussiness processor intel has come so far that its still beats a q9550 (same price range) in gaming and other purposes. If you plan on doing any sort of sli/cf setups then the i7 warrents itself as a good choice. If not you can like lunyone noted earlier get away quite a bit cheaper. Need to decide where you want to land on the price vs preformance chart.

Now something to note is the new windows 7 that is coming out. I've been doing a little research on this and it seems pretty interresting. I think this will really take full power of multicore systems. For example they were playing cryis (on low settings) with no gpu and running it strickly off the cpu (which was an i7). Even though the settings were low this is impressive technology. crysis make rigs cry mommy in most cases.

core 2 duos 2 physical cores = 2 total
core 2 quads 4 physical cores = 4 total
core i7 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores. = 8 total