I7 or Quad Core or Wait?

[monkeymonk]

Is the i7 currently worth the money now compared with the quad cores? (this includes the whole setup) Or is it better to wait for prices to go down? Is there going to be much of a difference in price over the next month or two? I am running a 24" monitor at 1900 x 1200 I mostly play WOW and want to be able to play multiple windows at once. Thinking of maybe buying some RTS games as well.

So go with the i7, one of the quad cores, or wait for prices to change (I need to save up some money anyways).

 

[savatage79]

Dont adopt the wait stance, in the pc world if you wait, by the time whatver it is you waited for comes out people will be saying to wait for the next big thing...its like chasing the wind.

I7s imho are the way to go right now, the mobos also ensure you plenty of upgradability.

 

[monkeymonk]

Yea, I was leaning towards i7 just don't know how much more its going to cost.

 

[gkay09]

^+1 i7 is more future proof as many CPUs will be released for the LGA1366 socket...
But if you have a lesser budget, even the AMD way is good...And dont expect new intel CPU until september...they may launch only the low power versions of the current CPUs...

 

[monkeymonk]

Dont adopt the wait stance, in the pc world if you wait, by the time whatever it is you waited for comes out people will be saying to wait for the next big thing...its like chasing the wind.

LOL I have noticed when I first started looking at computers I was going to get a dual core then it was quad core and now it is i7. I just figured since I need to save up money anyway maybe the prices will change as well. Are the parts still at a premium?

 

[savatage79]

LOL I have noticed when I first started looking at computers I was going to get a dual core then it was quad core and now it is i7. I just figured since I need to save up money anyway maybe the prices will change as well. Are the parts still at a premium?

Yea same...i started off just gunnin for a dual, then i was like eh i should get a quad...then i ended up with an i7 lol...but i believe like someone said above, i7 is future proofed big time right now. Its new, its fresh, its gota long era ahead of it.

Honestly though, the motherboard is the only big hit with the i7s. CPUs are i think fairly priced and the ram is as expensive or cheap as you want it, hdd are hdds, vid card as big as you want...the only thing is the mobo which is a must to run the i7 and its not that bad...instead of a 100 buck board, you may have to get a 250+ board. It sucks compared to boards of old price wise, but its worth it for the future proofing.

i7 is the way to go.

 

[daship]

Well since you want to play wow in multiple windows the best experuience would be i7. WoW is a very CPU dependent game.

 

[megamanx00]

Hah, i7 may be somewhat future prof, but judging by Intel's history the X58 board, maybe not so much . Anyway the i7 (specifically the 920 overclocked) is worth it if you have the money. If you're more on a budget then you should look at a Phenom II setup. Most good AM2+ motherboards will support AM3 CPUs. AMD won't phase out DDR2 support from their CPUs till their next architecture, which may not be till early 2011 at this rate. In the mean time all new Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs will have integrated DDR2 controllers to work on AM3 compatible AM2+ boards. The Phenom II 720 BE is a particularly good value right now as not only is it easily overclockable, but on many you may be able to unlock the 4th core, with the right board anyway.

 

[monkeymonk]

Hah, i7 may be somewhat future prof, but judging by Intel's history the X58 board, maybe not so much . Anyway the i7 (specifically the 920 overclocked) is worth it if you have the money. If you're more on a budget then you should look at a Phenom II setup. Most good AM2+ motherboards will support AM3 CPUs. AMD won't phase out DDR2 support from their CPUs till their next architecture, which may not be till early 2011 at this rate. In the mean time all new Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs will have integrated DDR2 controllers to work on AM3 compatible AM2+ boards. The Phenom II 720 BE is a particularly good value right now as not only is it easily overclockable, but on many you may be able to unlock the 4th core, with the right board anyway.[/quote]

I am ona budget of about $1000 am and willing to go slightly higher if it means a noticeable performance increase. Can I get an i7 for that much?

 

[lauxenburg]

Core 2 Quads aren't particularly known for their gaming abilities. Infact, you might even have a better chance with a Core 2 Duo E8600 or something close.

Intel designed the Core 2 Quad chips kind of inefficiently. One application can only use a certain amount of CPU power, but even with the program pleading for more power, the Quad will not give it anymore, even with half of the chip IDLE. i7s little "virtualization" technology solves this. Core 2 Duos are usually loaded with far more L2 Cache, and a higher clock speed which is a bit more ideal for gaming. i7s cause your system's price to rocket. You might be better off buying SLI cards, 4GB of RAM, and a Core 2 Duo E8600.

The nice video cards should be able to give your big monitor nice clean and fast renders, great for a gaming.

However, i7 systems can run under $1000, but you will have to sacrifice things. It is your choice. =/

 

[cjl]

Core 2 Quads aren't particularly known for their gaming abilities. Infact, you might even have a better chance with a Core 2 Duo E8600 or something close.

Intel designed the Core 2 Quad chips kind of inefficiently. One application can only use a certain amount of CPU power, but even with the program pleading for more power, the Quad will not give it anymore, even with half of the chip IDLE. i7s little "virtualization" technology solves this. Core 2 Duos are usually loaded with far more L2 Cache, and a higher clock speed which is a bit more ideal for gaming. i7s cause your system's price to rocket. You might be better off buying SLI cards, 4GB of RAM, and a Core 2 Duo E8600.

The nice video cards should be able to give your big monitor nice clean and fast renders, great for a gaming.

However, i7 systems can run under $1000, but you will have to sacrifice things. It is your choice. =/

What utter garbage.

One app can easily chew through all 4 cores of a core 2 quad, if it supports quad threaded computation. Virtualization has absolutely nothing to do with it (and the Core 2 Quad line supports virtualization, with the exception of a few lower end 45nm parts). Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Quads have precisely the same L2 cache as Duos (per core), due to the fact that the quad is quite literally a pair of Duos on one chip. The Duos do have a slight clock speed advantage, but nobody in their right mind would say that a Q9650 can't overclock like crazy.