In most games, the higher end dual cores, such as the e8400, will perform similar to the i7 920. You wouldn't see much improvement from the cpu, yet. As games improve, they will start to utilize more than the 2 cores.
Why not overclock your CPU? You could get 3.6 Ghz pretty easy and it would most likely give you the best increase in frames. The i7 is kind of a lateral move in gaming. Obviously the SLI would help....
Yeah no point in doing the CPU upgrade unless you are a huge fan of FSX. The E8400 is one of the best gaming CPU's out there. You can get to 3.6 easy, quite possibly over 4ghz if you MB can handle it, I don't know how that MSI board will OC though. DDR3 ram would make little to no difference in gaming. Just add another GPU to your current rig and oc a little bit and you should be good for a couple more years.
------------------------------Asus P6T & i7 920 @ 3.6ghz
GTX 260 Core 216
6gb 1443MHZ 7-7-7-18 1T OCZ Platinum
CM RC-690, CM V8 HSF
Reply to xthekidx
xthekidx you have a i7 920 , do you use ur machine for gaming? im basically upgrading as im giving my old mobo,cpu & ram to my dad as he has a old pentium d machine and he is struggling to play the latest games on his machine!!!!!
xthekidx you have a i7 920 , do you use ur machine for gaming? im basically upgrading as im giving my old mobo,cpu & ram to my dad as he has a old pentium d machine and he is struggling to play the latest games on his machine!!!!!
I do use my PC for gaming, but that wasn't the reason I got an i7. My fiance is an AV nerd and does video editing on it, so it gets used to its full potential. Otherwise I probably would have gone with a Q9550 or E8500 (PII wasn't around when I built my current PC, its also a great option for gamers).
If you are alright with spending the extra money on a new core of your system and have a place for the old parts to go (very noble of you to donate your parts to your pa) then by all means build an i7. Just don't expect a huge jump in performance vs your current setup. The increase in performance will come from getting the second video card, not the CPU or Ram upgrade.
Message edited by xthekidx on 05-16-2009 at 12:12:52 AM
------------------------------Asus P6T & i7 920 @ 3.6ghz
GTX 260 Core 216
6gb 1443MHZ 7-7-7-18 1T OCZ Platinum
CM RC-690, CM V8 HSF
Reply to xthekidx
thanks xthekidx , at least i kno that id get the performance using sli which was my main concern, at least the cpu and ram will be there for future as game devolpers may eventually support multicore cpu's.
Yeah should be alright, as long as you don't want to get to 3.6+ghz. If you do then I would get a better cooler. My CPU get to about 70C with my V8, which is a better cooler than the CNPS 9700. The i7 can go to a higher temp, but I don't want to push my chip, and I don't have A/C so summer will raise my temps.
Yeah should be alright, as long as you don't want to get to 3.6+ghz. If you do then I would get a better cooler. My CPU get to about 70C with my V8, which is a better cooler than the CNPS 9700. The i7 can go to a higher temp, but I don't want to push my chip, and I don't have A/C so summer will raise my temps.
if i wanted to hit 3.6ghz on the i7 what cpu cooler do u recommend going for to keep it nice and cool, i have a antec 900 case btw.
did you see nVidia recommending gamers DONT buy i7 last week?
They dont think its good value since it doesnt give you higher frame rates the way a better gfx card would
Yeah they want you to buy your more expensive hardware from them rather than intel
The CPU matters much less than the GPU for gaming performance, but if you want to give your old CPU/MB/Ram to your father and are OK shelling out the cash for the i7, then go for it. You will see some improvement over the E8400, but not a lot. Newer games will see much more improvement than older games. Older games would likely run faster on the E8400, since they are more dependant on core speed, and cannot use more than one core.
Message edited by xthekidx on 05-16-2009 at 01:28:57 AM
------------------------------Asus P6T & i7 920 @ 3.6ghz
GTX 260 Core 216
6gb 1443MHZ 7-7-7-18 1T OCZ Platinum
CM RC-690, CM V8 HSF
Reply to xthekidx
u think its hard in the US? im in aus, and it all costs about 1.4usd to aud, then an extra 0.1usd for post, ends up being around 1.25 TIMES the normal us price, then converting to aud