I7 920 vs i7 860 Gaming/OC which one is best?

From what I understand the new i9 will be LGA1366, so a future-proof purchase in my opinion is the 920.
Also the 860 is more expensive than the 920, not the other way around, although not by much.

So far I hear the OC'ing on both chips are roughly the same. Saw somewhere that the 860 was pushed to 4.5GHz on air while the 920 was at 4.0GHz on air. Don't know how accurate those benchmarks are, but I'll still go with the 920. just my opinion though.

Regards

Also the P55 boards will only do 8X/8X in SLI due to bandwidth limitation and the GPU controller built in the CPU. Most X58 boards will do 16X/16X. If you plan to do SLI with a dedicated PhysX then X58 is the way to go. From what I've seen the, 1156 CPUs overclock much better due to the new Turbo technology which is different than the current 1366 Turbo. Just like in Turbo cars, if your car was built with Turbo, it can always handle more turbo than it was tuned for.

In my opinion according to everything I read the Intel core i7 860 lynnfield CPU beats the Intel core i7 920 on most benchmarks. But even though the 860 lynnfield beats the i7 920 on most benchmarks it does cost about 20 dollars more, although that doesn't really matter because motherboards for the Intel core i7 860 are MUCH cheaper than the 1366 socket Motherboards are.

Answering this question is somewhat hard though because in my opinion neither of them are actually better than the other. Because both of them have their upsides. For instance as I stated the motherboards for the 860 lynnfield CPU are cheaper, but on the flip slide they have less potential than the 1366 socket type motherboards. So it really all comes down to what you want. Because from everything I've read Intel is planning on using the 1366 socket type for its new upcoming higher end processors, so if you get the 860 you won't be able to really upgrade as much. You also won't be able to use as much RAM etc.

If money isn't an issue and you want sheer performance capabilities go with a i7 920. i7 920 will allow you to 2+ SLI/CFX without a bottleneck and the triple memory is a plus for serious applications.

Also the yet to be released i9 is confirmed to use the 1366 socket which is used by the i7 920.

If you want to save some cash and aren't too concerned about 2+ GPUs at lower resolutions the new 1156 is right for you. The i7 860 is a faster chip but 1156 motherboards are annoyingly handicapped.

Well said

Does anybody know exactly when the i9 are comin out and how much they'll cost?

I think in Q3 or Q4 of 2010 possibly (Not very sure though)

Ive heard the i9 Will be priced similar to the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Quad Core CPU which is around £1200, there is no point getting an i9 if your going to be gaming as games have only just started benefiting from 4 cores the i9 has 6 cores so the extra 2 cores will not make much if any difference my opinion is:

1156 (i5 750,i7 860)
Get an Intel i5 cpu and decent cooling OC it to around 4ghz, get 4gb 2000mhz ram, spend the rest of your budget on a single gpu i would go with the ATI radeon HD 5970 (it is £500 but it will beat any other gfx card out atm http://www.pureoverclock.com/images/review/video_cards/... ) and if you have any money left over get a really good psu because with a 4ghz overclock and that gfx card you will need at least 750watt from a good branded psu

i would get the i5 over the i7 because the only difference is hyper threading which is no use unless your going to be rendering things it has no difference in gaming i have the i7 860 and ive disabled hyper threading because it lowers the temp by around 7-8 C and makes no performance difference.

as for the i7 920 unless you want to upgrade to the i9 as soon as it comes out you dont need to move to 1366 yet personal i got the 1156 i7 860 for now then maybe in a year i will get 1366 with i9 once there cheaper. also the triple channel memory makes no difference unless again your going to be using modeling software or rendering things more 1366 systems are used by professional editors and not gamers.

Hope all this helped

I'd imagine anyone who bought the i9 when it comes out will probably not being doing so because they actually need one. I know I personally really didn't need a i7 920 system but I went ahead and built one anyways just because I wanted to have a i7 build. That plus I have always enjoyed keeping somewhat up to date with computer parts/technology even though its near impossible to do it.

I am going for i7 860 for better clock rate at base (2.80GHz vs 920's 2.66) and at max (3.46GHz vs 920's 293). It has already beaten 920 in several benchmarks. Power consumption is low as is the overall cost price. It is also good for overclocking but i wont like that. It'll void my warranty and cost more for extra cooling system. Better saving money for a good gpu. In gaming gpu should be your subject of concern. Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 support's SLI and Crossfire so u can use multiple gpu if u wish. Though 920 is future proof but it wont last long. PCIx3 is coming out and also DDR4. AMD fusion is underway. I dont think it is wise buying x58 mother for i9 that may cost >$1000. Buy a good gpu and wait for the next generation cpu+gpu from Intel and AMD.

Have you got $999 ready for the "FUTURE PROOF", the Gulftown?


The difference between 16x and 8x is unnoticeable!



and so the difference between 2 or 3-way CF is also insignificant! (merely 2~3 fps less with P55)

Furthermore, even 750 is better than 920 in gaming with single GFX thanks to the on-die PCIE controller!

Note that the 16X with P55 is better than 16x with X58

I completely agree with you. I'll rather buy this chassis at <$900.



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