I7 or i5, how much future proofing?

[fattymole123]

Hey everyone,

Considering getting the i5 or th i7, I am curious as to wether the i7 will provide enough future proofing to benefit from the price difference. I will be doing some light gaming, movies, music etc, nothing serious so the i5 will be more than satisfactory for my needs now I'm aware, I am only curious about future proofing.

In short is there a large performance difference in not just games but various other usages, that could justify the price difference?

Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[andy5174]

No.

Difference between x8 and x16 in 3Dmark Vantage is very small especially in extreme preset which is expected to be the FUTURE standard:

Difference between x8 and x16 in 2/3-way HD5870 CF is minimal(3 fps max here):

Hence, 1366 is not more future proved than 1156.

 

[andy5174]

Also, have a read at...

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3641&p=3

 

[ronss]

the i7 860 is usually faster than the i7 920.....i have read many reveiws, some say the i5-750..others the i7 860....but when it comes to gaming...then amd 965 can hang in there....its basically your decision and $....i got the i7 860, but if you are short on cash, the i5 750 is no slouch and would be a great choice..

 

[Wolygon]

The OP has not specified whether he is talking about an 1366 or a 1156 i7.

Since 1366 will have a hexacore processor released for it soon, so it could be deemed more future proof than 1156, that is if 1156 doesn't receive one as well.

 

[galta]

There ain't no thing such as "future proof" .In 2 years from now or so, when considering an up-grade of you system, you'll read reviews saying something like:

i9-1020 is still a great processor, but it should only be considered for the ones who still have an aging 1366 mobo runing. For the rest of you, the new i11-1120, based on the new 1996 is the way to go.

After careful cost-performance consideration, you'll decide that is time to buy everything new, again.
My advice: figure out what you need today, add some 10% margin on performance (think about games about to come over the next 6 months or so) and go for it.
Nothing is future proof.

 

[andy5174]

The OP has not specified whether he is talking about an 1366 or a 1156 i7.

Since 1366 will have a hexacore processor released for it soon, so it could be deemed more future proof than 1156, that is if 1156 doesn't receive one as well.

Another guy whining about the future proof of $999 6-core CPU which he can't afford.

 

[loneninja]

There ain't no thing such as "future proof" .In 2 years from now or so, when considering an up-grade of you system, you'll read reviews saying something like:

i9-1020 is still a great processor, but it should only be considered for the ones who still have an aging 1366 mobo runing. For the rest of you, the new i11-1120, based on the new 1996 is the way to go.

After careful cost-performance consideration, you'll decide that is time to buy everything new, again.
My advice: figure out what you need today, add some 10% margin on performance (think about games about to come over the next 6 months or so) and go for it.
Nothing is future proof.

The 2 year time frame can be argued, at least if you've got AMD. I put an X2 5000 in a 780G AM2+ motherboard 2 years ago, today it runs an Athlon II X4. Absolutely no reason to build a new platfrom when the current cpu's in my budget still work in my old board.

 

[Wolygon]

Another guy whining about the future proof of $999 6-core CPU which he can't afford.

I fail to see your point.

 

[andy5174]

Is future proof(6-core CPU) still available if you can't afford it?

 

[Wolygon]

Is future proof(6-core CPU) still available if you can't afford it?

I think you fail to see my point.

If 1366 gets a hexacore but 1156 doesn't than obviously when you can get a similarly priced 1366 system it is the better choice. If someone goes with a i7 930 build then in a year or two they can just upgrade their processor to a hexacore to increase there performance, compared to if they had an 1156 build they would not be able to just upgrade with a high performance processor. So clearly 1366 could be deemed more "Future Proof" in this aspect. This is assuming that 1156 doesn't get a hexacore processor as it hasn't been announced.

 

[andy5174]

It's you fail to get yourself think logically!

Yes, 6-core is available for LGA1366 owners. However, 6-core is meaningless for 99.99% LGA1366 owners as they can't afford

People only get 6-core upgrade IF AND ONLY IF they can afford, but 99.99% of LGA1366 owners can't.


Shuttle travel is available to everyone. However, it is meaningless to 99.9999999999999999% of the people in the world as they can't afford it.

Everyone can travel in space IF AND ONLY IF they can afford it.

There is 6-core upgrad BUT it is not available and meaningless to 99.99% LGA1366 owners as they can't afford it.

To 99.99% LGA1366 owners, this is nothing different from as if the 6-core is not there!

 

[Raidur]

Are we deciding between i5 and i7 or 1156 and 1366?

Id go i5 and when the future comes, oc to 3.6-4.0ghz and *bam!* future proofing.

There isn't much of a gain for your uses to go with ht or 1366 in the future unless you plan on surpassing the 8x/8x pci-e bandwidth before your next motherboard upgrade which looks pretty hard to do and damn near impossible today.

 

[Wolygon]

There is 6-core upgrad BUT it is not available and meaningless to 99.99% LGA1366 owners as they can't afford it.

Yes because in a year or two this is still going to be the case. /Sarcasm

 

[andy5174]

How many years has QX9650 been released?

Yes, it is not $999 anymore but it is still NOT affordable. Same will goes for other extreme edition CPUs.

Furthermore, why would I need i9 a year or two later when sandy bridge will be there by then?

 

[andy5174]

BTW, even $289 i7-920 is not considered as an affordable price to most of us and you would have seen much less 920 if Microcenter didn't sell them for $200

 

[wh3resmycar]

future proofing? you mean how long will someone else's e-peen becomes bigger than yours?

ask those that bought a 975 now that the 980x had arrived.

there's no such thing as future-proofing.

 

[fattymole123]

Thanks for the responses people. I think it comes down to: I need to buy for my needs now with a little bit of headroom. Because I can hold off and hold off, but i'll have to buy sometime. Hence, the market moves to fast to predict i suppose.

Thankyou so much everyone, you have really helped