I5-750 vs i7-860

[oldsoulrevival]

So I am building a gaming/movie/music rig and I was wondering what your thoughts on which processor is the better buy.

*COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Blue RC-932-KKN3-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
*(2)SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5
*XIGMATEK MC NRP-MC651 650W ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V Ver. 2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular *Active PFC Power Supply
*COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm
*XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire
*CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
*GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard w/ USB 3.0 & SATA 6 Gb/s - Retail
*LITE-ON Black 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support - Retail


With the..... i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz = $1300.00
With the..... i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz = $1420.00

Is it worth the extra $120?

 

[tecmo34]

The i5 750 is the better bang for the buck on a gaming rig. There isn't enough of an improvement with the i7 860 in gaming to justify the cost difference... IMO

 

[tserich]

For games/movies/music, the I7-860 will provide very little benefits or none at all because games don't use hyperthreading

 

[ekoostik]

Are you planning to OC? If not - and if you get the i5 750 - can you save some money by going for 1333 MHz RAM? With an i5 750 you cannot run RAM at more than 1333 without OCing your CPU or making other trade-offs such as losing turbo.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

Best answer selected by oldsoulrevival.