I7-860 vs i7-930

[xiras01]

I am currently in building a computer and was wanting a view of some of the users of which cpu to get, i will mainly be using it for gaming but as well for uni for which i am studying chemical engineering. So leave your comments on what cpu i should get.

The different parts used in each cpu -

i7-860
MOBO - Asus P7P55D-E
Memory - 4G Kit ddr3 2000 G.Skill Trident
Hard Drive - 1tb seagate barracuda
Graphics - asus ati 5770

i7-930
MOBO - AsRock x58 xtreme
Memory - 6G Kit ddr3 1600 G.Skill NQ
Hard Drive - 1tb seagate barracuda
Graphics - asus ati 5770

 

[gkay09]

For gaming and college work...I would suggest you the i5 750...with the money saved on the CPU, get the HD 5850...It will be a overall better gaming PC and the i5 750 @ 2.66GHz is a very powerful Quad-core, that is even more powerful than the 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 so the CPU intensive tasks will also not be an issue...

 

[Lmeow]

Well, the i7 860 would be faster in single threaded applications because of its higher Turbo Boost, and will pretty much beat most processors in gaming. However, I'd get an ASUS P7P55D-E LX or Pro instead of the normal P7P55D-E vanilla motherboard. Gkay does have good suggestion though, the Core i5 750 2.66GHz should be plenty for gaming. As for chemical engineering, the Core i5 750 should handle any app. If you don't mind spending more, I'd get the i7 build, because really $100 can't upgrade an HD 5770 to an HD 5850.

 

[gkay09]

^ Well the cheapest HD 5850 is available around $300 and a decent HD 5770 like the ASUS that the OP has selected is around $170...So the price difference is about $130...So extra $30 is not a big price difference I suppose...And also if he is buying from newegg, the combo deals also save good money...

I would still suggest the i5 750 setup for the OP's usage...

 

[xiras01]

Yeah i live in australia, so yeah i cant use newegg but do go there for user reviews, but the whole idea of me getting an i7 was to try and future proof my system so i dont have to do to many more upgrades for a while. Yeah the only reason im getting the 5770 is because of tax return im getting a 5850 later and run the 5770 in crossfire

 

[gkay09]

^ Hmm...then check for the price difference and then choose the components...
As for the i5 750 while running @ 2.66GHz stock, it is faster than the fastest Phenom II X4 965 which runs at 3.4GHz....
So when you feel the CPU is slowing down, overclock it to get even more performance...
And you should know that softwares are yet to fully utilize 4 cores...So HT wont be a major need for now...

The next best option will go to the 860 over the 930 as the platform cost will be less and these perform better than 930 in single threaded apps because of better turbo boost @ stock speeds...

 

[xiras01]

Hey guys thanks for the advice i have now shifted towards either 750 or 860, leave your advice

 

[Raidur]

+1 i5-750

If this is mainly a gaming PC then i5 all the way.

Realize that besides the slightly different clock speed and hyper threading (which does nothing for gaming) these CPUs are the same. They also will both overclock to the same frequency making turbo and stock clocks mean nothing if you do that.

Either way the i7 is overkill for the 5770. Best to get the very similar performing i5-750 and a stronger GPU.

 

[xiras01]

Best answer selected by xiras01.