Will this motherboard & processor combo fit into a medium-sized tower?

[soknar]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225&cm_re=i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

Also, is the motherboard a good purchase and fit for this processor?

 

[Timop]

It will fit into any ATX case.

But unless you have a need for Tri-SLI, consider the sabertooth for a bit less:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665&cm_re=sabertooth-_-13-131-665-_-Product

 

[soknar]

what's the difference between the two?

 

[soknar]

The I7 processor is a good purchase, right? I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I have a 5850 card, but I really need to upgrade my processor and motherboard to complement it.

 

[Timop]

You gain USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb, lose the tall and lose obstructing NB heatsinks, Tri-SLI support and $40.

With a 5850, you should really consider the 750 if you're simply gaming.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215&cm_re=Core_i5-_-19-115-215-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131405&cm_re=P7P55D-_-13-131-405-_-Product

 

[soknar]

oh sorry... I agree. It's a better purchase. I didn't realize that I was getting a 3-way SLI. However, I did like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

I7-950

 

[Timop]

Unless youre doing 3D Rendering, video editing etc. The i5 750/760 perform almost identically for gaming compared to the 930/950 while costing $200 less as a platform. Plus they are easily OCable.

 

[soknar]

Well the recommended specs for final fantasy 14 are I7 2.66 GZ or higher, GTX 460 768 MB VRAM or better, or 4 GB of memory.

 

[soknar]

It's a very demanding game.

 

[Timop]

The i5 is the exact same CPU as i7 8XX, just that they disabled HT which only helps in applications like 3D Rendering, video editing etc.

The i7 9-XX adds Tri-channel RAM, which wont do anything unless you have RAM in sets of 3.

 

[soknar]

HT isn't important for games?

 

[soknar]

Why would Squaresoft Enix recommend the I7 then? That's strange. It seems to only support computer programmers.

 

[Timop]

Its not. Its shown in some cases it actually decreases fps.

FF14 isnt nearly as CPU demanding as it says. Rather it taxes the GPU much more.

 

[soknar]

What about other games? Will the I5 work for them too? I don't want to have issues in the future.

 

[Timop]

Heres a bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/47?vs=109

For gaming, the i5 quad is just as good similarly clocked i7s.

 

[soknar]

What if a game recommend support for quadcore? I heard that the I5 supports dual core.

 

[Timop]

The i5 7XX are quads, so if a game recommends a quad-core, well you will have one.

 

[soknar]

My cousin said that he looked into the I series. he told me that I5 was made after the I7 to support dual core or something like that. Is he wrong?

 

[Timop]

There are the i5 6XXs that was introduced after the i7s that is dual core plus graphics, so he is partially correct.

But the i5 7XX were talking about now is a true quad core based on the fisrt i7s.