it's so weird. an 8-thread cpu cheeper than a 4-thread c2d? the 920 is even more OCable than the other C2D's.

Why buy Core2Quad? Well Q9400@4Ghz for $207.00 at eWiz = gaming performance of i7 920@4Ghz but runs much cooler and DDR2+p45 mobo much cheaper setup.

Core2Quad is better for backwards compatibility and single threaded apps by far.

The CPU hasn't really been what makes Core i7 expensive. All the additional cost with the motherboard and triple channel ram drives the price up.

i dont know. you still need to get a board and ram which wont be cheap compared to a socket 775 and ddr2 ram

it wont be to long before ddr3 gets cheep to. there are so many companies involved with ram that the prices will be driven under.

Phenom II for sure, spend the saved money on GPU power .

I7 if your wallet is big.

Well the problem with i7 isn't getting a cheap cpu the 920 is a decent price but it's the like 400+ dollar board and 100+ dollar ram that makes people afraid to go the i7 path.

I'm going to wait. The i7 doesnt seem like much of an increase from a C2D, nor does the Phenom have anything to shout about. Maybe the 32nm chips will be better.

wow. way to be uninformed. C2Q's still remain superior on single threaded apps as theyre not hyperthreaded. a Q9650 will reach 4GHz on stock voltage, and can do 4.4 on air. a Q9650 has 12mb of L2 cache vs the i7 920 with only 1mb. even if you throw in the L3 cache of the i7 it only ends up with 9mb, still less than the Q9650 which has its 12 running at a much higher speed. As such the C2Q will easily beat out a core i7 in gaming and anything that isnt specifically written to support multiple threads for what is all in all a cheaper platform. (775 vs 1336)

What has Tuan been smoking? Comparing Q9650 (3.0 GHz) to i7 920 (2.66 GHz) is stupid at best. Why aren't you comparing QX9770 to i7 920? Heck, core i7 920 has always been cheaper than the Q9650 (~$300 vs. ~$500, when i7 launched). Tom's hardware has really gone down hill. And I am surprised that Tuan wasn't fired after apple article debacle.

If anyone wants, Microcenter offers the i7 920 for $220 (no joke), but you have to pick it up in-store. Still, if you live near one, HOLY CRAP!

@RadioWars

You beat me to it man :^).

I'm currently building a new i7 920 system to replace my old socket 939 AMD 3800 X2 system. I've spent the last 3 months trying to decide on a C2D, Phenom II or i7. As I only upgrade every 3-4 years, I didn't want to use dead tech & I wanted 4 cores, so the C2Ds are out. (C2Qs are also dearer here than the i7 920.)

Then it comes down to i7 vs Phenom 2. The AM2+ mobo is dead tech, so it's the new AM3 mobo using DDR3. The limited availability AM3 boards are nearly as expensive as the cheap i7 boards.

So in the end I figure didn't pay that much of a premium to go i7. It did cost more than usual, but I figure the machines a bit better than usual.

The Microcenter $220 deal for i7 is over now, but they still have the Q9400 for $180. The combined i7 + mobo + ram is still significantly higher than a c2d or c2q, so I picked a Q9400 for my recent build. I was tempted a little by the i7 though.

Maybe it depends on the apps but for at least some, the i7 isn't an improvement in power over the c2d and c2q. Tom's has used i7's in 2 of their systembuilder marathons and for at least some single threaded apps, the i7's were beat by 2 of their previous builds using an E8500 and Q9650. One of the i7's was even beat by Tom's previous E5200. In one of their gaming tests one of the i7's was beaten by 3 previous c2's.

HT =/= 8 thread. HT sucks. It did on the p4 and it does now.

If I was to build a system today...it would be Phenom II 940, hands down.

Why?

I seek high value, and Phenom II gives me that. My E7200 performs admirably, but sometimes, the lack of two extra cores brings my rig to its knees. Add in the little difference DDR3 provides compared to DDR2, and the rather small difference in overclocking capability, and the Phenom II wins my money.

Too bad my next rig will be built in 2011...Phenom III / Core i9, anyone?

You can get a Phenom II 920 for 229$ at newegg not 235$.

I just built my new system at the first of February. I looked on newegg priced the AM2 and AM3 stuff against the i7 920. The prices was the same for it.

My old system:
CPU: AMD FX60
RAM: 2 GB of Corsair XMP
MoBo: eVGA
GPU 7800gt

My new system:
CPU: i7 920 overclocked to 3.58 GHz
RAM: 6 GB of Patriot Viper 1333
MoBo: ASUS P6T
GPU: 4870x2 Sapphire 2 GB 521 bit.

With my new system I can run Crysis on "Very High" no problems. A friend of mine tha has an AM2 2.6 GHz, he can't run it that high and he also has a 4870x2 and 4 GB of RAM. Read up on the i7 it can take a beating and still out perform other CPUs.

I7 by far

hmmm...

Micro Center has i7 for 229.99 and has had it as such for almost 2 months now.

www.microcenter.com

^^The above deal is still on. While it was at 229.99 while Micro Center was having its Build Your Own PC month, it is still at $229.99 for at least the beginning of the month of march.

But be nice and buy some other stuff there while you're at it. Micro Center is losing 60$ on each i7.

I'm guessing the headline was meant to read "Pick up..."? Pickup is a noun. In this context it would sort of be in the place of an adjective. Is there a special 'pickup' kind of Core i7?

Another bizarre element is relegating the Core 2 Duo to the "budget system" or "HTPC" category. I have an e8400 @ 4ghz. It feels pretty high end and games about as well as one could imagine. Yes the Duo saves money, but can handle a lot more than HTPC duties.

Wowo, we have never had it better, just pick a budget and all of the choices will do, yes, bang for buck with phenom, solid performance from c2d/q and cutting edge fast i7, just be gratefull that we have such a choice, amd nice to see amd competing better again, looking forward to my next build in 2011 after 7300@ 3.8ghz is getting old in the tooth.