Building a top notch i7 machine

[ProfJohn]

Was looking at about a $1000
i7 920
275 gtx
850w PS etc etc

Am wondering that with the i5' and new i7's if it is worth waiting a bit to see if there is some price fall out or will it make little difference between now and Christmas??

Thoughts?

 

[Lunyone]

Well you could save a little $ and get a quality 550w PSU. Not sure what specs you have for the build, but I'd buy the i7 build if it fit within your budget. The i9's (6 cores) will be upgradeable on most of the i7 mobo's, IIRC, so that is a definate bonus. The i5's look interesting, but who knows what kind of upgrades you will get with them.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Yes I'm wondering this myself. I think the release of the new i5/i7's might have an impact on cpus across the board (AMD/Intel) and we might (hopefully) see some price drops on everything.

 

[Maverick2002]

i7 920 will be useless unless:

i7 920 drops in price
or
i7 860 is impossible to find

for gaming i5 750 will be on par and cheaper than both

What do you need 6 cores/12 threads for unless you're doing 3d rendering/running simulations?

 

[Lunyone]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
i7 920 will be useless unless:

i7 920 drops in price
or
i7 860 is impossible to find

for gaming i5 750 will be on par and cheaper than both

What do you need 6 cores/12 threads for unless you're doing 3d rendering/running simulations?

Some professionals will need it, but for most people it's a non-issue. The i5 is looking like the PhII x4 match with some added benefits. Most of the review sites have the i5 750 on par or a bit better than the PhII x4 955/965. The basic benefits look like less power when not running and having the turbo mode kick in when you need it the most.

 

[philosofool]

Yeah, it looks like the i7 860 is the sweet spot for performance rigs. i7 920 = more expensive board without any extra value, and weak Turbo Mode performance. The 920 is not better than the 870, and the 860 can't be far behind it's older brother. If you're spending that extra money, you should really understand what $100 is getting you, besides the feeling of driving a Mercedes instead of a Lexus. And wait for the HD 5000 series if you're spending that kind of money on a video card.

 

[YBS1]

Originally posted by: philosofool
Yeah, it looks like the i7 860 is the sweet spot for performance rigs. i7 920 = more expensive board without any extra value, and weak Turbo Mode performance. The 920 is not better than the 870, and the 860 can't be far behind it's older brother. If you're spending that extra money, you should really understand what $100 is getting you, besides the feeling of driving a Mercedes instead of a Lexus. And wait for the HD 5000 series if you're spending that kind of money on a video card.

The turbo mode performance advantages quickly vaporize once the i7 920 is overclocked though, and let's not kid ourselves here...Virtually everyone building a DIY i7 box is overclocking it. Now as far as an OEM pc with a locked down BIOS, no doubt these new chips are the way to go, but for a DIY enthusiast box the 920 is still king IMO so long as you aren't really pinching every penny. The extra value lies in the triple channel memory (if you run anything that can take advantage of it), multi-gpu performance, and upcoming 6 core compatibility. Whether that is worth the extra expense is the question.