i7 920 vs. 940

[eddiebravo]

assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

 

[Glenn]

2.66GHz vs 2.93GHz is a very small difference. With or without overclocking there is very little to gain going to the 940 IMHO. Should command a $20 price premium at most.

The I7 upgrade will rock though!

 

[imported_Redmist]

you say no overclocking but with money you could save you could pick up an aftermarket cooler, spend a couple hours searching these forums and seeing what other peoples settings are for a mild overclock of 400-600mghz and still have more than $200 left over.

but if you have money to burn for pricey inflated intel parts then go for it.

 

[exar333]

Go for the 920. The 940 is more worth it IF you want to OC your cpu and get everything possible out of it without spending $999.99 on the EE version.

You won't see much of a difference between the 920 and 940 on stock speeds, both are very fast.

If you are a serious gamer, might not be a bad idea to spend the extra $$ on either a GTX 295 or 2 x 280's or 2 x 285s. Have fun!

 

[Rick James]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

Why would you pay more when the same clock speed could be had by just overclocking?

 

[eddiebravo]

Originally posted by: Rick James

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

Why would you pay more when the same clock speed could be had by just overclocking?

because i am not a hardware guy, i dont know how to overclock, i dont want to mess with anything, i just want to order a computer, turn it on, and have it work.

i was just curious if the extra money to move up to the slightly higher speeds of the 940 would be worth it in the long run since i do not plan to upgrade again for approximately 2-2.5yrs. im trying to find that balance where i can spend just enough to get near max performance now while saving enough to upgrade again in the near future, rather than blowing it all on a $3500 965 sli beast that really wont provide a noticeable difference in the majority of the gaming i do.(1680x1050)

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo

Originally posted by: Rick James

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

Why would you pay more when the same clock speed could be had by just overclocking?

because i am not a hardware guy, i dont know how to overclock, i dont want to mess with anything, i just want to order a computer, turn it on, and have it work.

Then why are you building a computer? Or are you asking because you're buying a computer that offers the i7 940 as a BTO upgrade and you want to know if it's worth it?

Either way, it's not worth it. Furthermore, overclocking is very easy. Just read a guide or something. You can't just give up on it because you don't know how to do it right now. There's no need for an aggressive overclock either. Just bump it up a few hundred MHz and you'll have the same speed as the i7 940 for much less.

Again, if you're building, you must have learned how to do that at some point too. So why the sudden opposition to overclocking?

 

[imported_Redmist]

"damages caused by overclocking will void manufacturers warranty"? maybe that scares people away from getting the most out of their moneys worth, hell idk. OC'ing is simple, especially with cpus that have unlocked multipliers. The hard part (which isnt really that hard) is making sure your case has good air flow -watching the temps, and having no stability issues....

 

[eddiebravo]

"Or are you asking because you're buying a computer that offers the i7 940 as a BTO upgrade and you want to know if it's worth it? "

this.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ah, that makes more sense then.

Well, either way, no, don't go for the 940. Not worth it no matter your situation. The 965 is even more expensive but at least it provides the added benefit of an unlocked multiplier (and possibly a higher ceiling since the chips are rated for a higher base speed).

 

[Rick James]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo

Originally posted by: Rick James

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

Why would you pay more when the same clock speed could be had by just overclocking?

because i am not a hardware guy, i dont know how to overclock, i dont want to mess with anything, i just want to order a computer, turn it on, and have it work.

i was just curious if the extra money to move up to the slightly higher speeds of the 940 would be worth it in the long run since i do not plan to upgrade again for approximately 2-2.5yrs. im trying to find that balance where i can spend just enough to get near max performance now while saving enough to upgrade again in the near future, rather than blowing it all on a $3500 965 sli beast that really wont provide a noticeable difference in the majority of the gaming i do.(1680x1050)

Overclocking an I7 is as easy as changing 1 setting in the bios. All you have to do is change the Bclk to 150 and thats it. Simple. Don't need to be a hardcore OC to do it.

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo

Originally posted by: Rick James

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
assuming 6gigs ram, gtx285...worth it for the few hundred extra to go for the 940? no overclocking, and this machine will be kept for probably 2yrs at the least.

Why would you pay more when the same clock speed could be had by just overclocking?

because i am not a hardware guy, i dont know how to overclock, i dont want to mess with anything, i just want to order a computer, turn it on, and have it work.

i was just curious if the extra money to move up to the slightly higher speeds of the 940 would be worth it in the long run since i do not plan to upgrade again for approximately 2-2.5yrs. im trying to find that balance where i can spend just enough to get near max performance now while saving enough to upgrade again in the near future, rather than blowing it all on a $3500 965 sli beast that really wont provide a noticeable difference in the majority of the gaming i do.(1680x1050)

Buy the 920 or 940, learn how to overclock and it will beat the 965 at stock speeds. If you've done any research, you will see that people have 920's at 3.6GHz+. It doesn't take a mathematician to realise that this is higher than the stock 965 at 3.2GHz.

It takes time (and to some extent money) to get the higher o/cs, but hey what the hell.

If you are not going to overclock at all or only slightly overlock, then save the money and go with the 920. If you want to o/c then wait 3 months for the 950 (replacement to the 940) to be released. The 950 is a D0 stepping (the same as the new 920s) and it will offer a slightly higher CPU multiplier over the 940 (23x instead of 22x). It is rumoured to be the same price as the 940 is now. It is also rumoured that it will o/c higher than the 940 (even without the higher CPU multiplier).

I'm hoping to get 4.4-4.6GHz on my 950 running on water, provided I get a cherry chip. As you've guessed I'm going to get as much as I can out of this chip within sensible limits.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Redmist
you say no overclocking but with money you could save you could pick up an aftermarket cooler, spend a couple hours searching these forums and seeing what other peoples settings are for a mild overclock of 400-600mghz and still have more than $200 left over.

but if you have money to burn for pricey inflated intel parts then go for it.

stimulate the economy!

 

[likenew]

I don't know about other new boards, but with the ASUS m3a78-t that I have, the bios(and as long as cool n'quiet isn't running) and an ASUS app, you can overclock with intervals of 5% with just a few clicks. You don't even have to know anything about overclocking.

 

[alcoholbob]

Software clockspeed adjustment is okay I think if you want to manually do your own version of "Intel Speedstep" but the variance for stability is much lower than if you overclock in the bios. Sometimes you'll pass a threshold where for no reason you can figure out, the system will just hard lock.

I'm running a 4ghz overclock right now on an evga board and I can tune it down to 2.8ghz when I'm just browsing. 2.77ghz--hard lock, blue screen. This is adjusting clockspeeds at very low increments at a time.

If you have the money and don't want the hassle of overclocking or modding then buy as high as you are willing to go. Modification-type hobbies can eat a lot of time. If time = money for you, then it goes without saying, don't waste your time.

 

[Tweakin]

op, if you don't want to overclock...that's your choice and a valid one.

To answer your question, the 940 is not worth the extra money at that performance point. You most likely would not even see a difference of 1 frame per second while gaming.

 

[Kraeoss]

na not worth it that's like justifying buying the EE edition for bragging rights get the 920 and call it a day plus you can bump up your ram to probably 12 with the change...

 

[octopus41092]

Not worth it, just buy a new cooler and OC or another 6GB of RAM. Hell for the price difference you could probably get a whole liquid cooling setup.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Also, OCing is like heroin. Once you get hooked you never stop. So not wanting to do it is a completely acceptable view. Don't let this happen to you! Don't be like me! :beer:

And yeah, even at stock once you turn that machine on, you're probably just not gonna believe how fast it is.

 

[Minerva]

Originally posted by: Dadofamunky
Also, OCing is like heroin. Once you get hooked you never stop. So not wanting to do it is

Truer words have not been spoken.

Once you get hooked it's like a schizo that works in receive only. Every CPU around you calls you out like Clint Eastwood!

"Hey punk what's the matter? You not gonna push that voltage? Chicken? Huh punk!? I'm waiting for you punk!" :laugh:

 

[daw123]

Resurrecting a dead thread.

It looks as if online shops in the UK are starting to take pre-orders on the I7 950. Means that the 950 release must be imminent. It also looks as if the retail cost of the 950 is pretty much the same as the 940 (~£500 inc. V.A.T.).

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=i7+950&hl=en

I?ve e-mailed Ballicom.com to find out when they are expecting to have 950s in stock. I?ll also give them a call on Monday.

Ditto for the 975: http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=i7+975&hl=en

 

[TidusZ]

Originally posted by: Redmist
you say no overclocking but with money you could save you could pick up an aftermarket cooler, spend a couple hours searching these forums and seeing what other peoples settings are for a mild overclock of 400-600mghz and still have more than $200 left over.

but if you have money to burn for pricey inflated intel parts then go for it.

QFT

Overclocking is very easy, you don't need to be a computer guru to do it. Read the sticky on these forums, look at your bios, play with it, figure it out, ask questions here if needed. Max 1-2 hours of work and you'll save hundreds of dollars in the performance you gain.

I'm lazy with some things myself, but this is one of those things you pretty much just have to do it, you have to learn it. Or get someone to do it for $10 or something.

Example, my processor comes at 2833 mhz, and its running at 4250. 50% overclock. The 3000 mhz version of my processor cost $500 CDN, $100 more than the 2833. I'm not gonna finish the math here, but I think you get the idea.

 

[HunterDT]

I've never overclocked before until I bought an i7 920. I read so man articles on how insanely easy it was to OC this thing so I had to try it. I am running at 3.2Ghz now, which is by no means anything to brag about, but hey I saved myself, what, 700 dollars?! I'll take that.

 

[TidusZ]

I need to start a late night informercial about the magic of unlocking the speed of your pc that the bigwigs don't want you to know about. I'll send a cd and audiobook that will explain the secrets that only a priveledged few know about, and break it down into easy steps. Maybe for an extra payment of 39.99 I could include a pop-up book of how to check stability. I'll include snippets of video of young adults getting owned in various games with choppy framerates, elderly women exasperated by slow web browsing, and the working man/woman watching long program loading while looking at their watch and getting frustrated. Then I'll record some crysis off my pc as part of the "after." I'm gonna be so filthy rich. Ignorance truly will be bliss.