i7-950 vs i7-2500K

gundersausage

Junior Member
Jun 24, 2004
11
0
0
Based on the recent previews which will be the faster and better gaming chip?

And all things being equal would you pull the trigger on a 950 now or wait for the 2600/2500?
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
1. With either of these CPUs you'll be almost entirely GPU limited. So from a gaming perspective, it won't matter much unless you plan to use the fastest graphics card such as the HD6990.

2. The 950 is a not a good choice regardless if SB is available or not. It trails the Core i7 860/870 in idle and load power consumption and when both are overclocked, isn't tangibly faster either. Add to this $200 X58 motherboards, and the 950 is an overpriced proposition imo.

3. For gaming, the best bang for the buck is the i5 760 (games don't really benefit from Hyper Threading). Suddenly, you just saved yourself $50 on the CPU and $50 on the motherboard and that's $100 better spent on an SSD or a faster videocard.

4. If you are going to spend $200+mobo and $220+ on a CPU, you should definitely wait for Sandy Bridge. When overclocking is taken into consideration, it should come close to 4.5+ghz (plus another 15%-20%+ performance increase per clock in other tasks from 1st generation i7s). A 4.5+ghz on SB will be about ~ 5.4ghz i7 950 speed. Then again, someone was able to get a mind-blowing 5.5ghz overclock at 1.4V on air. That would be equivalent to a 6.6ghz i7 950. :biggrin:

5. If you have to buy now, I strongly recommend getting the cheaper i5 760 or i7 860/870 on 1156. Socket 1366 only makes sense if you are looking for a 6-core 980/990 upgrade path down the line, or if you need more than 16GBs of ram.

My 2 cents.
 
Last edited:

ilkhan

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2006
1,117
1
0
Russian: You know the 950 got price dropped to the same spot as the 920 and 930 used to be, right? ≈$300. The 960 (IIRC) is in the $550 spot, the (gulftown) 970 is at $800(900?) and the 980X is at $1k. Until the 990X gets released and replaces the 980X, anyway.

The 760 *IS* the best price/$ right now (especially for single GPU) but that doesn't make the 950 worthless.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
The 760 *IS* the best price/$ right now (especially for single GPU) but that doesn't make the 950 worthless.

I know about the price drop. The OP asked which CPU is better for gaming. If he asked about video/audio work, then the 950 > i5. However, for gaming the i7 950 @ 4.0ghz is pretty much 'worthless' over the i5 760 @ 4.0ghz. The performance difference will be about 3% due to the extra memory bandwidth of the 950 from tripple channel ram and the 16x/16x vs. 8x/8x SLI/CF.

SB launches 1st week of January iirc. It makes it very hard to recommend getting the $300 950 on a dead socket (and 1156 isn't much better at this point).
 

ilkhan

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2006
1,117
1
0
s1366 isn't quite dead. If not sandy at least you can upgrade to a gulftown.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,198
3,185
136
www.teamjuchems.com
MicroCenter has the 950 for $230, I believe.

Also, I think the situation is different if you aren't going to OC. It still might be tough to make a good case for stepping up to 1366 unless you are looking at a three year investment and want to know that CPU wise you should be solid (and have a possible drop in CPU upgrade path - even if it will be expensive.)
 
Last edited:

busmaster11

Platinum Member
Mar 4, 2000
2,875
0
0
Some great advice here as I too am waiting for SB but contemplated the 1156based i7s. One concern: I think the terrific ICH10 southbridge which is the only good sub-200$ constroller for Sata3 SSDs is only available on the x58 (1366) or the 1155 SB chipsets...

I hope I have my facts straight but that you can only get XXXX on 1156 is a dealbreaker for me there...

Edit: I stand corrected, its still ICH10 on 1156, but its still the old one without sata3 SSD support, and most cheap 3rd part sata3 controllers don't do good SSDs justice.
 
Last edited:

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,882
3,230
126
Some great advice here as I too am waiting for SB but contemplated the 1156based i7s. One concern: I think the terrific ICH10 southbridge which is the only good sub-200$ constroller for Sata3 SSDs is only available on the x58 (1366) or the 1155 SB chipsets...

P55 = ICH10R.
To my knowledge both uses a ICH10 southbridge.

"ICH10

Intel launched the ICH10 southbridge in June 2008 with the P45 (Eaglelake) chipset."

So yeah the P55 H55 is ICH10.
 

busmaster11

Platinum Member
Mar 4, 2000
2,875
0
0
P55 = ICH10R.
To my knowledge both uses a ICH10 southbridge.

"ICH10

Intel launched the ICH10 southbridge in June 2008 with the P45 (Eaglelake) chipset."

So yeah the P55 H55 is ICH10.

Ah. My mistake... I don't remember all the names but apparently we need to wait for Cougar Point on the x67 chipsets to get sata3 onboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets

I wish I can recall the review that says that intel's integrated sata3 controller is way better then the Marvells, etc...
 
sale-70-410-exam    | Exam-200-125-pdf    | we-sale-70-410-exam    | hot-sale-70-410-exam    | Latest-exam-700-603-Dumps    | Dumps-98-363-exams-date    | Certs-200-125-date    | Dumps-300-075-exams-date    | hot-sale-book-C8010-726-book    | Hot-Sale-200-310-Exam    | Exam-Description-200-310-dumps?    | hot-sale-book-200-125-book    | Latest-Updated-300-209-Exam    | Dumps-210-260-exams-date    | Download-200-125-Exam-PDF    | Exam-Description-300-101-dumps    | Certs-300-101-date    | Hot-Sale-300-075-Exam    | Latest-exam-200-125-Dumps    | Exam-Description-200-125-dumps    | Latest-Updated-300-075-Exam    | hot-sale-book-210-260-book    | Dumps-200-901-exams-date    | Certs-200-901-date    | Latest-exam-1Z0-062-Dumps    | Hot-Sale-1Z0-062-Exam    | Certs-CSSLP-date    | 100%-Pass-70-383-Exams    | Latest-JN0-360-real-exam-questions    | 100%-Pass-4A0-100-Real-Exam-Questions    | Dumps-300-135-exams-date    | Passed-200-105-Tech-Exams    | Latest-Updated-200-310-Exam    | Download-300-070-Exam-PDF    | Hot-Sale-JN0-360-Exam    | 100%-Pass-JN0-360-Exams    | 100%-Pass-JN0-360-Real-Exam-Questions    | Dumps-JN0-360-exams-date    | Exam-Description-1Z0-876-dumps    | Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps    | Dumps-HPE0-Y53-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-HPE0-Y53-Exam    | 100%-Pass-HPE0-Y53-Real-Exam-Questions    | Pass-4A0-100-Exam    | Latest-4A0-100-Questions    | Dumps-98-365-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-98-365-Exam    | 100%-Pass-VCS-254-Exams    | 2017-Latest-VCS-273-Exam    | Dumps-200-355-exams-date    | 2017-Latest-300-320-Exam    | Pass-300-101-Exam    | 100%-Pass-300-115-Exams    |
http://www.portvapes.co.uk/    | http://www.portvapes.co.uk/    |