Gaming
Affordable Performance: How the NEW Intel Core i7 helps you to “Get Your Game ON!”
![ci7_78[1].gif](http://scoop.intel.com/assets_c/2009/09/ci7_78[1]-thumb-78x95.gif)
When people ask me for recommendations on buying (or building) a new PC, my first question is ‘How much do you want to spend’ – because like anything, you usually get what you pay for. Everyone who’s wanted Intel Core i7 performance can now purchase it, without worry – it’s gonna ROCK!
If you’re like most people, you want a new PC that will play the latest games, manipulate your media files, and not cost and arm and a leg. You want the best *’bang for the buck’* that you can buy in a computer today. With the latest [Intel Core i7-800 Series](http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=41315,41316), and [Intel Core i5-700 Series](http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=42915) Processors in conjunction with the new [Intel P55 Chipset](http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=41726) – you CAN have the best of both worlds.
As you can see, the latest Core i7-800 series CPU’s have nearly all the bells and whistles of the previous series. You do get one x16 PCIe lane, and dual-channel memory now – which can equate to some cost savings when buying your new PC. Check out the chart below, and see how well the new quad-core Nehalem architecture really sings with the Integrated Memory Controller…
I don’t know about you, but I sure do appreciate every minute that I can save when doing video/audio editing… if you do this work all day long, you could save almost a whole hour of time where you’d normally be waiting around for the work to get done.
The Core i5-700 Series CPUs are pretty stout as well, you get 4 cores with Turbo Boost sans Hyper-Threading – but trust me, if you haven’t tried multi-core yet – you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you can do!
I’ve played with just about every variant of Intel Processor since the early ’90s and these latest Core i7 and Core i5 CPUs are a fantastic leap forward for those of you looking to upgrade or buy a new computer system.
Here’s a great video from the guys at NCIX.com showing some of the bits and pieces of these new systems, fantastic video!
I’d love to hear from those of you buying and or building a new PC with the latest Lynnfield based Core i7 or Core i5 CPUs – ROCK ON!
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this is bad a$$
Dude this machine is going to be awesome! i can already see it: me pwnng noobs on my brand new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 game i so love it. those n00bs are uncapable of keeping up with my brand new high-powered i7!!! woooooooooo!
I just ordered a new system two days ago. I was extremely torn on what to buy…the 900 series of i7′s are based on the LGA1366 socket, while the new i7′s and i5′s are based on LGA1156. Obviously I wanted the latest so the new i7′s and i5′s were what I initially planned on buying. However, be forwarned that your motherboard won’t be supporting anything more than quad cores; all new processors for it from here on in will be lower wattage, etc. with better designs, but thats it.
The LGA1366 is where the next generation of 6 and 8 core chips will be released on, making a purchase of the i5′s and i7′s a costly purchase if you didn’t expect ot have to buy a new motherboard when you upgrade next time.
The core i5 and i7 sound sick, but if you are going to spend money on it, shouldn’t you just buy the i7? its not that much more expensive and it seems to pack more of a punch. On a side note the comments on here seem fake. “Dude this machine is going to be awesome! i can already see it: me pwnng noobs” lol are you serious? no one talks like that
You’ve just compared apples, oranges, lemons, and bananas. Could one of the benchmarks show ALL of the processors being compared?
Ok, lol at the second set of graphs! They are comparing the new quad core i5 ($200 @ newegg.com) with the dual core E5300 ($70 @ newegg.com). The E5300 is a pentium dual core and only cost $86 when it launched a year ago, its a super low budget item. The graphs show that “technology has improved”, but it doesn’t make a strong case for the i5. Maybe comparisons with a cpu in the same weight class just weren’t dramatic enough to sell the new processors…
I have a I7 920 2.66Mhz … I have from february . Thist CPU rocks. But NFS broke… don`t run on my desktop , with a gigabite motherbord , 2G ram 1333, and a ATI HD 2400 series video card … and i have a win 7 up build 7600 … Maybe u know why that don`t work… sorry my english .. i know is pure and bad .. and all :)
Hi Omar – you should be able to rock out on NFS – I’d recommend adding more RAM to 4GB but more importantly update the videocard to one with a newer GPU with more video memory (over 512MB is preferred for gaming). That’s most likely your bottleneck.
Have fun and thanks for reading!
Maybe I am an id10t but I don’t get the point of OC except for a techie pissing contest. You spend so much time dialing in settings and extra money for the MoBo and cooling to support it. If it takes 8 hours to test a stable OC and you test it say 4 times, that is 32 freaking hours. If you OC you what save 5 percent at most in load times?
I was deliberating buying a i7 920 for quite some time, but the systems that I saw from Dell, HP and Acer seemed to skimp on the graphic options. I then decided that the best alternative for me was to build my own system, because I wanted a better graphic processor and monitor (Samsung T260HD, 25.5″).
As I started to shop around, I learned that the i5 was actually a decent performer and much less power hungry from an overall system standpoint vs a i7 920 system. The reason is because it does not have to contend with 3 channel memory architecture and its can run at a cool 2.66GHz with the option to turbo boost up to 3.2GH. I personally believe that Intel designed and certified the chip to run at 3.2GHz, but market it as a 2.66GHz product to segment the market. They don’t want the i5 to run too fast or it will compete with the i7 920 segment (without the price premium).
I am not a big game player, so everyday use I run at the lowest clock frequency, but I know I have the extra horsepower in case I do something intensive. I also read that most gaming system are more dependent on the gpu performance than the cpu. So if you are into games, the i5 is a better option for you if you have a fixed budget. You are better off spending the money on a faster video card and more DRAM.
So after a lot of research, I decided on a system that was more than what I needed, but something that I felt would carry me through for the next 4-5 years without a major upgrade. I ran various application on it simulataneously such at Vuse, Nero, explorer while watching movies, and the system never ran beyond 25%.
The components I used were:
Gigabyte P55-UD4P motherboard
Intel i5-700
Power Color 4870 512MB (only paid $110)
Hitachi 7k1000.B (reviews indicated it was the best all-around harddrive balance low power and performance, .C is suppose to be available soon and have better power)
4MB DRAM 1333 (using Windows XP 32bit. Works well, so why updgrade?)
P&C Silencer 750W psu (on sale, and it is better to have more than less. It does not consume any more power than a lower wattage psu, and its efficiency was 80%+)
Cooler Master Elite 310 case (This was driven more about cost. Once I put the components in, I don’t plan to swapping thing in an out everyday. From a cooling perspective, it has one back, one side and one front 120mm fan slots. Other than the stock fan in the back and the fan in the Silencer, I have not added another fan and the Gigabyte motherboard sensor indicates that the system temperature is quite fine. I am thinking about adding a front fan though. I heard about creating positive air pressure in the system to keep dust out.)
Samsung T260HD (A large monitor and price effective as well. I also prefer the 1920X1200 resolution. I don’t like the HD screen profile for computing. Sitting in front of the monitor, the picture is perfect, but the viewing angle is less than more modern panels that I have seen for HD TV. However, larger computer monitors seem to jump expontially in price, so it is good enough for the right price)
I used some spare components from my old system like keyboard, DVD burner, IDE card (3 HDD moved over from old system).
All in all, it is more power than I need to do my daily webbrowsing, movie watch, occassional gaming, torrent downloading, and email. It was the best value/performance that I could find at the time.
I hope this helps anyone that is interesting in a new system
Hi Kris – overclocking is definitely a ‘hobbist’ activity, it’s not for everyone. My experience with the latest Core i7 took me about 3 minutes extra in the BIOS. This isn’t typical for everyone though. I wanted a certain speed (not insane) and I was very pleased with the results. Yes, some folks do get quite crazy in overclocking – and I enjoy their vigor :)
To each his own – it’s all about enjoying your PC experience.
WOW – live2work, you should change your name to live2play :) awesome!
I need to purchase a new PC and I am not sure if I should buy a branded PC (such as HP Elite e9280t running new i5-750 or i7-860 or 9180f running older CPU i7-920)OR build it myself to have a better motherbaord, memory and video card etc.
I need this new PC for everyday use and for Video Editing/Randering , I don’t play games and I can not afford to pay a lot of money.
Please advise which processor is the best value for the money in respect to performance (video editing)?
Also, I’m not sure if single thread (i7-750 is sufficient for video editing) or should I go with hyper threading technology (i7-920 or i7-860) If hyper threating technology which CPU is better value.
Thank you so much for your opinion
Hi Ted
Both the Core i5 and Core i7 will give you 4 CPUs for work – but the latter does give you HyperThreading – which is VERY beneficial if you applications can utilize the extra threads. Video processing can be time consuming – so I would suggest the fastest CPU that you can afford – and you’ll have quad (or 8) CPU threads working hard for you. The i7-900 series is often though of as the “Extreme” or “High-End” version, whereas the i5-700 series is more of a mainstream CPU. Don’t forget to invest in RAM as well, as your video editing will benefit from the added memory space. Best of luck in your purchase!
Thanks Todd,
For video editing which processor is better i7 920 (2.66MHz)or i7 860 (2.8GHz). Both have 8 threads but are built on different platforms and use different memories (if I am not mistaken). What is your opinion?
Hi Ted – looks like you’re set on 8 threads – so I’d recommend the newer i7 860 for a few reasons. In regards to cost, the P55 based boards are a bit more cost effective, plus you can deploy your memory in pairs (instead of triples) for good memory performance. Also, you’ll get some extra performance from the 2.8GHz part in a 95W package :)
Check out and compare for yourself.
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyID=28037
Thanks for reading, and maybe you can add some cool videos of your PC build!
I applogize for the simplistic question but is i7 or xeon better for CAD drawing?
If you check Autodesk requirements for AutoCAD 2010 you’ll see that the software does benefit from multiple CPU scenarios. http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/autocad_2010qa_final.pdf
if you’re doing 3D rendering you can utilize a multi-core system to the best of its ability, I’d pick a solution (either Core i7 or Xeon) based on your needs and your price limit.