Intel Core i7 and Gaming @ [H]

I currently have most of the stuff I want to order to do an i7 build in my "Cart" at Newegg, but there is something keeping me from hitting the "Checkout" button. That "something" could be the fact that I don't think any of the games I play would actually make use of the i7's great power. No doubt the i7 looks to have some phenomenal potential, but does that potential really apply to the folks, like me, who spend a majority of their time in flight simulators and the like? To top if off, I don't really know of any flight simulators or similar coming up in the next few years that would really benefit from an i7 system. I don't think i7 has even been tested with any Flight Simulators yet (some of the Avsim folks may have tested with FS2004/FSX though).

I guess the question that gives me a headache (since I really enjoy creating new builds), is what benefit would I see with an i7 if just about none of the games I play take advantage of more than 1 or 2 cores? My little E6600 build is starting to show it's age and a complete C2D upgrade has seemingly been deemed a "waste of time", while the i7 option may not really yield much of a performance increase with regards to my application. Many hardware reviews don't do much for me since by and large none of the games I play are ever even tested. So.....what does one do? lol

Heck, all I need is one performance test stating an increase in performance in Lock-On or FSX with the i7 and I'm sold. lol

I'm guessing I am probably best off just putting together an i920 + PT6 Deluxe + 6GB G.Skill + "I have no idea what to get for a videocard...GTX280 OR GTX260 in SLI" build. haha
 
gosh many of us, myself included, spend way too much time pondering computer upgrades. for some reason i always get in the upgrade mood in the fall. anyone else?
 
alg7_munif said:
Thanks!

Edit: I think that sticking with C2D is not a good decision but C2Q isn't that far behind the Core i7 considering the price of the Core i7 CPU, RAM and mobo when compared to an OCed C2Q.
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The scary part is that Core i7 is NOT priced way above Yorkfield (Kentsfield, yes, but that's entirely because Kentsfield is Leaving Town). I'm looking, in fact, at prices for the same Core i7 920 that [H] reviewed and comparing them heads-up to the slowest retail-boxed Yorkfield (remember, Yorkfield replaces Kentsfield next year at the foot of Intel's quad road map) at my favorite local retailer (MicroCenter, in fact; http://www.microcenter,.com). The price difference between Core i7 and Yorkfield is $0.00, processor vs. processor. If anything, the price difference between the two is entirely because of the motherboard price difference. (In fact, depending on the motherboards compared, even that is a wash.) The problem Core i7 (and Yorkfield, for that matter) faces is that, for at least another month, both are still going to be plagued by those rock-bottom Q6600 CPU prices, not to mention that Q6600 can still take supremely-cheap DDR2 (or even DDR, depending on the motherboard); however, anywhere above the value/budget area, the battle between Core i7 920 and Q9550 is practically a draw at stock (and remains a draw unless you overclock to speeds beyond where Q9550 typically won't go, especially on air).
However, while a Q8400 will likely not need replacement for today's games (even FarCry 2, as the article makes plain) those of you looking to build a midrange system should seriously consider a Core i7, even over a Q9xxx, especially if your computer needs go beyond games or involve tall overclocks (that seems to be what the article leans toward) as Core i7 overclocks easier than not just Conroe/Kentsfield, but even Wolfdale/Yorkfield.
 
jonneymendoza said:
processors are already cheap imo. a i7 920 is the same price as a q9550. its the mobo's and ram that where all concerned about matey
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Precisely. With Q9550 and i7 920 priced identically at most retailers/e-tailers (retail-box vs. retail-box), it's motherboard and RAM-loadout differences that cause pricing gaps (comparing triple-channel vs. dual-channel RAM-loadout pricing smacks of apples vs. oranges; yet that is exactly the sort of pricing comparison we are forced to make when comparing i7 920 vs. Q9550 builds heads-up; does anyone know of an LGA775 mobo that supports triple-channel?)
 
PGHammer said:
Precisely. With Q9550 and i7 920 priced identically at most retailers/e-tailers (retail-box vs. retail-box), it's motherboard and RAM-loadout differences that cause pricing gaps (comparing triple-channel vs. dual-channel RAM-loadout pricing smacks of apples vs. oranges; yet that is exactly the sort of pricing comparison we are forced to make when comparing i7 920 vs. Q9550 builds heads-up; does anyone know of an LGA775 mobo that supports triple-channel?)
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All LGA 755 are DUAL-channel...do some research.

i7 is the only CPU with tripple-channel...hence why slower rated RAM gives much more bandwith...3x1066 is ~ 2x1600 ;)
 
Hyperthreading. On or off for these tests. Doesn't HT slow down games a bit?
 
Atech said:
All LGA 755 are DUAL-channel...do some research.

i7 is the only CPU with tripple-channel...hence why slower rated RAM gives much more bandwith...3x1066 is ~ 2x1600 ;)
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Which is why I made the earlier comment about apples vs. oranges (however, I wanted to be sure, so I assumed nothing); had a triple-channel LGA755 setup been available for any amount of money, I would have looked like an idiot. (My not knowing of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.)
 
harmattan said:
Another QFT on this one. I'm sitting on a serious multi-GPU system wondering whether it's worth my money to upgrade to i7 and the reviews out there have just gone to confuse me. The [H] review indicates no-to-little gain; Guru3D indicates massive gains, but compares i7 to C2D (e8400); Tomshardware shows excellent gains. We need some conclusive results tested across even-keeled prossessors. It's simple, take the following configs and compare them on a couple multi-GPU-friendly games:

i7 3.2 (or higher) Ghz GTX 280 SLI
Penryn 3.2 Ghz (or higher) GTX 280 SLI
i7 3.2 Ghz (or higher) 4870 X2 CrossfireX
Penryn 3.2 Ghz (or higher) 4870 X2 CrossfireX

I think you guys are already working on this in your multi-GPU scaling article, but just sayin'
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I got all the testing done for 8800GTX, SLI, and Triple SLI on i73.2/3.8, C2Quad3.2/3.8 and C2DE8500 on FC2 at 640 to 2560 at NoAA, 2XAA, and 4XAA. Need to get it together.
 
We are all holding our breath and waiting, trust me!

I have an E4300( I know, laugh! :( ) but it was a HUGE upgrade from the Athlon 2800+( Remember those? ) I came from, and am looking to do the same thing here. Skip over a few ticks and tocks and get another system that can last for two or three years and just need to swap out the GPU as needed. :)

Though depending on results, I may simply get a Quad my P6N can handle and hold off. Decisions, decisions. Show us the light Kyle!
 
Justifire said:
This is interesting.
Till now i haven't seen any reason to switch to i7 with my current setup @ 2560x1600.
Maybe your tests shine another light on this.
Please give me a reason to upgrade :D
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Yeah, just need to get moving on this. Expect it next week.

I have a feeling that L4D will share some benefits if any. It will scale beyond 50% on my Quad at 3.2GHz when the shit starts coming down with a ton of zombies.
 
Oh and actually that is GTX 280, SLI, and TripSLI. Typed 8800 out of habit.
 
Well, I will say this I do not play any games anymore with a full display full of monitors open. :)
 
huh?

On a slightly different topic can you tell us if you can tell us if you've been given an opportunity to look at the competition as of yet?
 
I just ordered my new rig. I was skeptical to go with the new i7 processors, considering that they are yet to be fully proven and the price was out of my budget.

I went with a E8500 + 4850 512MB Xfire setup instead. Hopefully, it'll satisfy my needs for at least a year when I decide it's time to rebuild :p
 
TheGooch69 said:
I just ordered my new rig. I was skeptical to go with the new i7 processors, considering that they are yet to be fully proven and the price was out of my budget.

I went with a E8500 + 4850 512MB Xfire setup instead. Hopefully, it'll satisfy my needs for at least a year when I decide it's time to rebuild :p
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Im sure you will be happy with your new rig.

For what it's worth, my rig (in my sig.) handles everything I throw at it at 1600x1200 - 4xFSAA and 16xAF outside of Crysis and Flightsimulator X (even Crysis/Warhead plays pretty dar well). Yours should be quite a bit faster than mine so I wouldn't worry too much. :)
 
Blacklash said:
920 is down to 300usd now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

I ordered that, a Foxconn X58 mobo and another GTX 260.

No I don't need it :)

It should do well for 1920x with AA though. I've been wanting to try SLi on an Intel platform for a long time.
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lol, funny about that - i7920's are down AUS$100 in 1 week!! Last weeks average was ~AUS$650, today it's down to AUS$550, although motherboards are still same AUS$550-600 - a week is a long time in early adopters world. As for SLI, it seems to be working better than ever IMHO, @least on GTX2** cards, new 180 drivers seem to help a lot....finally, f'n NV can/might be able to justify the hype some of us got sucked into, (thinking it would be like ye 'ol 3dfx sli)..
..anywayzz, none of us need it, :cool:'we just wants it':cool: and want it to work..GL !!
 
When CF Works well, they'll be close to a 280GTX. When they don't work well they will be horrid compared to a 280.
 
No. Some games crossfire doesn't work well, or at all. Also, if there isn't a CF profile crossfire won't work. In those cases you will have the strength of a 4850. Take farcry 2 for example, when it first came out it took a few days for ATI to get a crossfire profile out, it then takes you downloading the hotfix or driver. Most newer games scale reasonably well with CF, however some older games don't. I run a SLI setup because at the time you couldn't buy a single card to run at 1920x1200. If I were given the option between a SLI or CF or a single GPU, I'd allways take the single GPU.
 
vengence said:
No. Some games crossfire doesn't work well, or at all. Also, if there isn't a CF profile crossfire won't work. In those cases you will have the strength of a 4850. Take farcry 2 for example, when it first came out it took a few days for ATI to get a crossfire profile out, it then takes you downloading the hotfix or driver. Most newer games scale reasonably well with CF, however some older games don't. I run a SLI setup because at the time you couldn't buy a single card to run at 1920x1200. If I were given the option between a SLI or CF or a single GPU, I'd allways take the single GPU.
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I'd rather go with tri-sli / quad crossfire instead of 1 gpu, but that's my opinion off course :D

Still no gaming benchmarks, can't wait for results :)
 
I'd rather go with tri-sli / quad crossfire instead of 1 gpu, but that's my opinion off course
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If you have inifinite money, sure. Unfortunantly, the rest of us who live in the real world have a finite budget.

If I am given the choice between a multi-GPU setup that gives the same power and a single GPU that gives the same power, FOR THE SAME COST, then I'll defer to the single GPU. You can't have problems with CF or SLI if you don't have multiple GPUs.
 
vengence said:
If you have inifinite money, sure. Unfortunantly, the rest of us who live in the real world have a finite budget.

QUOTE]

Please stop crying and get yourself a job !
Does everyone with SLI / Crossfire live in a dream or something ?
If that's what you're thinking, it's time to wake up.
Most of us work very hard for our hard earned money and where others spend theyre money in the bar we buy a nice rig.
It's all about decisions, you don't have to, but if you want, you can !
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Justifire said:
Please stop crying and get yourself a job !
Does everyone with SLI / Crossfire live in a dream or something ?
If that's what you're thinking, it's time to wake up.
Most of us work very hard for our hard earned money and where others spend theyre money in the bar we buy a nice rig.
It's all about decisions, you don't have to, but if you want, you can !
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you belong to a ~1% nieche...stop making more noise than you "size" grants you, free me from multi-GPU bugs/horrors...and give me one GPU to rule tham all.

This Multi-GPU is sooo boring, been that ever since the beginng..."my GPU cannot take it, lets give it some friends and do a lack-luster solution that scales like shit and does nothing to the gameplay...

Not wating to open your PC up for more GPU's..and thus more bugs != not having a job...
 
Please stop crying and get yourself a job !
Does everyone with SLI / Crossfire live in a dream or something ?
If that's what you're thinking, it's time to wake up.
Most of us work very hard for our hard earned money and where others spend theyre money in the bar we buy a nice rig.
It's all about decisions, you don't have to, but if you want, you can !
Click to expand...


1) I have a job. My wife has a job. We both have college degrees and we have no kids. I have pleanty money in the bank, and I could easily go out and blow the 1K on a 3x GTX 280 setup if I wanted to.

2) I don't go to bars. Why because I post to an hardware enthusiast forum do you assume I am an alcholoic if I don't spend my money on graphics cards?

3) Check my sig. I own a SLI setup. I spent a good deal of money on it at the time too.

3) I don't upgrade because there simply isn't a need. Blowing that money isn't going to make call of duty 4 look any better. More AA on the other games I own isn't suddenly going to make them any more fun.

4) I never said there was anything wrong with spending your money how you want to spend it. I think there is a place for a tri-sli setup. I think there is a good reason to do it too. However, just simply don't think it is worth it, TO ME. Again, I don't give a shit if you make a bonfire out of 100,000 dollar bills or put it in a savings account, it's your money and not my problem.

5) Where did I cry? All I said was if given the option, I would allways take a single GPU setup over a multi-gpu setup if they gave the same preformance.
 
vengence said:
1) I have a job. My wife has a job. We both have college degrees and we have no kids. I have pleanty money in the bank, and I could easily go out and blow the 1K on a 3x GTX 280 setup if I wanted to.

2) I don't go to bars. Why because I post to an hardware enthusiast forum do you assume I am an alcholoic if I don't spend my money on graphics cards?

3) Check my sig. I own a SLI setup. I spent a good deal of money on it at the time too.

3) I don't upgrade because there simply isn't a need. Blowing that money isn't going to make call of duty 4 look any better. More AA on the other games I own isn't suddenly going to make them any more fun.

4) I never said there was anything wrong with spending your money how you want to spend it. I think there is a place for a tri-sli setup. I think there is a good reason to do it too. However, just simply don't think it is worth it, TO ME. Again, I don't give a shit if you make a bonfire out of 100,000 dollar bills or put it in a savings account, it's your money and not my problem.

5) Where did I cry? All I said was if given the option, I would allways take a single GPU setup over a multi-gpu setup if they gave the same preformance.
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If you say : "If you have inifinite money, sure. Unfortunantly, the rest of us who live in the real world have a finite budget." I see that as crying.
Putting people in boxes, Box 1 people in the real world, Box 2 people on the moon.
Maybe you didn't ment it that way, just the way i interpretended this.
Point 1-4 exactly what i mean, shake hands :)
Ooh and point 2 made me laugh, did i call you alcoholic ? :D
 
Justifire said:
If you say : "If you have inifinite money, sure. Unfortunantly, the rest of us who live in the real world have a finite budget." I see that as crying.
Putting people in boxes, Box 1 people in the real world, Box 2 people on the moon.
Maybe you didn't ment it that way, just the way i interpretended this.
Point 1-4 exactly what i mean, shake hands :)
Ooh and point 2 made me laugh, did i call you alcoholic ? :D
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:D
lol, you didn't call me a alcoholic per say, you just said maybe people shouldn't spend so much money at bars. It's all in good fun.:p

And no, you don't need an infinite amount of money to go tri-SLI. I know people who shouldn't be doing it and still do, and I know lots of people who can more than afford to do it and do.

And I more ment, it would take most people having LOTS of money for it to be "worth it" to them. Not that it takes lots of money to do it. Hell, have you looked at the amount of people who drop 1K into thier car's rims, sound system, home sound system, etc? 1K really isn't that much.
 
vengence said:
:D
lol, you didn't call me a alcoholic per say, you just said maybe people shouldn't spend so much money at bars. It's all in good fun.:p

And no, you don't need an infinite amount of money to go tri-SLI. I know people who shouldn't be doing it and still do, and I know lots of people who can more than afford to do it and do.

And I more ment, it would take most people having LOTS of money for it to be "worth it" to them. Not that it takes lots of money to do it. Hell, have you looked at the amount of people who drop 1K into thier car's rims, sound system, home sound system, etc? 1K really isn't that much.
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my wife is willing to drop 1k on a bloody hand bag whilst my bro drops 1k on a pair of shoes and a leather jacket.

i also have a cousin that just recently dropped 2k on a DSLR camera LENS
 
lol @ the last 8 posts.

Anyways, when I had a 8800GTS SLi setup, I swear most games ran worse than when I had a single 8800GTS.

I don't know what the deal was, but whatever. If I wanted plug-and-play I'd strictly be a console gamer.

But we are way off topic. I'm curious to see how well the i7 CPUs do when games begin to utilize them. Without a doubt my next build will be i7. I like to wait a while for the software to catch up with the "new and faster" hardware.
 
jonneymendoza said:
my wife is willing to drop 1k on a bloody hand bag whilst my bro drops 1k on a pair of shoes and a leather jacket.

i also have a cousin that just recently dropped 2k on a DSLR camera LENS
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I've got a Sister-inlaw who probably has spent 1K on hand lotion from bath and body works. But hey, I blew about 2 grand almost a year ago now for the comp in the sig. :p
 
vengence said:
I've got a Sister-inlaw who probably has spent 1K on hand lotion from bath and body works. But hey, I blew about 2 grand almost a year ago now for the comp in the sig. :p
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exactly. anyone telling me how crazy i am dropping 1k on a pc, i go off and say ur crazy dropping 1k on clothes that take less effort and time in making then the likes of intel and Nvidia spending years in research and development creating computer components for us.

i also laugh at people who say spending friday evenings playing games instead of going out clubbing getting drunk etc is insane when A. going out clubbing and drinking costs more then gaming, and B. getting drunk is bad for your health compared to playing a game for 2-3hours.

i dont mind going out now and then for a drink or two but wouldnt make in a habbit or a hobby as most people these days find it has.

I also cannot understand why certain clothes costs more then a single 280gtx. i mean come on, most of these over priced clothes wear use the same material and style as that £50 LEVI jeans yet all they do is slap on the word armani and bam, that pair of jeans is worth double if not triple:rolleyes:
 
Is it possible to get pcsx2 benchmarks across platforms, or are there legal requirements and issues preventing you from doing that?

I can't find anything about core i7 and pcsx2.
 
Not sure how to embed a reply, but Savoy is hilarious. I'm looking at the i7 build and with a monitor off new egg can do the whole deal for $1500. c2q Q6600 build for $1200, so $300 difference aint bad, and this is with missing the black froday deals
 
Justifire said:
vengence said:
If you have inifinite money, sure. Unfortunantly, the rest of us who live in the real world have a finite budget.

QUOTE]

Please stop crying and get yourself a job !
Does everyone with SLI / Crossfire live in a dream or something ?
If that's what you're thinking, it's time to wake up.
Most of us work very hard for our hard earned money and where others spend theyre money in the bar we buy a nice rig.
It's all about decisions, you don't have to, but if you want, you can !
Click to expand...

Or some of us spend our money on a car, house, etc.... :rolleyes:

Some of us obviously think tri-sli and half a grand for a processor isn't good value.
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