Intel Core i7 and Gaming @ [H]

So nothing has really been spelled out in this thread about the i7 (gaming wise, I mean).

I've been saving up for approximately ten months now, and finally... finally!... have the money to buy a new system. Yeah, baby! I'm going to be back in business!

My present system is a 3 GHZ P4 with 2 gbs of ram (she's dead, Jim). My original video card was the amazing X850 XT, which, four years ago, was state of the art hardware, although I eventually replaced it with the equally amazing 7950gt, which still gets the job done in most DX 9 titles believe it or not.

Anyhow, I'm looking at the i7-920 on intel's X58 smackover. I've got my eye on the GTX 295 as well, though I'll probably buy that separately during the summer. The system I'm going to buy will likely have either one, or two, 9800 gt cards in it. I'm hoping for just the one, to keep the cost down, although that might not be an option.

Yes, you guessed it, I'm planning on buying the Dell XPS 730x (don't try to talk me out of doing that, either - I love Dell). I'm just waiting for Dell to price a new group of systems, which, here in Canada, is scheduled to happen on January the 24'th. I'm assuming that on that date Dell is going to provide a GTX 295 option, which will hopefully drive down the prices on all the other cards. Right now, at Dell Canada, prices on the XPS 730X aren't all that good. I just have a feeling that the next round of offers will be so much better. I might even consider the GTX 295 if Dell offers it, although doing so would completely break my budget.

Alternatively I was looking at Alienware's Area 51 system, which is a hell of a lot cheaper. To keep the costs down, this machine has been equipped with a core 2 duo E8400, which I understand is still pretty good for gaming. Alienware has equipped this machine with a 750i mobo. Presumably I could easily swap in a new Quard Core CPU twelve months from now?

The latter system would be so inexpensive that I could buy the GTX 295 from NewEgg Canada right away, and the whole thing would cost me the same as the i7 system with the gimped GPU in it.

I'm kind of undecided about this. But since I can't build my own system... trust me, I can't... and since I want this computer to go the distance of at least 4 years... my instincts are telling me to go i7. Again, the idea here is to buy a 'gimped' i7 with a substandard GPU in it (to keep the cost down) and then upgrade the GPU virtually right away, probably this summer, or maybe even this spring, with something monstrous!

And by the way, if I do buy the Dell XPS 730x, with the i7 920 in it, I can easily (the key word here is 'easily') replace the CPU, say, 24 months from with a much better i7, can't I?

This machine will be for gaming, by the way, and gaming only.

Any thoughts?
 
build it yourself. dont waste money on a dell machine. Also get a core 2 if all you want your system to do is for gaming.

cheaper and can add a high end card along with a core 2 setup cheaper then the i7 alternative
 
jonneymendoza said:
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:
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Dude,

Nothing wrong with justifying those monetary expenses as long as you get laid. Personally I would rather get a bran new X58 board with a gtx295 and stay up all night putting it together. The question is do the ends justify the means?

You go out and spend money on new clothes for a date, buy her dinner at a nice restaurant, buy her more drinks, take her to a show, spend more money money on her and she either she puts out or gives you a new GTX295!

I would want the gtx295 personally...
 
jonneymendoza said:
build it yourself. dont waste money on a dell machine. Also get a core 2 if all you want your system to do is for gaming.

cheaper and can add a high end card along with a core 2 setup cheaper then the i7 alternative
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How did I know that somebody was going to chime in with, don't buy a system from Dell. My previous two computers were both from Dell. Loved 'em both. Never had a problem with either one.

I priced a system built from components at Newegg Canada - and the total cost, after provincial and federal sales taxes were applied, and after shipping was applied, was more... that's right, more... than the XPS 730X would cost if I were to buy it from Dell. People at forums such as this never include shipping and handling when they price their systems and then display the parts and how much the parts cost. And here's another thing that people never mention.

Vista.

I don't even have a copy of Vista - vista alone was two hundred dollars.

And I'm not convinced that buying a core 2 from scratch, at present, is a wise thing to do - if you're building a brand new system, I think you'd be a bloody fool not to consider an i7 build. The present day benchmarks don't mean a thing. You have to realize that not everyone wants to build a new system every twelve months, and that some people only want to buy a new one every three or four years. Let's take a look at some benchmarks 18 months from now. I'll bet that the i7's will be smoking the quads.

The i7 is clearly the way of the future.

Even now we're seeing that the i7 is a great match when paired with the newest GTX 295 - that sort of thing is going to happen more and more in the future. Mark my word, the next generation of GPUs are going to scream on the i7 platform.

You see, this is why I write posts at forums like this - I've just decided that the i7 is the direction I'm going to go in.
 
I concur sir.

I'm waiting to see how the new generation from both companies is going to mtch up with core i7.
 
davidm71 said:
Dude,

Nothing wrong with justifying those monetary expenses as long as you get laid. Personally I would rather get a bran new X58 board with a gtx295 and stay up all night putting it together. The question is do the ends justify the means?

You go out and spend money on new clothes for a date, buy her dinner at a nice restaurant, buy her more drinks, take her to a show, spend more money money on her and she either she puts out or gives you a new GTX295!

I would want the gtx295 personally...
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well im married so i can get laid whenever i want :D

trust me you dont need to buy expensive clothes to get a girls attention. your personality should do so. granted you still have to look decent yourself but no need to pay ££££ or $$$$ to impress a woman. people who do that are either to ashamed of there own personality or the woman they fancy only care's about money and not you.

either way my point is that if its ok in todays sociaty to spend triple the amount on a i7 rig for clothes, car acessories etc, then its perfectly fine to spend whatever you want on a pc.

its a hobby we love and it really is not that expensive of a hobby to be in. look at those pro camera peeps, 1k for just a camera, lens are the price of a graphics card alone and thats mid range lense's :)

WabeWalker said:
How did I know that somebody was going to chime in with, don't buy a system from Dell. My previous two computers were both from Dell. Loved 'em both. Never had a problem with either one.

I priced a system built from components at Newegg Canada - and the total cost, after provincial and federal sales taxes were applied, and after shipping was applied, was more... that's right, more... than the XPS 730X would cost if I were to buy it from Dell. People at forums such as this never include shipping and handling when they price their systems and then display the parts and how much the parts cost. And here's another thing that people never mention.

Vista.

I don't even have a copy of Vista - vista alone was two hundred dollars.

And I'm not convinced that buying a core 2 from scratch, at present, is a wise thing to do - if you're building a brand new system, I think you'd be a bloody fool not to consider an i7 build. The present day benchmarks don't mean a thing. You have to realize that not everyone wants to build a new system every twelve months, and that some people only want to buy a new one every three or four years. Let's take a look at some benchmarks 18 months from now. I'll bet that the i7's will be smoking the quads.

The i7 is clearly the way of the future.

Even now we're seeing that the i7 is a great match when paired with the newest GTX 295 - that sort of thing is going to happen more and more in the future. Mark my word, the next generation of GPUs are going to scream on the i7 platform.

You see, this is why I write posts at forums like this - I've just decided that the i7 is the direction I'm going to go in.
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thats how i feel and thats why my i7 rig is coming today or tomorrow :) im just trying to help you understand your options first and always always consider alternatives and make up your own mind. never be one sided. like me, i was waiting to see if AMD p2 will compete with the i7 before i buy a new pc.
 
WabeWalker said:
You see, this is why I write posts at forums like this - I've just decided that the i7 is the direction I'm going to go in.
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Good for you, I was going to respond saying much of what you yourself posted as advice, but you know..the whole work thing snagged me when I got in this morning.

You are right though, unless you are seriously budget tight( at which point you shouldn't be shopping for a new computer.. ) or still playing games from two years ago with no intentions to moving to the more recent games, or not gaming at all...there is no reason to buy a core 2 if you don't have a capable mobo at the moment.

Skip the entire generation and move on to the next...and even the i7's don't greatly surpass the core 2's, they are still going to have a longer life in general with the chance to upgrade in the future to a newer CPU.

I wouldn't recommend anyone buy a dell if they can build their own PC, but as you stated you feel you can't, so at that point buying a pre-made computer is an option! Plus, apparently it is cheaper! LOL!

Don't listen to the eggheads who blindly spout silly stuff like that without reading your post.

Enjoy the i7! Wish me luck with my decision....running an E4300 and I don't know if I want to hop on i7 or get a Q6600 or Q9550! I have the infrastructure for a Quad...but do I want to buy into a dead upgrade path? Decisions decisions!
 
Having read this thread, I was just wondering about something? If you go up a ways in the thread you'll see that people started arguing about getting laid.

One guy even said that... if you're getting laid then it's okay to improve your computer.

Say what? I don't really follow that? Is this a weird thread?
 
jonneymendoza said:
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:
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+1 :)
 
I, also, would like to agree with what has been said.

I think that it is absolutely insane, the cost of clothing.

How people can pay so much money for jackets and pants... or shoes... don't even get me started about shoes... when, at the moment, so much cool hardware is being released... it is ridiculous.

What do you want, an expensive pair of designer jeans, and a cool shirt, or a GTX 295?

To me the answer is obvious. The GTX 295 is going to allow you to play Crises at the hallowed 'very high' settings. What are the jeans going to do for you? - okay, maybe you will get laid. I couldn't care less about getting laid. I want to see Fallout 3 in all its beauty. I want to play Empire Total War and have it run smoothly. I want to boast that I can play GTA 4 at 1680*1050 with a maximum draw distance.

Sure, relations is beautiful. But relations doesn't last all night the way that a great gaming session can. And with gaming there is no regret in the morning. People tell us that we're being silly wasting our money on computer hardware 'just to play games', but they are playing games too - it's just that they're social games. God they can all go to hell.
 
WabeWalker said:
I, also, would like to agree with what has been said.

I think that it is absolutely insane, the cost of clothing.

How people can pay so much money for jackets and pants... or shoes... don't even get me started about shoes... when, at the moment, so much cool hardware is being released... it is ridiculous.

What do you want, an expensive pair of designer jeans, and a cool shirt, or a GTX 295?

To me the answer is obvious. The GTX 295 is going to allow you to play Crises at the hallowed 'very high' settings. What are the jeans going to do for you? - okay, maybe you will get laid. I couldn't care less about getting laid. I want to see Fallout 3 in all its beauty. I want to play Empire Total War and have it run smoothly. I want to boast that I can play GTA 4 at 1680*1050 with a maximum draw distance.

Sure, relations is beautiful. But relations doesn't last all night the way that a great gaming session can. And with gaming there is no regret in the morning. People tell us that we're being silly wasting our money on computer hardware 'just to play games', but they are playing games too - it's just that they're social games. God they can all go to hell.
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i stopped reading before the statement in bold. you sir are the reason why most folks laugh at us playing games. saying stuff like, i dont care if i get laid is over the top man.

my point i was trying to make is that you dont need a £300 jacket to get laid, just be yourself and wear something decent. there are PLENTY of clothes that you can buy that are of high quality and designers for peanuts.

for example LEVI jeans are not priced as high as those bloody armani jeans
 
jonneymendoza said:
i stopped reading before the statement in bold. you sir are the reason why most folks laugh at us playing games. saying stuff like, i dont care if i get laid is over the top man.

my point i was trying to make is that you dont need a £300 jacket to get laid, just be yourself and wear something decent. there are PLENTY of clothes that you can buy that are of high quality and designers for peanuts.

for example LEVI jeans are not priced as high as those bloody armani jeans
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I was joking.

I'm a little bit worried about you now, though? :)
 
Atech said:
You don't need expensive clothes to get laid :p
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No you need some talent and a little bit of money. Kind of like overclocking. You need the right hardware, power, and skill. Its a great feeling when it you have success. The only guilt I can think of is moments when after you realize your board is fried or when you get some std or something. Anyhow when I made that crack about getting laid I was joking around and look where we ended up!
 
ok this last part of this whole thread is just plain stupid.

But as far as the benches the i7 still works out well if you didnt have a newer system to fit some newer gpu's, as I am setting up a new system that was way overdue.

Hope it was spent well adding 2 GTX 295's today.
 
END said:
ok this last part of this whole thread is just plain stupid.

But as far as the benches the i7 still works out well if you didnt have a newer system to fit some newer gpu's, as I am setting up a new system that was way overdue.

Hope it was spent well adding 2 GTX 295's today.
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Can somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but strictly for gaming purposes, aren't two GTX 295's overkill?

What resolution are you gaming at?

Also, initial reports that the i7 is not good for gaming are proving to be false. The i7 is proving to be very good for gaming. Those buying new i7 builds will not have to worry about their CPU for a very long time to come. This is a great CPU.
 
WabeWalker said:
Can somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but strictly for gaming purposes, aren't two GTX 295's overkill?

What resolution are you gaming at?

Also, initial reports that the i7 is not good for gaming are proving to be false. The i7 is proving to be very good for gaming. Those buying new i7 builds will not have to worry about their CPU for a very long time to come. This is a great CPU.
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At 2560x1600 with high levels of AA and AF there is no such thing as overkill with some games.
 
Dan_D said:
At 2560x1600 with high levels of AA and AF there is no such thing as overkill with some games.
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That resolution is overkill though.

Have you got a huge monitor? Maybe you're attempting to compensate for something... no, I'm kidding.
 
I have a suggestion for gaming testing for Core i7 that should actually show something.

Long term RTS games. As in, single player RTS gaming on some of the larger, more impressive maps in game engines that can show off some CPU horsepower. Supreme Commander, ignoring the broken and lame canned benchmark that comes with it, getting a save game setup to 20 hours into a game against 7 AI's with 10k units per side on an 80km x 80km map.

World in Conflict, even it's canned benchmark seems to really like Core i7.

A good single threaded RTS, Sins of a Solar Empire, late game, 7 AI's on unfair difficulty, 5 solar systems, 110 planets, shows nice improvements for Core i7 over Core 2, on a single core versus single core scenario.

There are several other very CPU intensive RTS's out there as well that could go a long way to breaking up this "FPS gaming is the only gaming" attitude that is seemingly taken over.
 
moshpit said:
"FPS gaming is the only gaming" attitude that is seemingly taken over.
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Wait, you mean there are other game genre's than FPS? No....lies! :D

RTS was my first true love, with Red Alert. But then this little game called Half-Life took gamers for a ride and some have still not gotten off.

I agree with your thinking entirely though, RTS games should see the most benefit from an i7, if there is going to be a performance increase anywhere at all.

Hopefully we see some reviews that showcase this by benchmarking games that are actually going to use that extra power, which ins MOST cases is going to be an RTS game and not a FPS. Which seems, like you said, to be the only genre that people pay attention too!
 
Inacurate said:
Wait, you mean there are other game genre's than FPS? No....lies! :D

RTS was my first true love, with Red Alert. But then this little game called Half-Life took gamers for a ride and some have still not gotten off.

I agree with your thinking entirely though, RTS games should see the most benefit from an i7, if there is going to be a performance increase anywhere at all.

Hopefully we see some reviews that showcase this by benchmarking games that are actually going to use that extra power, which ins MOST cases is going to be an RTS game and not a FPS. Which seems, like you said, to be the only genre that people pay attention too!
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Yeah, but try telling anybody that, and you get accused of being a fanboy. You should see how ugly some people get when you suggest that FPS games don't tell the whole story. It really seems like most are dead set on proving i7 is worthless to gamers to the point of ignoring things like WiC published benchmarks showing exactly what I've been saying all along, and then point to a review using purely FPS games as proof that WiC isn't a good example of RTS performance!!! It's all very frustrating.
 
well itd be nice if each AI player would be given its own thread, but getting to that point might take a while. Doesnt seem like an AI would interact/depend upon another, as each has its own objectives and knowledge base to work off of.
 
moshpit said:
Yeah, but try telling anybody that, and you get accused of being a fanboy.
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Unfortunately, the internet has devolved to nothing but arguments, being called a whining bitch or fanboi, thinking you are an elitist or pwnz0r and the idea of collaboration and discussion isn't even an option anymore. My way or the highway style.

The anonymity of the internet in its finest hour! You open your mouth to point out a problem and you instantly get labeled a whiner. You say you like a certain company or brand, you are a fanboi. If you have x piece of hardware you are automatically an elitist without question. If you memorize a map or a strategy, you are totally a pwnz0r with all the associated skills, even though you really have none. :p

The i7 in my opinion, is just currently not being taxed the way it really could be to show off its power. As time puts along, we will see some benchmarks that pop out that really showcase what it is capable of doing!
 
Inacurate said:
Unfortunately, the internet has devolved to nothing but arguments, being called a whining bitch or fanboi, thinking you are an elitist or pwnz0r and the idea of collaboration and discussion isn't even an option anymore. My way or the highway style.

The anonymity of the internet in its finest hour! You open your mouth to point out a problem and you instantly get labeled a whiner. You say you like a certain company or brand, you are a fanboi. If you have x piece of hardware you are automatically an elitist without question. If you memorize a map or a strategy, you are totally a pwnz0r with all the associated skills, even though you really have none. :p

The i7 in my opinion, is just currently not being taxed the way it really could be to show off its power. As time puts along, we will see some benchmarks that pop out that really showcase what it is capable of doing!
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Thank you, I do feel a little better now. Truth is though, we don't really have to wait for those benchmarks, the tools to accomplish this exist now, but requires ALOT of setup and time invested to demonstrate. Games like Supreme Commander and Sins of a Solar Empire require significant setup to show the power of, SupCom for multithreading, and Sins for a good single threaded IPC output test. Games like World in Conflict come out of the box showing i7 in a very nice light in comparison to the previous generation, and being a WiC player I appreciate that.

Another point of suckage though, only 2 sites on the net have shown WiC results for i7 versus a good spread of C2Q's and C2D's, and both of those site would draw instant (and maybe even deserved :p ) ridicule for linking to. I won't be the one who links to Tom's, that could get ya lynched on some forums ;)
 
Inacurate said:
Unfortunately, the internet has devolved to nothing but arguments...As time puts along, we will see some benchmarks that pop out that really showcase what it is capable of doing!
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I find this amusing coming from a guy who's sig includes the line "Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun." Not inaccurate, just....amusing.
 
Inacurate said:
The i7 in my opinion, is just currently not being taxed the way it really could be to show off its power. As time puts along, we will see some benchmarks that pop out that really showcase what it is capable of doing!
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i have an i7 and not one game i played go over 20% of my cpu usage. great stuff indeed and plenty of headroom for games 2 years from now i reckon.
 
jonneymendoza said:
i have an i7 and not one game i played go over 20% of my cpu usage. great stuff indeed and plenty of headroom for games 2 years from now i reckon.
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It's almost cheating to count total CPU usage on an i7 against other chips when the percentage is calculated across 8 cores as far as Windows is concerned. You could have 2 cores totally maxed out and the other 6 sitting idle and Performance Monitor only show 25% in use and not be able to get any faster. i7 kinda breaks the rules for comparing percentages of CPU in use :p
 
xWarhammer40k_CPU_Benchesx.png
 
Dawn of War 2 loves Core i7, yet ANOTHER RTS game showing difference in favor of quads over duals and i7 over all. This is exactly what I said would happen. Notice the i7 920 at stock matches the average FPS of a E8500 at 3.6Ghz and beats the minimum frame rate by a fair amount. HAHAHAHAHAHA! I love that :D
 
I can concur with the results . My system burns through dow2 like a hot knife through butter.
 
To Kyle:

I'd really like to see the whole "Core i7 and Gaming" issue revisited. Using a single game for a article titled as this one leaves a very incomplete picture. Honestly, the title would have better served the article as "Farcry 2 and Core i7" instead since one game does not an entire industry make.

And by revisiting the article with a more complete spread of games including genre's OTHER THEN just FPS games, I think we'll get a much clearer picture of how Core i7 can benefit gamers. Company of Heroes, Dawn of War 2, World in Conflict are all modern RTS titles that show quad core benefits, and i7 benefits specifically even more. Then there's the flight sims. FSX benefits from fast CPUs big time.

If we're going to make a final call on Core i7 and gaming, lets make it with some usable information, not a single game. I'd like to see better advise then "For those of you out there still gaming on a dual core CPU, I would suggest making sure you check out page two of this article if you are thinking of investing in a Core i7 for gaming.". WHAT??? So you made a conclusion about gaming in general based on a single game's performance and then recommended that? That's my beef right there. It's not up to normal [H] completeness standards.
 
moshpit said:
To Kyle:

I'd really like to see the whole "Core i7 and Gaming" issue revisited. Using a single game for a article titled as this one leaves a very incomplete picture. Honestly, the title would have better served the article as "Farcry 2 and Core i7" instead since one game does not an entire industry make.

And by revisiting the article with a more complete spread of games including genre's OTHER THEN just FPS games, I think we'll get a much clearer picture of how Core i7 can benefit gamers. Company of Heroes, Dawn of War 2, World in Conflict are all modern RTS titles that show quad core benefits, and i7 benefits specifically even more. Then there's the flight sims. FSX benefits from fast CPUs big time.

If we're going to make a final call on Core i7 and gaming, lets make it with some usable information, not a single game. I'd like to see better advise then "For those of you out there still gaming on a dual core CPU, I would suggest making sure you check out page two of this article if you are thinking of investing in a Core i7 for gaming.". WHAT??? So you made a conclusion about gaming in general based on a single game's performance and then recommended that? That's my beef right there. It's not up to normal [H] completeness standards.
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I absolutely agree with this sentiment. Additionally, I'd almost guarantee you that recently released games such as Empire Total War, etc, will also show similar gains. I've been fighting this battle for the last 3 weeks with people, "Core i7 doesn't help in gaming," and to that I say, nonsense.

I've yet to find a game that hasn't seen a significant FPS increase since putting this rig together.
 
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