Another I7 920 vs x4 955be

[DavidTJ]

Well Ive dismissed the i5-750 as I dont like the motherboards lack of dual 16x full pci lanes, which is why i've started a new thread, since my last was was 955be vs i5-750. I have ramped my budget up to accomadate i7-920 as it was my birthday (which also gives me free next day delivery on ebuyer)

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within 2 weeks apart from graphics card

BUDGET RANGE: (example: UK £800-£1100)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Schoolwork, Watching Movies, surfing web

PARTS NOT REQUIRED/Already Bought:

Mouse, Keyboard, Belkin media reader, WD 320gb external hard drive

Trust 2.0 speakers £9.56
Windows 7 Pre-Order £63.99
Benq g2220hd 22" 1900x1080 monitor £131
1tb WD green (WD10eads) £57
Colermaster HAF 922 £89.94
Noctua NF-P12 case fan £17.04
Ocz Freeze £3.13
£371.66

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS:
www.ebuyer.com
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.scan.co.uk
www.cclonline.com
www.Amazon.co.uk

OVERCLOCKING: Yes (slight at first; maybe even stock with undervolting, Then ramping up when I feel I need more

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes but after 1 year or 2 (I plan to keep the system as long as possible which is why I feel dual 16x pci lanes are neccessary)

MONITOR RESOLUTION:1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Want quieter components if equal or near equal performance. Going to buy first things from below tomorrow as I have the free delivery and its a suitable day. I will then have 2 weeks to decide on the other parts.
From Ebuyer: I'm open to alternatives to the mugen 2 and optical drive, (I feel the tx750 is worth the price premium over the earthwatts 750w)

Scythe Mugen 2
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158603

corsair tx750
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134677

Lg GH22NS50 dvd rw
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169683
£141.16

So after all that I have £437.18 (keeping the £150 for graphics card) , I plan to keep £150 for a graphics card, which at worse would be an ati 4890 in a moth at best may be enough to buy dx 11 card when windows 7 launches.

I'm either going with this I7 build
6GB OCZ Intel XMP 1333MHz DDR3 Triple Channel Memory Ki
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=30389

MSI X58 Pro Motherboard
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=31563

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB Cache OEM Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161171
£425.25 (would be 456 just buying from ebuyer, 445 just from cclonline)

Or this 955be build

MSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-110-MS

G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-042-GS

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM
£356.88

I know its a frighteningly long post but, I've set it out as the sticky showed, the real important part is the stuff i'm ordering tomorrow (it looks alright to me so 'll buy it if there are no replies)

I also don't imagine i7 prices to be falling so if that seems the best option, i'll buy asap. (which I'm leaning to at the moment)

 

[xaira]

instead of the mugen 2, get the spire thermax 2, this debate has ended over the 955 and the 920, also, toms did a review on the x8 x8, and they did as well as if not better than x16 x16, 750 is a very good proc at a verry low price, but id still get the 920, 1156 will not support hexacores, but am3 will, so you can go with a 955 as well

 

[OvrClkr]

The x16 lanes are the least of your worries, many users here on Tom's tend to downgrade the 1156 chipset due to this issue and the truth is that you will not see a difference (naked eye) once you compare the performance of both. A GTX 295 was compared first using the top x16 slot and later on the x8 slot and the difference was a 7% performance increase.... nothing to get exited about...

Get the i5 750 and you wont regret it... it can even take on the i7 920 and give it a run for its money.... =)

 

[xaira]

7% can mean the diff between 28fps and 32

 

[OvrClkr]

Yea but that is what the overclocking feature is for.... If you use a little bit of common sense you would realize that all you have to do is overclock the card to achieve a 10-15% increase in performance and in the end you are basically running as fast or even faster as the x16 lane.. Some might consider the x8/x8 a bottleneck but with some tweaking you can actually get more or less the same numbers as an x16 lane.... Nothing to get worried about IMO.....

Another option is to buy one heafty GPU like the upcoming 5870 and this way if you wont need a second GPU.... Just a thought....