I7-860 vs i5-750 Opinions

[dpeel]

Well, I've been reading reviews here and other sites and I'm really excited about Intel's new i5 and i7 processors. Based on everything I've read I am leaning toward going with the i7-860 over the i5-750. It does seem to me that the i7-860 is the best bang for your buck. I will primarily be using my new system for gaming but occassionally do video encoding and think that the ability of the i7-860 to be able to do the multi-threading along with being slightly faster might be worth spending the extra $80 to $100.

I would appreciate others opinions on this along with motherboard and Memory recommendations. I plan to use Windows 7 Home Premium and do a 64 bit install. I have already purchased my Cooler Master CM 690 Case and a Cooler Master 700 Watt Power Supply.

 

[Mousemonkey]

The way I see it is if gaming is your main concern then the deciding factor would be 'how may GPU's do you intend to use, ever?' and if the answer is 'only one' the skt 1156 range is worth looking at but for those of us who like two or more then skt 1366 is the only thing worth getting at the moment.

 

[dpeel]

The way I see it is if gaming is your main concern then the deciding factor would be 'how may GPU's do you intend to use, ever?' and if the answer is 'only one' the skt 1156 range is worth looking at but for those of us who like two or more then skt 1366 is the only thing worth getting at the moment.

Thanks for your comment and to answer your question....I would probably only use one video card in my system ever. I currently have an EVGA Nvidia 8800GT and plan to continue using that card until the DX 11 Cards have been out for a little while.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Then the world is your oyster, so to speak. Give it another week or so to let the benchies flood the interweb as I'm sure they are going to test with all the usual suites plus when the new ATi and later on the Nvidias turn up they may bring something to the video encoding party in themselves.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

The way I see it is if gaming is your main concern then the deciding factor would be 'how may GPU's do you intend to use, ever?' and if the answer is 'only one' the skt 1156 range is worth looking at but for those of us who like two or more then skt 1366 is the only thing worth getting at the moment.

I disagree. When you only have 2 cards (2 4890s) , not 3 (3 4890s) or 4 (2 4870 X2s), the difference is minimal and so there is no need for LGA 1366 for only 2 way crossfire/SLI.

 

[BadTrip]

+1 8x is not saturated as of yet.

 

[killtacular]

I disagree. When you only have 2 cards (2 4890s) , not 3 (3 4890s) or 4 (2 4870 X2s), the difference is minimal and so there is no need for LGA 1366 for only 2 way crossfire/SLI.

Really, do you have links to any other benches besides the Toms article? I will only ever go 2 way Xfire so if this is the case I can pick up my 860 and Asus Maximus Formula III!

 

[dpeel]

Really, do you have links to any other benches besides the Toms article? I will only ever go 2 way Xfire so if this is the case I can pick up my 860 and Asus Maximus Formula III!

Here is a link on AnadTech's Page about running two video cards on a P55 Motherboard.:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=9

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Here is a link on AnadTech's Page about running two video cards on a P55 Motherboard.:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=9

That is what I am going off of, anandtech really did great with that one.

 

[Onus]

This ties in with the thread I just posted, I think. The new i5 appears to be an answer in search of a question. Where it matters, an i7 is needed; where it doesn't, a much cheaper AMD offering will do. Only dramatic price drops have any hope of making i5 relevant.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

I very much disagree, if anything LGA 1156 makes current LGA 1366 irrelevant since it does almost everything LGA 1366 can for a much better price. Also, for the price, LGA 1156 spanks Phenom II and is better in every single way, except price. I think LGA 1156 prices are great, though the boards are still a bit pricey. I think LGA 1156 will be great for those wanting great performance, but not going for 3 to 4 GPU monsters and Phenom II will be amazing for the budget crowd, good for all I guess.

 

[dpeel]

Well, I just bought my i7-860 at Micro Center in Houston for in store pickup for $229 plus $18.97 tax for a total of $248.96 which is from what I'm seeing a great price! Now I'll have to decide what Motherboard and RAM to buy. I can't believe it was that cheap....this is a retail box and the suggested price shown on a number of site starts at $284 plus tax. This is not much more than the suggested price of the i5-750 of $196 plus tax.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I disagree. When you only have 2 cards (2 4890s) , not 3 (3 4890s) or 4 (2 4870 X2s), the difference is minimal and so there is no need for LGA 1366 for only 2 way crossfire/SLI.

I was referring to decent cards.

 

[Mousemonkey]

+1 8x is not saturated as of yet.

It is very likely that the 8X + 8X PCIe CrossFire slots of the new p55 motherboards for Core i5 will become saturated with two of them.

You might want to have a read.

 

[sdf]

Heck of a card. 28w at idle, wow. One could only imagine what ATI's engineers could do with intel if intel had bought ATI instead of AMD.

 

[Mousemonkey]

28w @ idle is a bit on the impressive side isn't it, only a few hours until more numbers start appearing.

 

[BadTrip]

It is very likely that the 8X + 8X PCIe CrossFire slots of the new p55 motherboards for Core i5 will become saturated with two of them.

You might want to have a read.

perhaps you should read, I said YET, not in the future. Plus the link you posted is pure speculation.

 

[Mousemonkey]

In the couple of benchies I've seen the hit appears to be quite apparent and it's only going to get worse as the next gen cards appear on the market, the future is now.

 

[Onus]

My reference wasn't to LGA1156, it was to i5. If I needed CPU muscle, I think I'd be very happy with i7 on LGA1156.