Intel i cores

[kenjkirkland]

I don't get it about core i7's, i5's, or i3's. All ido know is 5's, and 3's are P7's, and u can put an i7 on a p7 chipset;{ what is the best of the core i's, and why? Can someone point me to the answer w/out all the technical jargon? Thank you very much: Ken

 

[hunter315]

You primarily need to keep track of the sockets, there is the LGA 1366, which takes the i7 920, 965, and 975. There is also the LGA 1156 which takes the i7 860/870, the i5's and the i3's.

The i7's are the best as they have 4 cores, with hyper threading which gives them 8 logical cores making them faster in multi threaded tasks but they are also more expensive.

The LGA 1366 socket only has 1 chipset for you to pick from, the X58, the LGA 1156 gets a bit more confusing with the P55, and the new Hxx chipsets, the Hxx's offer the ability to use the IGP on the new i5's and i3s but the p55 gives you the option of crossfire/sli. Really it depends on what you want to use your system for, if you are trying to find out what one is best for you, post your budget and your intended uses and we can help you figure it out.

 

[kenjkirkland]

You primarily need to keep track of the sockets, there is the LGA 1366, which takes the i7 920, 965, and 975. There is also the LGA 1156 which takes the i7 860/870, the i5's and the i3's.

The i7's are the best as they have 4 cores, with hyper threading which gives them 8 logical cores making them faster in multi threaded tasks but they are also more expensive.

The LGA 1366 socket only has 1 chipset for you to pick from, the X58, the LGA 1156 gets a bit more confusing with the P55, and the new Hxx chipsets, the Hxx's offer the ability to use the IGP on the new i5's and i3s but the p55 gives you the option of crossfire/sli. Really it depends on what you want to use your system for, if you are trying to find out what one is best for you, post your budget and your intended uses and we can help you figure it out.

Thankyou...i needed that. Since I hadn't upgraded since 03 and XT850ati. I'll go w/core i7 about 300$, and am thinkin of Asus for the mainboard. What do you think. I am partial to ati radeon cause they never failed me and thinkin of 2 cards if possible at lower cost to equal 1 higher end card. I don't mean to put to much on you, but appreciate any help.
Thanks again, Ken

 

[hunter315]

in general a single higher end card is a better option as it will give you an upgrade option in the future, 2 card crossfire scales much better than triple card crossfire. Whats the overall budget for the build? If its pretty high and you intend to OC there are some high end boards that will improve your OC, if you dont then you can get a cheaper board that wont provide you as many features but will still be stable. If you are sticking with ATI cards, something like the P7P55D would work well and you could get the i7 860, it will cost slightly less than an LGA 1366 build but will perform as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131404

 

[geofelt]

Let me assume that you want gaming first.

Then pick your graphics card/s first.

At 1680 x 1050 resolution, consider the 5750 for exceptional performance.
At 1920 x 1600 resolution, consider the 5850 for exceptional performance.
At 2560 x 1600 you need a very strong card like the 5970.

Do not plan on multiple cards if you do not have to. They are needed only for 2560 x 1600... maybe.
Multiple cards need stronber PSU's, more expensive motherboards and better case cooling.
Some games will not scale well with multi gpu's.
For future upgrades, look to even stronger single cards to become available. At that time, plan to sell your old card and buy the new.

What cpu does it take to drive these cards to their potential?
Perhaps less than you think.
Unless your game is a very cpu intensive, multi-core enabled game like FSX or supreme commander, then a duo clocked at 3.0 will be enough.
Most games do not depend on more than two cores for adequate performance. Game developers will not sell many games that do. Faster cpu's do help, but you start getting diminishing returns.
With a cpu budget of $300, you can get a i7-860 or i7-920. The cpu performance of the 860 is a bit better, but the 920 is easier to overclock to higher numbers.
With a budget of $200, you can get a i5-750, or the new 32nm i5-661 dual core. The 750 has 4 cores/4threads, the 661 has 2 cores/4 threads and is clocked considerably higher.
Any will do the usual gaming job.
More than 4gb of ram will keep your lowest frame rates up.
If 6gb is good, consider a 1366 board, if you want 8gb, then a 1156 board is a better fit. Pick the CPU accordingly.

If you have both a gaming monitor and an auxiliary monitor, consider the 661 and a H55 motherboard. put your gaming monitor on the discrete vga card, and your aux monitor on the integrated adapter. Otherwise, get a cheap second vga card for the second monitor.

---good luck---

 

[kenjkirkland]

Best answer selected by kenjkirkland.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey