Wait for i5 or gun it.

[mass zero]

Hello Tom's Hardware Community,

I have a Xbox 360 with some decent games and a extra 500 bucks. I've tired of the Xbox, i urge to return to PC. Well i was thinking, sell my Xbox and putting money together for something nice, but still a budget PC.

Now i won't really need to game until the end of September. Im playing a game called Aion,which runs on cry engine (heavily modified) so it would have to run that with almost all specs up. however my budget would allow a 4870 so i think im good. However i would like to have a quad core because multi-tasking will be somewhat important to me, as i will be running many programs behind games.

Now I'm very flexible on parts, and CPU and GPU, have no alliances. However i want the best dollar per diode and GHz and GB and all that mumbo jumbo. So i stumbled upon the i5, as i was reteaching myself the way of PC gamer. and it seemed to be in my price range with all the new features of i7 with none of the price. From what i have read, i5 is coming out Q3 09 so its in my time frame.

the system would most likely be $800 as my start i might get up to $1000 just depends on how the xbox sells and how much extra income i might aquire.

So i asking you your opinion, what do you guys think? since tom's is filled all those smart people i think you can help. if you guys have any input on what parts to buy now, please also leave comment.

Thanks, Mass

 

[not moose]

Wait for i5, get a little more cash. Sadly you can't make alot off reselling Xbox's anymore, but if the games are in good condition you can sell 'em for $25-$50 each. If they aren't in good condition, have them resurfaced .

I'm actually in the same boat as you, My 360 has been nothing but problems ever since my first rrod last year, I had that xbox since 06 and bought a new one a few months later. Well, now it has been a pita, not playing my games and randomly freezing up.

The only difference between us, I have a different amount of money.

 

[mass zero]

my is new system from early 08 has hdmi and get around $300 on ebay maybe more since my halo 3 has all map packs and i have BF1943 so that like $45 on HDD content alone hope i get most of it back

 

[mass zero]

---delete---

 

[Helloworld_98]

i7 8xx (which most will call i5) is a toss-up, by then we will have the AMD 965 for $50 less and about the same results in gaming.

the Crytek engine is quite CPU dependant, not as much as GTAIV or FSX, but enough for 100MHz to make a difference in fps. Current i7 9xx's beat the i7 8xx when both are clocked at the same speed in CPU dependant situation, however there haven't been any benchmarks with turbo-mode enabled on the i7 8xx which could put them neck and neck.

And just as a final thought, an i7 8xx build won't be much cheaper than an i7 9xx build, but you will get the extra speed boost in turbo mode.

 

[mass zero]

really i thought the amd's performed a noticeable difference, btw this rig has to last a while3-5 years

 

[radiowars]

Then save up money and get an i7 if you want it to last 3-5 years. There's no way it's going to last very long if you buy weaker parts. There used to be a thread that analyzed the best performance to price ratio, and that explained that a 650 (estimate) dollar system will last you 2 years. If you want to build a system that will last you twice as long, you increase the budget by about 50%. Save 1,000$; then you can build a system that will last you 3-5 years.

Edit: Forgot a dollar sign.

 

[mass zero]

so i7 are better than i5? is that what your saying because in first benchmarks they get same performance per ghz, and i5 dosnt have turbo on. im pretty sure i wont get a i7 as its aimed at workstations and not gamers

 

[Helloworld_98]

i7 9xx = what you can get now, best CPU's on the market for consumers.

i7 8xx = part of what used to be called i5 by the public, uses the LGA1156 socket so only has dual channel memory and drops the QPI interface so puts the PCIe controller on the CPU. Otherwise it's just an i7 9xx with a better turbo mode.

i5 7xx = an i7 8xx without hyperthreading (so just 4 threads on this CPU, not 8)

 

[kubes]

The longer you wait the better bang for your buck you'll get. Its a never ending cycle. Newier and greater things are always coming out and always will be, and these will drive out of date items and parts down in price of course. When deciding to wait for the i5 to come out or go with the i7, you'll get higher preformance out of the i7 most likely, but the i5 will probally be cheaper for preformance vs dollar (total guess). So it again goes down the road of what's more important to you, your dollar or preformance.

 

[Outlander_04]

I dont get waiting for a dumbed down i7

either buy an i7 or get an am3 phenom

 

[mass zero]

how is am3 performance i have limited budget and budget is the center best performance for the money, if the i5 is a large leap for against like a q6600 or 9500 then i could justify waiting to get better performance for price or waiting to get those at a cheaper price

 

[Helloworld_98]

I'd guess, the i5 750 will be just below the amd 955 in performance, but the mobo will be a little bit more expensive while the CPU is slightly more/less.

although the amd 965 should beat the i5 750 by a bigger margin however the CPU will be $245 whereas the 955 will be ~$200.