When does someone NEED an i7

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I consider myself a enthusiast gamer, and I really have no need for a I7. My 940 at 3.6ghz does just fine for me in every game I have thrown at it.


Funny fuksi,

that it seems the old Roman rule of seems more like Crumbs and Games for all, and still applys in todays world. Hows that song go? "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"
 
Like any other high-end device/component there will be people who pay the odds to have the best available. I think the AMD Phenom 2 platform is much better value at the moment. I have no ambition to upgrade because my Q6600 overclocked runs everything just fine, so I don't feel the need to chase technology.
 
And speedbird I think you just summed it up, because when you have something that is already meeting your needs, why chase technology? You will never catch it and if you do it will be at a high price, and a month, maybe less in todays world, you will be off chasing it again, at even a higher price.
 
People with high end Graphic cards need i7. Me for example, I have a q6600 3.2GHz with a GTX295 and I see that my system is about 10% slower than a system with i7 & GTX295. So i7 is not useless…
 
I think the point isn't that is useless, the point is was the 10% gain worth it to you at the price you paid. If so great, unless I was making money with my rig or money is not a concern to me and I just want the next best thing then my answer is price vs performance and value.... = not worth it to me.
 
Of course is not worth for me but I am thinking to upgrade to i7 now because I am going upgrade in 3 mouths to the new DX11 graphic cards ati or nvidia and then the i7 will be mandatory.
 
Some how I don't think that when Dx11 cards come my Phenom II 940 b.e at 3.6 ghz is not going to keep up with my needs. I expect to see if the cards are what 4800 series was compared to the 3800 series, big gains with my system. Well see what happens, but what if the new cards show just as good as gains with the phenom II series as it does with a I7?
 
^HUH?!!!! Mandatory you say? I dont think so. If so you would have everyone that is a gamer buying them because they have to. Wrong, The PII 965 BE will do fine for that, and for that matter so will most other processors of the day that are good enough to game with. If it were mandatory AMD would be shooting themmselves in the foot by releasing a DX11 card. Think about that for a second. I7 is not NEEDED for gaming at max resolution or frame rate. It is more so about the video card than the CPU at this time. Now when the on die IGP is seen on the market and used to its potential that may actually change, but that should not be for some time to come. This will only happen when the games catch up to the hardware. Im not sure that will ever happen though...hehe
 


Take a look at this review Phenom II 955 Versus Core i7 920

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-versus-i7,2360.html

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz (OC 3.7 GHz) with 2 x HD 4890
Intel i7-920 2.66 GHz (OC 3.4 GHz) with 2 x HD 4870

Here are some benchmarks:

World in Conflict

Phenom II 3.7 GHz __ 2x HD 4890 __ 1920x1200 very high 63fps

I7 920 3.4GHz __ 2x HD4870 __ 1920x1200 very high 88fps

far cry 2

Phenom II 3.7 GHz __ 2x HD 4890 __ 1920x1200 very high 71fps

I7 920 3.4GHz __ 2x HD 4870 __ 1920x1200 very high 92fps

Prototype

Phenom II 3.7 GHz __ 2x HD 4890 __ 1920x1200 4xAA high 54fps

I7 920 3.4GHz __ 2x HD 4870 __ 1920x1200 4xAA high 70fps

As you can see the i7 system (with slower graphic cards) shows a solid lead over the Phenom II(with faster graphic cards). Now imagine the difference between i7 and Phenom II with 2 x HD 5890. That’s why I said an i7 is mandatory with the new graphic cards (CF or SLI)
 
Look into the catalyst 9.8 drivers the lead over intel is said to be 40-50% better when using crossfire and basically a fusion platform. IT IS NOT MANDATORY!!!!! Actually if you want to get into it here it would be more so mandatory to use ATI with AMD NOT with Intel!!! That does not mean that having an i7 will not be good, just not as good for GAMING as AMD! Check it out, you may be surprised!
 
Oh yeah I forot to say: Just because there is a lead today doesnt mean it is necessary or mandatory. The lead may not be there for intel in the way you think right now. Then again it may increase, just not yet.
 
Well, someone whom is playing with Virtual Machines would need the firepower if they ever have more than a few machines running loaded at a same time.

My reason for the I7 is same as the others, about lasting, my last rig lasted 5 years with vid card, ram, hdd, and CD -> DVD/CD burner upgrades, which served me very well when I used quality components

In contrast, my dad brought some IBM net Vistas, and they had bad caps, got a net infinity, and they eventually had bad caps again, then got a HP, which had the bad cheap end IGP from nvidia...

In the end, I think he spent far more money than I did, as I spent 2500 in one go with I think a total of 300 dollars of upgrades w second hand or old stock parts, while the two IBMs cost around 1200 each, while the HP cost 1400 because it had the nvidia IGP instead of GMAs lol





 
I am sorry but, I can not see AMD Killing there own sales by making a grafix card that bottles there top of the line Quad core processors. I just can't see it happening like that. We will know for sure soon enough, but if what your saying is true, then AMD will kill there Top end CPU sales, and help out Intel with the sales of their Top end Quads. I just don't see it happening like that, LOL
 
I know i treid but it just didnt happen hehe...... Every time I tabbed back to this page it had posted my link, so I had to do it in several instead of one. IDK
 
The results were not impressive, 9.7 and 9.8 delivers the same performance for the most of the games(however there is some nice performance increasement in a few games ). But still the i7 is far superior to the PII in games.
 
I am not really following you here michaelmk86,

Sure if the price on building a top of the line I7 build was the the same as a Phenom II build with top of the line hardware, i could see your point. However, even If I7 gains more fps then a Phenom II build, both are very smooth and offer a very good gaming performance. Just for gaming IMO, I7 is far from being a requirement for gaming now or in the near future.
 
NOT EVER!!!!!! And BTW Those numbers significantly increase with XFIRE on AMD over 9.7 to 9.8!! NOt on single card setups and these gams must be able to take advantage of Multi-card setups!! You will however see a gain on singleATI card setups just not near the gain of XFIRE!!!
 

Of course both are very good for gaming but my point is that the i7 delivers more fps in games than the PII.
 



Your point of it getting more is a mute one, and the reason why is that in real world gaming you or anyone else will not notice the very few more your getting with the I7 build in CF or SLI, over a Phenom II in CF. Both play at well above min fps required to have a very smooth gaming experience.

And your statement I am Quoting your on is just pure BS. I7 being Mandatory with the new Dx11 cards for gaming, is just simply can not be true. If I had a my choice between the two processors and the fact that ATI is putting out some very nice cards lately I will be choosing all ATI, AMD parts for a platform until something from Intel or anyother company is released that just really blows everything out of the water. Right now, IMO there is nothing out that just blows the Phenom II's out of the water, including I7's for real world gaming. If a I7 build cost the very same to build as a Phenom II right now, then it would be a different story. I believe we are going to be seeing some very interesting things from AMD over the next couple of years to come, and they have already made some very big steps in providing a very nice gaming platform that performs very well. Well that is if they can stay in the game and not go under. Who cares about benchmarks06 and getting 20 more fps if your already 30 fps above the requirement for good game play, anything more is just, well more.
 
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