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what I paid in the store.
299 i7 920
299 Asus P6T deluxe
449 3x 2x2GB DDR3 1600
1049, then you add on your PSU, case,if you need one, HDD, optical, and other stuff that you can usually pillage from your old computer
then I paid 549 x2 for the 4870x2 2GB, but im not sure they are working right with wow... on the contrary i got higher FPS on my 4850 512 =/
it's funny how people don't do their own research.
first the i7 chip cost the same as the quad core chip. so if your looking for a new system than go with the i7, it is crazy fast compared to the regular quad core.
second, all the i7 are basically the same chip. the 920 and 940 are the exact same chip, except the 940 is overclocked by intel for $300 more. so save some money and just buy the 920 and overclock it yourself. the 920 will still blow away any quad core in any speed test. the 965 has a 30% faster data transfer rate than the 920/940, but in today's world it is not worth the $700 price increase.
third, the i7 is so fast it you can save money on your video card. in all the speed tests i have seen comparing the quad core to the i7. the i7 was faster than the quad core and gpu combined. so you could run the cheapest video card you want and still be faster than a quad core set up. the i7 is so fast that the nvidea 280 actually had a much lower score(about half lower) with the i7 than with the quad core.
fourth, on problem with the i7 is providing enough data for the chip to process. so if you get this chip you should also get a raid0 setup or an SSD.
fifth. dell is selling an i7 for less than $1k. upgrade the memory to 6gb, add a 24in monitor and a 640gb raid0 and the cost is under $1,500.http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...tudioxps-435mt
I wouldn't say it is crazy fast compared to a quad core...
in fact, the only benefit i got moving from a Q9450 with 4x 2GB dimms to my current i7 machine is having 12gb.
since the system uses over 8.7GB now multiboxing.
load times are very similar, if negligible. Especially since HT needs to be disabled..... the only difference would be the integrated memory controller and new architecture, which is not so much faster than a normal quad.
those are just my observations as a user, i did not do benchmarks and such. waste of time imo... if I can't tell the damn difference then it is not worth it, whatever vantage says.
case in point,
wow runs faster with a single 4870 over dual 4870 x2 crossfired.
but vantage shat itself in the extreme presetting with smooth(!) benchies.
45nm quads are comparable, at most a couple fps behind. though I attribute that to the new architecture as a whole than the i7 itself.
but, if you are using a dual core or a phenom, good upgrade.
and about dell, needs 12GB ram, not 6, and that monitor is terribad. get the ultrasharp.
and for some reason....... i am curious about your bit with the i7 > 45nm quad + gpu....... i just stuck a ATI Radeon 7000 in my computer and crashed loading dalaran.... wtb videocard plox
my main point was if you are looking to buy a new computer. if you have a quad core than it would not be worth the money to upgrade. so i agree with you. but if you are looking to upgrade to a quad core than don't, go with the i7. they are both about the same price except for the cost of memory.
wow is not a very difficult game for a computer to run. i played it on my 3.5 year old g4 mac mini just fine. playing on my g5 macbook was not much of an improvement. mostly if your harddrive is fast enough and you have sufficient memory, almost any intel 2 core will be able to multibox wow.
once you meet the recommended system requirements everything over that is over kill. running 5 wow's really means you need more ram and faster hard drives. not the fastest cpu on the market. but if you thinking about buying the quad than get the i7.
I just built a complete new system with: Gigabyte EX58-UD5, Core i7 920 (clocked to 3.6), 2 x 1TB Samsung F1 (Raid0), 3 x 1GB OCZ 1330MHz DDR3, Radeon X4870 X2
Man, I wished that I had read this forum before I bought the 3 x 1GB RAM. 5 boxing is completely worthless with this. It keeps crashing every 5 mins. Processors are running at 50-60% but memory is maxed out all the time.
:(
*drags himself to the shop on monday to get more RAM
For comparison against Hakaslak's i7 observations:
On my new rig, HT does not need to be disabled as it makes no discernable difference to wow or multiboxing when enabled or disabled.
System uses up to 4.5 gig when multiboxing 5 through quests and visiting cities. I expect that to jump dramatically when i am 80 and actively pvping again, at which point i will purchase another 6 gig to total 12.
The use of a raid0 ssd setup has a profound effect on city areas, other areas with high texture count. No i7 required to achieve this of course. Loading times are not noticeably different in wow, however in general windows use (logging in, firing up a browser etc.) the difference is again profound.
The combination of i7, greater memory bandwidth and much greater random write access via the ssd results in a fantastic 5 on one pc experience when coupled with a top line graphics card.
For those looking at improving performance purely for multiboxing i would recommend the ssd. For those who need a full system upgrade (as i did) i would recommend i7 for future-proofing. I think its very important to understand which bracket you fall into when considering i7.
DDR3 ram though...Quote:
Originally Posted by 'emesis',index.php?page=Thread&postID=149655#post1 49655
Out of interest, which SSD are you using? I have heard the controllers on the OCZs can cause some major stuttering in small, fast, write situations like outlook express or lots of caching, so interested to know if you are using intel SSDs which apparently address this problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'turbonapkin',index.php?page=Thread&postID=153370# post153370
Cheers
Noids,
OCZ Core V2 60GB, 2 in raid0 (i.e. the cheaper stuff). This is my only storage on the pc, used for OS and other media.
If you read here you'll see my benches on the OCZ forum. Others with similar i7 setup have experienced similar results.
Both the V1 and V2 Cores use a JMicron controller which is known to be extremely bad at memory handling for small file write performance, causing the freezing and in worst cases complete drive failure you will have heard of. I have never experienced these problems.
I have had very good experiences with this SSD coupled with the Intel ICH10R controller on an i7 mobo and XP x64, but many others have had nothing but trouble. As it is hit and miss, I would not recommend even the Core V2 drives but would advise anyone interested in SSD to wait for the upcoming Samsung or A-Data consumer products, which should help to drive down the price of the reputed Intel X-series drives, which I would have purchased if I could have afforded it!
I got the new Gateway FX6800 ( i know, crappy gateway but my old system crashed). For them to call this a gaming computer then give you just 3 gigs of ram is a joke. My ram upgrade is on the way! Overall outside of the low memory it runs pretty good. What amazes me most about this system is lack of a hard drive light. If I start lagging a bit I like to look at the HD activity but with this I can't.