Quote Originally Posted by 'Multibocks',index.php?page=Thread&postID=150319#p ost150319
well I should have expected it and just replied "yes I will be buying the i7, and will tell you how it turns out." to the OP.

and as for the 965 vs 940 well,

The clock speed is the obvious difference between the three Core i7 processors, but it goes a bit deeper. Naturally, the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition will have "overspeed protection removed" (an unlocked multiplier), but the QuickPath Interface speed will also differ. The Core i7-965 XE will have a full speed 6.4 GT/s link, while the Core i7-940 and -920 feature a lower 4.8 GT/s interface speed.
that is why.
The way you OC the 920/940 is purely through bclk rather than mclk however which means your QPI speed is going to scale more with a higher OC than the unlocked 965 will. Check that link on my previous post where it says the QPI for the 4.27 OCed 965 is 177MHz whereas the 920 would be running at 217MHz at the same clock. You might get an extra 6-7% out of the core, but the QPI will be slower (still not really a limiting factor though) so the overall difference will be negligible for a $700 price difference. The 920 is the new Q6600 only better.

At this stage, the major limiting factor for OCing these babies seems to be a good motherboard with up to date bios and that has not been an intel mobo at this stage. Add to that the fact that you limit yourself to 4 DIMMs rather than the 6 found on all of the other X58 boards and you are contradicting the top end choices in every other slot of your configuration. Not sure if the company you are buying from has the option for other mobos, but IMO 965 - 920 < good mobo - intel mobo.

Cheers