Intel Core i7 Quads!!!!!!!!!!!

[pinotnoir]

8 gig of ram is a must if your running Vista 64. Ram is so cheap no reason not to put in 8 gigs.

[puppychow]

the new i7 processors use triple channel memory, so you want to do memory in x3's for best performance. The person who posted the rig said the website was having problems configuring more than 3GB, probably for this reason. Anyways 6GB or 9GB should be fine for Vista64.

For kicks I priced out two PCs on newegg, more or less what I want to buy. It was:

$100 case, $100 power supply, $20 DVD-dl drive, $100 1-TB hard drive
$260 for GTX 260 (216 core), same price just about for a 4870 instead (benchmarks show the new 260 is slightly faster than the 4870 for things like wow)

Suprisingly the processors are the same price! The Q9550 is $320 for NewEgg, the i7 920 is $309. Of course the Q9550 stock is running at 2.8ghz while the i7 is 2.66ghz.

The RAM and motherboards are huge differences though -- ddr2-800, mushkin 8GB for the Q9550 is only $140 whereas ddr3-1333, gskill 6GB for the i7 is $279 - double the price for less memory.

The motherboards are also different, the Q9550 can use a Asus P5 for $150, whereas the I7 will need a $300-400 motherboard (Asus P6T is $300 but oos).

So now I'm kind of leaning towards the i7, it should overclock a lot better and you'd be paying around $400 more for mostly DDR3 and a i7 compatible motherboard. Going to sit on the sidelines for a few days and think about it.

[Nitro]

Anyways 6GB or 9GB should be fine for Vista64.

Either you found some fancy 3gb sticks or you meant "Anyways 6GB or 12GB should be fine for Vista64." :P


EDIT: Now that I look on newegg a 6gb kit might be the best you can do for triple channel memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...sktop%20Memory

[Nairi]

the new i7 processors use triple channel memory, so you want to do memory in x3's for best performance. The person who posted the rig said the website was having problems configuring more than 3GB, probably for this reason. Anyways 6GB or 9GB should be fine for Vista64.

For kicks I priced out two PCs on newegg, more or less what I want to buy. It was:

$100 case, $100 power supply, $20 DVD-dl drive, $100 1-TB hard drive
$260 for GTX 260 (216 core), same price just about for a 4870 instead (benchmarks show the new 260 is slightly faster than the 4870 for things like wow)

Suprisingly the processors are the same price! The Q9550 is $320 for NewEgg, the i7 920 is $309. Of course the Q9550 stock is running at 2.8ghz while the i7 is 2.66ghz.

The RAM and motherboards are huge differences though -- ddr2-800, mushkin 8GB for the Q9550 is only $140 whereas ddr3-1333, gskill 6GB for the i7 is $279 - double the price for less memory.

The motherboards are also different, the Q9550 can use a Asus P5 for $150, whereas the I7 will need a $300-400 motherboard (Asus P6T is $300 but oos).

So now I'm kind of leaning towards the i7, it should overclock a lot better and you'd be paying around $400 more for mostly DDR3 and a i7 compatible motherboard. Going to sit on the sidelines for a few days and think about it.

id rather a pay a bit more for something like the i7 for future proof, i.e. 6/8+ core cpus in future might come out for socket 1366.

[Multibocks]

Wow, I don't check this thread for a few and everyone is dog piling on me. Ok for those that didnt read the initial post, I said that Vigor is not offering above 3GB YET, as in YES I FUCKING PLAN TO GET MORE THAN 3 FUCKING GBS. ok? Happy now you fucking pricks. 2. The hi end proc is the only one that OCs well, you can do 4gb on air. And C. Yes it's expensive, when you are the first to own you pay a shitload, Im ok with that. oh and btw for those that don't know the DDR on this comes in multiples of 3.

I hate geeks that see a build and shit all over it, if you don't like it then state why and be civil. No reason to be asshats. I especially like the ones that commented and weren't even sure what i7 is composed of.. bravo gentlemen, bravo. That says expert if I ever saw one.

edit: As for vista64, I'm extremely hesitant to go this way again. I really hate the operating system, but I installed it on a 2 year old mobo that is barely supported anymore and I imagine this is the main reason for all my troubles. I'm willing to give it one more try, after that I will wait for windows 7 and find something worthwhile in the meantime.

[Noids99]

Not sure that 3GB is really gonna cut it for multiboxing man...

heh, way to blow a gasket eh :P

Anyway, save yourself a few hundred dollars because 920 at 4Ghz on air is easy. What you should spend your money on is a better mobo than the intel.

Linkyto 920 OCing

[Multibocks]

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.

and for those of you asking why you don't go out and buy the old quad cores:

Intel has turned Hyper-Threading loose on something far more powerful, and it allows the four cores of the Core i7 to emulate eight. Intel believes, and with good reason, that only a robust architecture like the Core i7 can fully maximize the resource sharing and multi-threaded performance offered by Hyper-Threading.

8 cores, mofakas, 8 cores! Another thing, check out how much the i7s obliterate the old quads in cpu benchmarks (which aren't all that important for say Crisis, but for running 5 instances of WoW it's awesome.)


The only thing I'm not sure about is Nvidia vs AMD graphics cards.... I hope I'm not making a mistake.

[gfd333]

no nat yet.

[algol]

8 cores, mofakas, 8 cores!

Hyperthreading on a multi-core CPU, now there's a niche feature. And speaking of features, I love how those chips "feature" a lower bus speed.

[Noids99]

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