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