Considering New Computer -- Thoughts?

[offive]

Summary from an article on the difference between i5 and i7.

Overall, the new Core i5 processors are far more evolutionary than revolutionary. While these new processors are actually quite a bit different from the Core i7 processors currently available, many features, such as the enhanced turbo boost and dual-channel memory, are shared with new Core i7 processors. The difference between Core i5 and Core i7, then, will be somewhat dependent on which particular Core i7 one is comparing Core i5 to.
Even so, Core i5 is clearly meant to be a more mainstream processor. Those who use their computers for heavily multi-thread applications will miss hyper-threading and the triple-channel memory, which means that a Core i7 on an LGA1366 socket will be best. For most us, however, Core i5 is more cost effective (it's available around $200), and quite adequate for our needs.

Rest of the article- http://www.brighthub.com/computing/h...les/48391.aspx

I think single box multiboxing would probably fall into the power user class.

[Ualaa]

I was running a Q6600 (stock speed), 8gb of 800mhz ram, 10k rpm Raptor, HD4870X2 video. Vista 64-Bit, Home Premium.

I upgraded to i7 920 (stock speed), 12gb of 1600mhz ram, new motherboard obviously (Asus P6T), other components the same.

Initially the computer place put Vista 32-bit on the system.
Outside of cities, even only able to use 2gb of ram, epic flight was much smoother.
The system had a heart attack, when I 5-box hearthed to Dalaran.

Since getting the 64-bit version of Vista back on the system, its smooth anywhere.
I run with every option at the minimum.
Except Spell Effects and View Distance at maximum on one toon.
Without Crusader Aura on the lead toon, I cannot break follow on epic flyers in mid-air.

Not sure on your pricing.
I live in Canada, so we're overcharged and overtaxed on pretty much every product.

[Bovidae]

I upgraded to i7 920 (stock speed), 12gb of 1600mhz ram, new motherboard obviously (Asus P6T), other components the same.

Initially the computer place put Vista 32-bit on the system.

Tell us who did this for you, so we may ridicule them

[Mosg2]

I'm still undecided on what to do. After hearing that dual graphics cards are workable under Windows 7, I'm considering going that route.

Pretty well decided that the I5 is going to give me, personally, better bang for the buck. I'm not sure if I want to go through the hassle of getting it all off of newegg.com or tigerdirect.com and putting it together myself or pre-building it with cyberpowerpc.com or some other site.

Any more thoughts?

[Ualaa]

Tell us who did this for you, so we may ridicule them

http://www.memoryexpress.com/

The Calgary SW store.

[Sajuuk]

What's the difference between the I5's and the I7's for 5-boxing? I've scoured the Hardware forums and not seen much.

Nutshell: i5/1156 i7s are more 'mainstream', but apparently the 1156 i7s will still have 8 threads.

You might want to also consider a second graphics card to handle the 4 on the other monitor

With the fast PiP swap of innerspace, it's not really needed. Sure, I got four monitors to mess with this, but then I quit multiboxing and keep the extra two turned off almost all the time.