iMac processor speed question

[lacitpo]

I've got questions about what speeds I might be able to expect on my two processor speed choices for my new iMac i'll be ordering in the next few weeks.

Choice are...

• 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
• 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

I'll be putting 8gb of ram in it as well.

My question is what difference I might expect between the i5 and the i7. I've grown complacent in my knowledge of processor power and I'm just unsure how different these two options are.

I'll be 5 boxing. Mostly PVE so I don't need perfect framerate or anything super high end like that.

Anyone got 2 cents to throw my way? Anyone already playing on one of these?

[alcattle]

Of course WinMac will be different but any i7 will beat an i5. There are 2 version of i7 and I am not sure which one they are using in an iMac. less then $150 difference go i7.

[Fef]

On this big 27' screen, the bottleneck will be the HD4850, not the processor.

For the $200 difference, I would take the i7 because of course it is faster, but mainly becauee it will give your iMac a better resell value. Something that would be meaningless about PCs but should be taken into consideration when buying a Mac, I think. Second hand Macs sell VERY well.

[Edit] If I remember correctly i5 does not have hyperthreading, when i7 does. Another advantage when doing multi-box.... huu, multi-tasking.

[alcattle]

like I said depends on which i7. The i8xx do not I believe (or it could be the chipset on a p55 MB) and the i9xx does.

[lacitpo]

2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores

Pulled that from the tech specs. Seems to me like they do use whichever one has support for HT like you were talking about. Am I interpreting this correctly?

[Fef]

I think you are correct. That's also what I read in a test today : 27' iMac, core i5 without, and corei7 with hyperthreading (in French : http://www.macworld.fr/article/mac/t...ore-i7/461181/)

[Rezox]

Did you test out the iMac yet? I am also interested in buying it, but my main concern is the 4850 which might push me into a Mac Pro.

[lacitpo]

Sorry to be long on the reply.

I've run it with 3 clients in Shattrath and Ogrimmar with no graphical lag. Main is turned all the way up, with the slaves turned all the way down.

I loaded 5 clients for the first time last night, but it was all out of major city stuff with no noticeable drop in frame rate or performance. I'll try to get it loaded into a main city sometime this week and see how things go.

[Rezox]

I loaded 5x Wow using symlinking. For this test, I did not symlink the cache folder which I will try next time

Everything is working well, except in AV or Wintergrasp I get stutters every once in a while.

Not sure if its from the HD or the graphics card...


I had to return the iMac due to yellow tinge issue...so waiting for a replacement...

[lacitpo]

Just a performance report:

I've got my 27 inch Imac, with a 20 inch secondary monitor. 1st wow instance is fullscreen on the 27, with the 4 slaves all taking 1/4 of the 20 inch monitor.

My instances are symlinked but not the cache folder. Will try that tonight.

I run fine just about everywhere. VERY minor lag in oggrimar/undercity.

Dalaran however gets pretty bad. I get some MAJOR graphic lag, but was still able to work through it. Will update once I've symlinked the cache folder. Don't know if this is hard-drive, processor, graphics related. Just thought I'd post.