Intel Quad core vs Intel core i7

[Dakhathsk]

I'm considering buying a PC for gaming in the near future. I'm wondering if going for an Intel Core i7 would be worth the extra money it would cost over a Quad core.

Would I just be throwing money out the window? Any help is appreciated, I'm not sure what the benefits (if any) the i7 has over the current Quad Core technology.

for example, the two below processors look fairly similar, would the i7 be superior?

Intel Core i7 Processor 940 (4x 2.93GHz/8MB L3 Cache)

=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9650 (4x 3.0GHz/12MB L2 Cache/1333FSB)


Thanks for any info

 

[hikaricloud]

i7. Hands down. It's only 20 bucks more on newegg, and it completely owns everything.

Even the 920 outperforms the QX9770 in most tests. And that's a $300 processor vs a $1400 processor. WELL worth the money.

 

[synergy]

I agree. It will be more than $20 though. You need a x58 mobo which are still at a premium and triple channel DDR3 RAM which is still expensive. However, that being said, you won't be "throwing money out the window" as you say because the performance increase on the i7's is huge.

 

[hikaricloud]

I agree. It will be more than $20 though. You need a x58 mobo which are still at a premium and triple channel DDR3 RAM which is still expensive. However, that being said, you won't be "throwing money out the window" as you say because the performance increase on the i7's is huge.

You're right, I forgot about the mobo and ram costs. Durh. Lol.

But even with the added cost to support the i7, it's well worth it, as you say.

 

[aaronkupen]

I'm still not entirely sure about the i7 when it comes to gaming, all the benchmarks I've seen have showed a 1% performance gain, if at all.

I think he should just save the money and stick with a yorkfield, it's not like those are even being utilized by games nowadays.

 

[hikaricloud]

The i7 series benchmarks pretty high against the QX9770 in gaming, which obviously is a more powerful processor than the Q9650. But the only place you will see really high gains are in the lower half of the resolution spectrum. Once you get into those higher resolutions, it's not just the CPU, but the GPU, so there will be gains with the i7, just not as much with the lower resolutions. I still say it's worth it overall, based on longevity and the added bonus of general computing power increase, not to mention the DDR3 and triple channel prospects.

 

[aaronkupen]

I'm not convinced. He's going to be spending an extra $400 to go with an i7 build that may or may not be as future proof as the Yorkfield when it comes to gaming.

 

[hikaricloud]

The i7 does make vast improvements over the quad series, but like I said, the help in gaming is minimal over a certain resolution. It basically improves the overall PC experience, not limiting it to just the gaming aspect.

If you are really trying to save money, then don't go with the i7. But I think it's worth the investment either way, since it will greatly improve frame rates at low to medium resolutions. Of course, any performance at higher resolution will mostly be determined by the GPU, so if you wanted to nix the i7 in favor of a better graphics card, it's up to you.

I still recommend the i7 either way, if not just for gaming, for computing in general. I think it will also have more longevity, being the newer socket. Not to mention the improved performance with DDR3.

Just my opinion, it falls to you if you are willing to shell out a bit more money for the mobo and RAM with the i7 than with the quad.

 

[meat_helmet]

The i7 is a newer generation - so obviously its going to be better. The benchmarks you saw with a 1% increase may have been very early ones using hardware not optimized for games. It should give a 10-20% increase on average over the penryn quads. They also seem to be overclocking slightly better.

If you can afford the i7, you will get an increased performance in games, a big increase in any mulitasking or graphics apps (if you do anything like that) and it will be more future proof because of the new socket, DDR3 ram, and mulithreading.

If you are on a bit of a budget, dont plan on having this build too long, you can go with a Q9550 (Q9650 is not worth it). For example, a Q9550 paired with 2x hd 4870s will outperform an i7 build with only one hd 4870 (both builds would probably be around the same price), but the Q9550 build wont have as much potential later on.

 

[philbar71]

i agree core i7 is the way to go. more future proofing there. core i7 outperforms every thing as of now.