Intel i7 differences?

[Sean W.]

im just curious, i did a quick google seach but didnt find anything to answer my question.

What is the best i7 quad core processor? im under the impression that the higher the number the faster? but the 860 is more expensive then the 920.


kinda confused.

 

[Hefemeister]

Best bang for your buck is 920 or 930 if you cannot get your hands on one. They are the 1366 skt running triple channel ddr3 memory while the 860 is a 1156 skt running dual channel ddr3.

 

[Sean W.]

is triple channel Ram better than dual channel?

 

[KSoD]

Can i ask this please?

When is anything triple not better than anything double?

Yes triple channel is better. I dont know much about hardware and yet i know that much.

There is 3 channels for data to travel compared to the 2 channels. Allows for faster travel and quicker system communication from the CPU to the RAM and then to you.

 

[Sean W.]

very cool. im just trying to learn.

 

[Hefemeister]

is triple channel Ram better than dual channel?

Not much especially in games but the 920 clocks better and if you plan on sli/crossfire skt 1366 is a better way to go.

860 is 95watts vs 130 for the 920 so for no OC it will run a bit cooler. If I was going 1156 is would save the cash and go with something like a I5 750 or look at AMD.

For high end Intel the 920 is King.

 

[Slaymate]

At the present moment there really isn't any software designed, for home use, to utilize all the memory bandwidth generated by the triple channel memory controller. Right now you'll only see a modest performance boost in some games if your lucky. I could be wrong, I'm guessing, but I think F@H is probably one of the few programs that would show the biggest gain from Triple Channel. But as time goes on you should start seeing more and more apps programmed to take advantage of the additional bandwidth.

 

[Apokalipse]

From what I've seen, triple channel RAM gives about a 2.5% performance increase most of the time vs dual channel on socket 1366.

Basically the only practical reason I see to get triple channel is for the amount of memory - You can install 4GB, 6GB, 8GB or 12GB (4 or 8 in dual channel, 6 or 12 in triple).