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Hardware Intel Lynnfield Core i5-750 & Core i7-860, i7-870

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Tim S, 8 Sep 2009.

  1. tin can

    tin can What's a Dremel?

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    <me carefully inspects Pookeyhead's i7-920 for damage> :p

    This leaves me with a slight dilemma. I'm about to embark on building a high-spec HTPC, to include gaming as well as the normal HTPC functions, water-cooled for quietness (more details in its own thread in the not-too-distant future). Gaming (on Full HD) is the only reason I need anything more than a mid-range spec (any encoding etc. will be done on another computer). I was considering the i7-920, but now have to bear the i5-750 in mind. This part:

    (from the third-last paragraph) confuses me slightly. At stock speeds, both games tested were faster on the i5-750, and when overclocked, the two chips were within a hair's breadth of each other. Was this sentence (referring to the LGA 1366 socket, not than the i7-920 processor specifically) just suggesting that getting an LGA 1366 motherboard leaves the door open for future CPU upgrades which will be better for gaming, or is it suggesting that the i7-920 is better for gaming than the i5-750? I think it's the former, but if it's the latter, in what situation would I be likely to find the i7-920 faster (more than a couple of fps) in games than the i5-750, given the benchmark results?

    I'd love an i7-920 for my main rig too, but I can only afford so many parts at once...

    Thanks for the great, in-depth write-up. Invaluable.
     
  2. GrahamC

    GrahamC What's a Dremel?

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    "If you're too lazy or scared to overclock" so everyone that runs at stock speeds for whatever reason is deserving of a slagging off, absolutely amazing comment.
     
  3. andrew8200m

    andrew8200m Multimodder

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    I think this comment wasnt said to people anyone down but was just to say that going on p55 with this new turbo mode that can give you up to 3.5ghz is an easy way of overclocking the cpu without you having to do anything as most people are happy with an overclock to say 3.5ghz and its only those with no sense or those who know what they are doing that take overclocking to 4ghz or so.

    As for the pricing... I wont be getting an i5 as a second machine unless I can get the 55% off. If I cant then I shall resurrect my qx6700. problem is I run nvidia and have sli caperble cards so that means 680i/780i/790i all of which are over priced and offer worse performance than p45 or x48. When you factor in the price of the nvidia boards it makes things similar in price to going i5 anyway and then I can sell the qx6700....


    Andy


    EDIT!!!!!!!!

    SCAN HAVE BOARDS IN STOCK 12.18PM
     
    Last edited: 8 Sep 2009
  4. Andrei

    Andrei What's a Dremel?

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    Am I blind or doesn't it state anywhere how much the Core 2's were overclocked?
     
  5. Lizard

    Lizard @ Scan R&D

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    The Core 2 Duo E8600 was overclocked from 3.33GHz to 4.5GHz, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 from 2.4GHz to 3.7GHz and the Core 2 Quad Q9650 from 3GHz to 4GHz.
     
  6. Skiddywinks

    Skiddywinks Minimodder

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    I can't say I am too surprised that the 920 is still looking like the best deal. I was hoping that i5 would be significantly cheaper and offer very similar performance, but it looks like optimism isn't enough.
     
  7. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    wha?

    what i was thinking...

    they qoute that price when it's out of stock, then when it gets in, they raise it...don't waste your time waiting on that.(newegg has it in stock at 299.99) and the cost to grab "3" sticks of ram has nothing to do with it really. 3 x 2GB sticks don't cost much more than 2 x 2Gb, say 25% cost increase to 50% capacity increase if that.

    it's 750 or 920 right now it seems.
     
  8. g3n3tiX

    g3n3tiX Minimodder

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    Even though I did win a i7-750 + P7P55D at the Asus/Bit-Tech event, I'm still using my i7 920 + P6T Deluxe, slightly overclocked @ 3.1 Ghz. I figured the memory bandwidth is just superior in triple channel.

    Now what to do with it ? Second PC ? Low Voltage mediaPC/server ? ebay? BT "for sale" forum ?
     
  9. Skiddywinks

    Skiddywinks Minimodder

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    It's my birthday on the 30th...
     
  10. TSR2

    TSR2 What's a Dremel?

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    Why does the article say that 'HT does not increase the power consumption of your PC' when the graph seems to show it does? (p10) Although the much higher load consumption may be due to the fact HT is loading the system more efficiently, as the WPrime benchmark showed an improved speed with HT enabled.
     
  11. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    no p55 boards for sell on newegg, but they do have the chips in stock...awesome...

    edit: tigerdirect has boards, all kinds in fact. looks like newegg just flat out dropped the ball here.
     
    Last edited: 8 Sep 2009
  12. HourBeforeDawn

    HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz

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    okay I read the whole article but really didnt answer what has been floating in my head so bottom-line can someone explain to me other then possible cost why I would go for this over the LGA1366 Core I7? Is there anything that would make this better? It seems like if you build a core-i7 920 or higher rig your pretty much done building computers for a LONG time and the only thing needing the occasional upgrade would be the graphics cards. So ya any advice or help would be great and thanks.
     
  13. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    Tim will you be reviewing the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3/UD3R? They're around the £100 mark and they're the ones I was looking at when I get a student loan.
     
  14. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    to me it seems like either go with an i5-750, or go i7-920. unless amd price drops, they don't seem to be an option right now if you are upgrading all areas (cpu, mobo, and ram)

    edit:
    seems newegg has updated their site and now have p55 boards...
     
    Last edited: 8 Sep 2009
  15. Diosjenin

    Diosjenin Thinker, Tweaker, Et Cetera

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    Vantage has a few tests specifically designed to take advantage of PhysX, which can significantly influence the final scores. You can, however, turn off the PhysX compatibility before you start the test - which every online review does, because otherwise nVidia GPUs come out looking much better than they actually are under the majority of circmstances. Try it again without PhysX - your score will probably be much more in line with what you'd expect.


    Turbo Boost is based on power draw - read this page and the next of the Anandtech review for a great explanation. My guess is the higher thermal spec has more to do with better yields than anything else.


    I thought the same thing - turns out they just didn't have any listed under Advanced Search at the time, but if you did a Power Search, they were all there. They're up across the board now, though.

    Kind of disappointing how expensive the P55-UD6 is - at that price, I'd much more highly recommend spending the cash on an i7 920 and an EX58-UD4/UD5.


    - Diosjenin -
     
  16. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    thought i checked power search...eh...
    you're right. some of these prices are retarded...and no real drop on core 2 quads yet...
     
  17. mrbens

    mrbens What's a Dremel?

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    ha, damn, wish I'd bought an i7 920 months ago now, but was waiting on these results!

    Still going to give it a month or so for all the 1156 motherboard reviews and advice before I make my final decision, and see how waterblocks fair on 1156 CPUs...
     
  18. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    where do you live?
     
  19. mrbens

    mrbens What's a Dremel?

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    trig from slsk?
     
  20. Dave_M

    Dave_M What's a Dremel?

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    Don't agree with the review. Lynnfield and P55 is excellent. It is better than the LGA1366 lineup except 975. There is no reason to go for i7 920 now that Lynnfield is here. The only place that LGA1366 platform would be better is very high end gaming rigs with SLI or Crossfire setups thanks to more limited PCIe lanes with P55.
     
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