Is it really worth it?

[xenophek]

Is upgrading to i7 really worth the price? Is upgrading to any CPU really worth the price?

For me, my bottleneck is my hard drive. I'd sooner spend $200 on a faster hard drive than a faster processor. Even with the games my bottleneck is the HD4850 in my system. Now that the Core 2 Duos are getting more economical, why would it be worth upgrading to i7 when the Core 2 Duo (and Core 2 Quads) is so overclockable? My Core 2 is overclocked to 3.6 GHz on air. Definitely faster than my other hardware can keep up with.

So sell me on the i7. I think it'd be cool to own one, but I just don't see it happening.

 

[trykael]

I'll toss some numbers up later - I have the graphs and test results, just not here.

Anyway - it's worth it if you're into numbers or staying with the latest in games, because even when overclocked the i7 is somewhere between 15 and 50% faster than a Core 2 (depending on application and other system hardware). Sure, your hard drive may be a bottleneck, but even with a current drive you're still going to get improvement with a change to the i7.

All that being said, a lot of depends on your needs and interests. I'm a tech geek - I LOVE the latest stuff. If your current system works for you, then there's no need to rush out and purchase the latest hardware. However, if you were already looking to upgrade or build a new system, then DEFINITELY go with the Core i7 stuff and leave Core 2 behind...it's an old technology that's going to seem like ancient stuff very quickly.

 

[Clarko]

If you have the money to throw around then you can find out. But if you are on a budget like most of us are read up on the info, wait a while for price to go down. Also reading from crimson's post seems like he got great results from his build. But it all relies on your system as a whole. I dont know how many times someone will by a awesome video card but the entire system sucks so he/she is not getting the full potential from it. Also I am sure you know but in technology the I7 will be old within the year with either a newer/powerful Intel chip or AMD.

I built a new right with a Core 2 Duo. Before I even heard or read about the new I7s. I decided to stick with what I had because there was already so many parts and support for Core 2 Duos VS the I7's.

If ur HDD is really your prob. take care of that because it will be a cheaper and longer lasting solution.

 

[xenophek]

If ur HDD is really your prob. take care of that because it will be a cheaper and longer lasting solution.

It's not really that much of a problem, to tell you the truth. It's a 7200 rpm hard drive, so the only way to go faster is a insane 10k raptor or a solid state drive.

 

[Wal-Mart Security]

Is upgrading to i7 really worth the price? Is upgrading to any CPU really worth the price?

For me, my bottleneck is my hard drive. I'd sooner spend $200 on a faster hard drive than a faster processor. Even with the games my bottleneck is the HD4850 in my system. Now that the Core 2 Duos are getting more economical, why would it be worth upgrading to i7 when the Core 2 Duo (and Core 2 Quads) is so overclockable? My Core 2 is overclocked to 3.6 GHz on air. Definitely faster than my other hardware can keep up with.

So sell me on the i7. I think it'd be cool to own one, but I just don't see it happening.

Well look at me for example. Right now I have an AMD 5200+ dual-core 2.6GHz 90nm so kinda old. I have a 160GB 8mb cache WD main, and a 320GB 8mb cache IDE WD storage drive. (That word, "IDE" makes me quiver just saying it) My board is an ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe. (AM2, not AM2+) (PCI-Ex16 not 2.0), an ATI 4850 (Which isn't that shabby), 3GBs of DDR2-800 RAM (2x1GB Gskill, and 2x 512MB OCZ) and an old Rosewill 600w PSU. Do I really need to upgrade to Corei7? Well no, I don't need it THAT bad but I sure WANT it that bad. But thats just a part of what most of us do. Sure most of our machines run just fine but we are always upgrading to the newest and the best. Thats just what some of us do. I've had this machine for about a year or so and it's treated me well but I just think its finally time for an upgrade. Mostly for bragging rights and because I love computers and building them.
Once you think about it, Corei7 isn't terribly more expensive than a nice Core2Quad system. My Corei7 wish list compared to my older C2Q wish list is only a couple hundred bucks, so I thought why not, Its not like I need it right away so why not spend the extra money to get what I want. Corei7 is around 20% - 50% faster than Core2 at times. Some say that DDR3 is really expensive but it isn't that bad anymore. I mean you can pick up a 3GB pack of tri-channel RAM for only $85 if you wanted.

There may not be a HUGE difference from C2Q compared to Corei7 but there is a difference:

• No more Front Side Bus, now its QPI or "QuickPath Interconnect"
• No more Dual-Channel memory, now Triple-Channel
• New chipset: x58 which now supports SLI and Crossfire. Now you don't have to make your video cards be the basis on what board you are going to get.
• Better optimized for Quad-Cores.
• All boards now have 8-pin CPU power.
• Standard Nanometer is now 45nm.
• Corei7 has 8 threads.

MAN I can't wait to build my new machine

 

[Blue Stealth]

i would get the i7 920 and let me very briefly tell you why.

OVERCLOCKING.

I know you know computers and you know how to overclock i think.

what you do is, you buy the 920 i7 for 260 dollars, overclock the sucker to 4 Ghz on AIR(it has been done multiple times already) and that way you just saved over a thousand dollars on a CPU seeing as the i7 965 costs over 1000 dollars.

Thats what I did with my Q6600 its rated at 2.4 and I oc'ed it to 2.93. Its lasted my three years and could have gone three more if I didnt just want the latest and greatest.

Whats your current cpu may i ask?
If its not quad, then definitely buy i7 right now.

I still would even if you have quad now.

-Blue

 

[xenophek]

Whats your current cpu may i ask?
If its not quad, then definitely buy i7 right now.
-Blue

I have the E7200. My system specs should be in my sig. I just built it in June.

I've been thinking about buying a new motherboard that supports Crossfire, and I might shell out the extra cash in the process to go to i7. Maybe.

 

[Blue Stealth]

I have the E7200. My system specs should be in my sig. I just built it in June.

I've been thinking about buying a new motherboard that supports Crossfire, and I might shell out the extra cash in the process to go to i7. Maybe.

hmm im looking at your specs now. I would get a board that supports crossfire, but i would get the i7 first.

BUT, you have to buy a motherboard that supports i7 and socket 1366 so, with that said, what motherboards have you picked out and whats your top price youre willing to spend on a mobo?

-Blue

 

[Mustachio]

I would say if you just built a computer in July and you already run a core 2 duo processor, then no, you probably shouldnt upgrade unless you HAVE to have the latest and greatest and you just happen to have very deep pockets.

I also just built in July, and spent nearly $2000 on my core 2 quad processor system and I am quite happy. However, since the i7's have a new socket type and considering that the x58's are the only boards that support them (unless they have since released newer chipsets and cheaper boards) you are not only going to have to spend a decent chunk of money for a new CPU, but also a decent chunk of money for a new Motherboard, as well as shell out even more cash to upgrade to DDR3 ram. While you may be able to sell your old components, thats still a lot of money to shell out for a system that probably wont be THAT much better in the real world.

You may get slightly better framerates, but if your CPU is already overclocked then chances are your video card will be limiting your framerates at that point anyways. As I see, unless you do a lot of CPU heavy work, such as multimedia and encoding etc etc or you absolutely feel like you have to have the latest and greatest tech, upgrading for you will probably not be worth it now.

As someone who likes to have better and better, I also like to plan my builds so that my computer should function for a good 2-3 years at least, with maybe a few small upgrades here and there because for me, always having the best is not worth it... and thats what its gonna come down to for you.

 

[Blue Stealth]

I would say if you just built a computer in July and you already run a core 2 duo processor, then no, you probably shouldnt upgrade unless you HAVE to have the latest and greatest and you just happen to have very deep pockets.

I also just built in July, and spent nearly $2000 on my core 2 quad processor system and I am quite happy. However, since the i7's have a new socket type and considering that the x58's are the only boards that support them (unless they have since released newer chipsets and cheaper boards) you are not only going to have to spend a decent chunk of money for a new CPU, but also a decent chunk of money for a new Motherboard, as well as shell out even more cash to upgrade to DDR3 ram. While you may be able to sell your old components, thats still a lot of money to shell out for a system that probably wont be THAT much better in the real world.

You may get slightly better framerates, but if your CPU is already overclocked then chances are your video card will be limiting your framerates at that point anyways. As I see, unless you do a lot of CPU heavy work, such as multimedia and encoding etc etc or you absolutely feel like you have to have the latest and greatest tech, upgrading for you will probably not be worth it now.

As someone who likes to have better and better, I also like to plan my builds so that my computer should function for a good 2-3 years at least, with maybe a few small upgrades here and there because for me, always having the best is not worth it... and thats what its gonna come down to for you.

I dont think you have to spend much more. I spent just under 2100$ on my machine and if you want to look at the specs its in my sig, but ive core core i7, 4870 X2, etc. You just have to be smart about how, when, where you shop.

-Blue