Core i7 860 vs core i5 750

[Bond007]

If you do heavily threaded tasks then the 860 is worth the extra, but if you just game and use your computer for normal everyday tasks then save the $$$ or put it towards other components. Bottom line is that the HT does work in certain programs that are optimized for it, but most programs can't take full advantage of it.

[Soultribunal]

What people don't understand when comparing these chips is the integrated Technology that exists inside of them.

For example, they use L3 Cache now. So comparing them to a Core 2 Quad isn't accurate. As well like AMD's AM3 they have an integrated memory controller on die now, which streamlines a lot of processes that were delegated elsewhere. And to top it off the i5 has PCI-e controls built in on die to boot. So its new streamlined tech that is far better than what has come before it.

AS for which chip to use, that all depends on what you're doing. Either CPU is a powerful choice go with whats in your budget.

People need to do research before they start comparing old tech to new.

ST

[FtGF]

I don't think anyone is really comparing old tech to new. The OP just wanted to know 860 vs 750. Really the advantage of hyperthreading in gaming as of now is 0 and most likely will be for years to come. I also speak from experience of owning an x58 rig compared to my new P55 setup. I understand we are an enthusiast site and people buy crazy rigs as I have but when it comes down to it for gaming a well thought out middle of the road rig can preform the same as a x58 classified with a 920 OCed to 4ghz in gaming at half the price and possibly less. Save your money for cooler things like cars .

[MarkOne]

I know you gone tell me that the points are not a good benchmark, I agree, but look at the one of my I5-750 with a radeon 4890, you will see that it's the wd 640 black the lowest one, so it's make only realize than you better to save money on the cpu and get a SSD or Raid 0 solutions , I will fix this 5.9 this week...

[Pidg76]

An SSD will probably be my next buy when I upgrade that system. Prices are a little high for me right now and I guess 6 months to 12 months from now it will be more reasonable. I was shooting for an SLC drive instead of a MLC. I know that USB 3 and SATA 3 are coming but since the support is not that good right now. I it comes down to an SSD and it uses SATA 3 I guess I will just buy a card for that at that time.

Also, As for the GTX 260 in SLI, the reason I was asking for this is that I will sell my old computer to a friend with my old 8800GT card. I will thus keep my GTX 260 and I was really asking if an SLI setup is good with this card. I heard that a GTX 295 was really 2 GTX 260 on the same card. I would have put the 100$ saving from the 860 toward this. I know that ATI is offering really good cards but I will just wait for the generation after that to change the card (2 years).

[Sagath]

Originally Posted by Pidg76

An SSD will probably be my next buy when I upgrade that system. Prices are a little high for me right now and I guess 6 months to 12 months from now it will be more reasonable. I was shooting for an SLC drive instead of a MLC. I know that USB 3 and SATA 3 are coming but since the support is not that good right now. I it comes down to an SSD and it uses SATA 3 I guess I will just buy a card for that at that time.

Also, As for the GTX 260 in SLI, the reason I was asking for this is that I will sell my old computer to a friend with my old 8800GT card. I will thus keep my GTX 260 and I was really asking if an SLI setup is good with this card. I heard that a GTX 295 was really 2 GTX 260 on the same card. I would have put the 100$ saving from the 860 toward this. I know that ATI is offering really good cards but I will just wait for the generation after that to change the card (2 years).

SSD's have gone up in price, nearly 50%, in the last 6-12 months. The problem is that NAND production isnt keeping pace with customer demand. Thus prices rise. It sucks for the consumer, but this is traditional business economics at its finest. Im a really big believer in that common addage that people seem to forget: "Buy it when you can afford it." If you wait for prices to drop, you'll wait 6 months, and then something better and more expensive will come out, and you'll want that...then you'll wait for the price to drop...it will but something better came out again...Ugh.

As pertaining to your questions about graphics cards. This is easily answerable by the resolution you're running at. Generally speaking, a single 260 or higher will run any game on the market including upcomming games (DiRT 2) without a hitch at 1650x1080 resolution. So thats the long answer. The short answer is to save the cash. However if you're running 19x12+ you may want to get something a bit tougher. This is usually on 24" or bigger monitors.

Hope this helps!

[Pidg76]

Well I run at 1920 X 1200 with a 24" screen. As for the SSD well I cannot afford it right now :)

[Zero82z]

A single GTX260 is enough for most things at that resolution already. I say stick with the single card for now, and once it gets too slow for you, you'll either be able to get a second one for cheaper than you can now, or you'll just be able to upgrade to a next-generation card instead like a 5870 or GT300 card.

[Oversized Rooster]

Originally Posted by MarkOne

I know you gone tell me that the points are not a good benchmark, I agree, but look at the one of my I5-750 with a radeon 4890, you will see that it's the wd 640 black the lowest one, so it's make only realize than you better to save money on the cpu and get a SSD or Raid 0 solutions , I will fix this 5.9 this week...

That experience benchmark thing is really hardcore. The max is 7.9 but even with dual 60GB OCZ Vertex drives in RAID0, it gives me 7.5 for the primary hard disk mark which limits my score.

But yeah, an SSD will the do the greatest wonders for any modern machine.

[Writer]

Has anyone seen any benchmarks showing the benefits of hyperthreading for compiling, e.g. Visual Studio 2008? I did some searching but wasn't able to come up with any.

My latest system at work has an i7 920 and it was a nice speed increase for our builds from the Q6600 I was using before that.

Hmmm...maybe I'll check to see if there's a way to disable hyperthreading on my work system and I can answer my own question. :)

I was about to pull the trigger on a 1156 system, but I decided to postpone it until the socket stuff settles a bit. I figured it's worth waiting to see if Intel revises the socket at all, and let the boards mature a little bit more.