Hi Im buying a new desktop computer. I plan to use it for gaming (games like farcry2, gta4 etc). I dont really plan to max out the resolution/graphics or anything, just want the game to look decent. I also plan to use the computer for CAD. The graphics card is Nvidia geforce GTS250. The question I have is regarding the processor. I was going with the i7. However I am trying to decide between i7-920 (2.66GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache with QPI technology) and i7-950 (3.00GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache with QPI Technology). Now obviously the i7-950 @ 3.00GHz is better than i7-920 @ 2.66GHz. But it also costs me $400 more. So what Im asking is whether the speed boost is worth it. Im not a hardware expert, Ive always known that more GHz equals faster processor. However with these i7 processors I believe there are 4 cores (8 simultaneous processes) or something like that. So each core will be running at 2.66 GHz in the case of the i7-920. Do computer processes usually require more than 2.66GHZ ? I assume for basic tasks like internet surfing with google chrome and word editing with microsoft office 2.66GHz is enough. Is this assumption correct? From my understanding of things this is only a problem if a software running a single process actually needs 2.66Ghz or more. Do the everyday softwares that usually run on one core/one thread really require more than 2.66GHz for their processing? What about in the case of more complex tasks like games and CAD. Do games running on a single thread/single core routinely need more than 2.66GHZ? Do games nowadays even run on a single core or will they automatically make use of multiple cores? I assume if theyre using the multiple cores than 2.66GHz should be enough considering theres 4 cores and even if the game/software were to use only 2 cores that would work out to 5.3Ghz. Is that assumption correct? Or do you guys feel the i7-950 at 3GHz will provide significant improvement over i7-920 at 2.66Ghz. Please let me know what you think, any help will be appreciated. Thanks Gary
Go for the core I7 920 no point wasting £400 more when the 920 easily overclocks to 4ghz. all you got to do is get yourself a good after market cpu heatsink such as the thermalright ultra 120a copper also use some good thermal paste - artic silver. QPI has a higher system bus cap 4.8gt/s (3200mhz) on your setup your should also go for around 1600mhz memory bus frequency 6gb tripple channel configuration. More processing core you got and the higher the frequency the quicker data requested from ram can be processed. Higher your memory bus frequency more data the cpu can request. Only real bottleneck you will have is most likely that graphics card it's a renamed 9800gtx. you can pick up gtx 260 (192 cores) for about £150. or if you can wait another two months the gt300 series will be arriving. I would also recommend a Raid 0 configuration if your looking for good performance, Two western digital caviar blacks perform very well in raid 0 and also about £50 each, good speed and good capacity.
I have to say I am very inexperienced in the use of multi core processors but I find it extraordinary that users are happy to pay staggering amounts of dosh when there are cheaper processors which are already more than capable of doing the job.... personally, I would save a bit on the processor and ensure that the rest of the system compliments the processor and the use of it... just a thought... again I am not really that experienced with gaming systems...
