Hi, I am upgrading my computer for gaming and for my school. Right now what I am torn between is getting either an i7 or a core two quad. Overall the Core 2 is cheaper, but I hear LG775 is dead so if I wanna upgrade in the next few years I'd have to get another motherboard again. I know that for most games the Quad and the i7 are overkill, but I am going to be using alot of development sowftware like photoshop, Maya, 3DSMax, etc. and as far as I know they use the multiple cores. Is the extra price of the i7 worth whatever performance boost I may get over the Core 2 Quad? Any help is welcome. Thank you for your time.
core i7 is quite a big jump from a core 2 quad alot more going for it has alot better features such as tripple channel memory which will make a big difference, different system bus known as QPI (quick path interconnect) stock system bus frequency is 3200mhz double that of a 1600mhz core 2 quad system bus, memory controller is no longer located on the northbridge commonly known as MCH (memory controll hub) it's located on the cpu on a core i7 so therefore insn't limited by a system bus. more cpu memory cache available also each core has it's own cache. alot of these boards come standard with lower rds on mosfets, more phase powers, generally 2nd and 3rd gen pci-express x16 slots. 2nd gen = 16x 16x 8x, 3rd gen = 16x 16x 16x but requires a nf200 chip located on the northbridge of a core i7. Also with a core i7 motherboard socket 1366 it's future proof for a while, even when intel release the core I9's (6cores) it will be socket 1366 so all that's needed is a cpu upgrade. so overall core i7 all the way.
