well if you have the cash why the fudge not if you don't have anything else to spend it on :/

Apparently the newer i7 8xx CPUs are actually faster than the 920, plus they run on a P55 chipset, so I'd wait for at least those to come out.




Showoffs!
* ZiNgA BuRgA runs

I actually think it's not really worth it getting i7, and think everyone should get dual core Phenom 2 550s or Core2 E8400s Phenom II x3 720's (better price/value than E8400) or something, but that's probably just me. Because in normal loading windows and everyday stuff like that, i7 won't be much faster than E8400, since that's HDD bottlenecked (and you really don't need much CPU power to load MS word), and in playing games, i7 won't be much faster than E8400 either, since games are GPU bottlenecked (can't really look at these review benchmarks alone, because they use beast GPUs to isolate CPU performance, when in reality, you'll just get GPU bottleneck). So the performance increase is quite limited for the extra money it costs. Ofcourse, i7 does have the advantage that 3 years later, it's still decent, while E8400 probably not.

But anyway, whatever makes you happy :)

SchmilK Wrote:same...those cpu are SOOOOO damn fast!  In windows you get to watch 8 processor threads bouncing!!

Windows is like all HDD dependent, CPU really doesn't matter much. By brother's pissweak netbook Atom (single core, 1.6GHz) boots windows faster than my overclocked quad.

SchmilK Wrote:Apparently the newer i7 8xx CPUs are actually faster than the 920, plus they run on a P55 chipset, so I'd wait for at least those to come out.

Then there's i5 (think i7 but more mid range) as well, and that seems pretty promising (as of now).

(This post was last modified: 18/09/2009 09:41 PM by Assassinator.)

roberth Wrote:Also, what's to stop one of us buying a beastly GPU to remove bottlenecking XD

1. If you have a beast GPU, you want to run at the highest possible graphics settings, in which case you still get GPU bottleneck.
2. Go ahead and spend US$1000 (or whatever, haven't checked prices lately) on buying 2x GTX 295s for SLI to remove GPU bottlenecking on said highest graphics settings.
3. At that level, you seriously won't care any more, because 150fps and 200fps looks EXACTLY the same to your eyes, so not worth it whichever way.

roberth Wrote:GTA4 recommended a Tri-Core or higher, so games are moving beyond what a dual core can offer

Admittedly GTA 4's port was almost as buggy as a bethesda game, and properly optimised could have ran on a dual core, but clearly Rockstar though that the audience it was aiming to would have the computer to run it. The fact that it sold so well seems to confirm this.

Just read it, AMD Phenom X3 2.1 GHz. E8400 is actually a faster and also much more expensive CPU. It's 3Ghz (3x2cores pretty much the same as 2.1x3cores on raw numbers), and Core2 scales much better than Phenom1 per clock (ie. 3Ghz core2 much faster than equivalent 3Ghz phenom). And also E8400 overclocks like a beast. EDIT: Just by a Phenom II 720.

(This post was last modified: 18/09/2009 09:43 PM by Assassinator.)

Senseito URΩBΩROS Wrote:well if you have the cash why the fudge not if you don't have anything else to spend it on :/

It's not all about spending money as fast as you can now, is it.

Stick it in a bank, or invest it, and it grows, to fills in your money gaps in the future (like when you need to buy a house).

I'm not saying be a cheap donkey and don't spend anything, I would highly encourage you to spend as much as you need. I'm just saying you don't waste money simply because "you have nothing else to spend it on".

(This post was last modified: 16/09/2009 06:10 PM by Assassinator.)

Assassinator Wrote:3. At that level, you seriously won't care any more, because 150fps and 200fps looks EXACTLY the same to your eyes, so not worth it whichever way.

Not necessarily true for future games.  Also depends a lot on the resolution you're running at, assuming you've got a large monitor.

Assassinator Wrote:Just read it, AMD Phenom X3 2.1 GHz. E8400 is actually a faster and also much more expensive CPU. It's 3Ghz (3x2cores pretty much the same as 2.1x3cores on raw numbers), and Core2 scales much better than Phenom1 per clock (ie. 3Ghz core2 much faster than equivalent 3Ghz phenom). And also E8400 overclocks like a beast.

You can't calculate it that way.  Threads have different overheads to serial processes, ie context switches.

(This post was last modified: 16/09/2009 06:26 PM by ZiNgA BuRgA.)