Anyone know much about the new Intel i7s?

[MDV]

I'm sick of mu striker extreme being the most unstable, pernickerty, generally gay mobo I've ever used and want to upgrade. May as well get something shit hot, and something based around an i7 920 looks like the best bang for buck out there now to the point where anything else would be frankly stupid

Unless

There are problems with it. We can all look up benchmarks, but does anyone know how these setups, the i7s and the requisite X58 chipsets, are doing after a bit of use - any embuggerances?

Thanks muchly

[Roobubba]

I am currently putting together the parts-list for a 10-machine batch for a company. I'll be sticking to C2D for these machines unless the price for i7 drops a bit more. On a personal level, I'm not too interested just now, because the gaming performance isn't quite up to scratch, yet. That said, the business benchies look very impressive indeed. The big question for me is "can I bring that system in on budget?", and I suspect that the answer will be "NO!" once I've factored in the mobo and RAM costs, which are extortionate at present.

No experience setting one up yet, so I'm also interested in anyone else's response to this thread!

Roo

[MDV]

Yeah, the only mobos around for them at the moment are ~£250, and the ram MUST be DDR3, which is otherwise near-unused and rather expensive. (you know all this already, I know, but for spectators to the thread)

Where did you see the gaming performance?

I can see what youre saying on the price, it is high, but from what benches I've seen theres no reason whatsoever to go with anything but the 920, which is oh so very slightly slower than the 940 at about half the price, and still rather a lot faster than QX's at 3 times the price. I *think* that even the 920 is faster than any C2D (not quite sure, but I've only seen any i7 beaten in benches by dual QX somethings, I think it was QX9770s, and even then its not all the time. The 920 is looking like AWESOME value for money, on its own (without the mobo and ram!))

[MDV]

Found some gaiming benches. Not that good, but not poor enough to put me off, by a long shot. A Q9550 would probably be marginally better for games than a 920, but the 920 thrashes it for everything else (I'm thinking DAW: audio processing, VSTs - fun stuff thats got nowt to do with gaming power. Get a better graphics card).

[MDV]

Some pretty glowing comments on the asus PT6 deluxe:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-p6t-deluxe-review-x58-motherboard/

*Crosses fingers that it doesnt turn out to be another Striker Extreme. Looks good on paper. Is in fact a DOG*

[Roobubba]

Yeah, for anything other than gaming (and of course, the gaming performance isn't any worse, it's just not as much better as the business app performance is better!), then the i7 is definitely worth looking at, particularly if you can afford it. Of course, prices always come down, so timing could be better than current (it'll be a while before another major release like this, so prices right now will be over-the-odds for a month or two or six...).
Gaming is massively improved provided that you have monster graphics card (think dual to quad card setups, and then you're into the NIGHTMARE of game-specific driver issues), and can run at pretty reasonable res. At low res, you do see the performance increase, but you have to ask whether it's worth paying X much more for 250 fps instead of 150... It's still blisteringly fast!

Just my opinions. If I had the money right now, I would ;)

Roo

[MDV]

I'm not one for betting that the price will drop. I dont like putting things back 'till its cheaper' in the PC world, cos your ALWAYS waiting The NEXT thing comes along!!). Screw that! My PC threw a hissy fit that I barely got it back from due to it having PMT since I put 4G of ram in the stiker (it tolerates more than 3 only grudgingly), which serves as reminder enough to buy another ASAP, in my book :D

I can get some cheap gear, add it to my currently not bad gear and sell another PC 2nd hand at some profit (net loss with the i7 stuff, of course, but its not as hard a hit)

What do you think?

Proposed spec -

i7 920
PT6 deluxe
6Gb of 1600Mhz CL7 tripple channel OCZ
- Already got 320Gb installation drive
- " " 2x320gb RAID 0 data
- " " 8800GT _ OR buy a GTX260
- " " Vista Prem 64

And build:

E6600
Asus Striker
4Gb 800Mhz CL4 Dual Channel OCZ
Vista prem 64
- Buy a generic 500Gb
- " " 9400GT _OR use my 8800GT
- " " Case and PSU

And flog it.

?

[Roobubba]

I'd say it's looking great until you hit the 8800GT. I have that card in my system, and, while it's the only thing keeping my poor little old Athlon dual core up with the times, it's simply not enough to do the new system justice, IMHO.

That said, depending on your finances, that'd be the perfect way to get the base ready then save up for a GTX260 or even a Radeon 4850/4870 (or hell, two 4830s...). Only you know what you can afford, but that's my 2p worth! Other than that, the core build is looking solid, there.

Roo

[MDV]

Hmmmm.....I was begining to suspect the 8800GT wasnt cutting it. I havent paid much attention to the graphics card market since I got it, but there are altogether too many cards with bigger numbers for names out now!

That said, I was under the impression the GTX260 was better than the 48xx's?

But thanks for your advise mate. I think I'll get the new gfx - its not a terrible amount more, and the 8800 is well matched with the other system, and should sweeten it for sale, too.

[Roobubba]

The GTX 260 or 280 are great cards, no doubt, and for some games they wipe the floor with ATI boards. In other games, the ATI boards wipe the floor with NVidia. It's worth checking out reviews which feature games you particularly like to play! That Hexus link I put for two 4830s was quite an eye-opener - those are cheapish boards, but together they work really well (in that test system)!
Personally, I'd take a couple of 4870s if I had the cash (and a big enough power supply!!). I'm definitely not a fanboy of either company, I've owned approximately the same number of boards from each over the years. At times, one company definitely had a lead over the other, but I think right now it's pretty darn close between them!

Good Luck!

Roo

[MDV]

I have a 600W PSU

Headroom enough for one big card, methinks. Would probably cr@p out with 2 4870s? (but I dont think I can justify that for games, when I dont play that many games! I do like them to have as many bells and whistles as possible when I do, though).

I'll have a think on the gfx, and brush up on the current market.

I MAY leave all this till january as well. So I can kick myself for not getting it sooner after the pound plummets even further against the dollar (Rate of fall of the pound Vs rate of fall of new intel CPUs and chipset....PLACE BETS NOW! aaaaaand their off! dundadalun dadalun dun dun).

I'd rather get it now, but the i7s and X38 stuff is absolutely fresh off the starting line. Maybe a couple of months is enough for the competition to catch up (there are only 3, I think, manufacturers doing the X58, for intstance (Asus, gigabyte and MSI), and the price of at least the Mobos and RAM to fall a bit (I dont really expect the processor prices to drop, but if it was just the processor, there wouldnt be this thread, I'd have bought one already!).

[Roobubba]

Yeah the 600W (if it's a decent make, which I'm guessing it is!) will do you fine for a one-card set-up. You'd really struggle with 2 4870s, though! I'd be looking at 1000W+ for that kind of rig, especially considering the power of the CPU, too. If you're not a regular gamer, then I think a good one-card set-up is the best bet, and a 4870 or GTX260/280 would sort you out good and proper :) If you felt rather fancy, you could go for a 4870x2 board, but again you might be struggling on power consumption...

I wish I had the money for an update of my own rig :(

Roo

[MDV]

Yeah the 600W (if it's a decent make, which I'm guessing it is!) will do you fine for a one-card set-up. You'd really struggle with 2 4870s, though! I'd be looking at 1000W+ for that kind of rig, especially considering the power of the CPU, too. If you're not a regular gamer, then I think a good one-card set-up is the best bet, and a 4870 or GTX260/280 would sort you out good and proper :) If you felt rather fancy, you could go for a 4870x2 board, but again you might be struggling on power consumption...

I wish I had the money for an update of my own rig :(

Roo

Thats what I thought, thanks for the confirmation :) (oh, its an OCZ stealth - not the best by a ways, but it should hack it?)

Seeing as my current rig can play the likes of crysis and supcom *pretty* well I dont think I need a huge upgrade in gfx. Youre spot on: one card is fine for me. It seems to be between the 4870 and GTX260 for me. If I need more gfx power in a year or two, thats where SLI and card price reduction comes in :D In the mean time I'll ponder it calmly and quietly, weighing finances and probable benefits of one over the other, then get a GTX280 off amazon during a night in with some beers, listening to metal :lol: (then try and convince myself that it was a good idea)

Guitars first, roo, guitars first. And amps and stuff. Clearly, you needed your Wez!!!! My future big (like 4-figure) guitar purchases have all been recinded and my PCs being gay, so I figure its smaller guitar things and upgrade-o-clock. If I needed guitary stuff or my PC was working swimmingly, I wouldnt be thinking about it!

[Roobubba]

Yeah, you're right - that's why I just had to go for the custom! Once my pedal arrives (it's been paid for, and I hope that it will in fact be made and sent...), then my rig is complete (until such time as I might get bored of my 5150-II - that will take a long while, though!), then I can go back to my usual 1-2 year computer upgrade cycle :)

Roo

[noodleplugerine]

Don't really have time to get fully into this discussion, so all I'll say is that I have high hopes for the i7, and am putting it into a new build I'm starting in the next few weeks.

On the other hand, MDV, I'm suprised you're complaining so much about the Striker Extreme, I haven't used it personally, but I've heard damn good things about it, and imo, all the new Asus' I've been using recently have been absolutely phenomenal!