I've had about 6 different i7 cpu's, which include i7 920's, i7 965EE's and i7 975EE's. I never went with lynnfield b/c of its uselessness in comparison to nehalem.
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There is only 6 I7's on the 1366 socket, so you've owned them all? Lynnfield IS nehalem, so is the I3 clarksdale. They are all nehalem architecture.
Here's a great link for you, if you will actually read all of it-
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-versus-i7,2360-3.html
They test an I7 at 3.4ghz with CF'd 4870's VS a Phenom II at 3.7ghz with CF'd 4890's. The I7 wins nearly every one, SAD that you think they are the same gaming performance.
However, I'm not sure why you recommended an i3 vs an Athlon. Not really in the same pricing bracket as one another. He's building a gaming rig, and there is not going to be any difference in his games. I'm not sure why you are so narrow minded by keeping suggesting the more expensive platform to get the same result, or even a weaker result since he would have less to spend on a gpu. It's fairly retarded.
I still suggest a Phenom II X4 and putting the extra cash into a better gpu. Phenom II X4 with a better gpu > i7, i5, and i3 with a lesser gpu.
I just showed you the gaming performance difference, 5-16 FPS better with the I3. Are you blind? Or didn't you even bother looking at the links? There was 10 gaming benchmarks there. And ONCE AGAIN this is at stock speeds, the I3 will by far overclock much higher than the Athlon II. Higher clock=better gaming performance.
Just how much more do you think the I3 is??? It's $125, and the Athlon II 630 is $109. Boards are all over the place but you will pretty much spend the same to get the same features. So we're talking less than $20 difference most likely.
I think your reasoning is ''fairly retarded'' when the I3 is a better gaming performance CPU hands down. I don't know how you think $20 is gonna buy you a way better GPU.
Oh and by the way, next time you think AM3 is going to be upgradeable, do a little more research. Besides Thuban hex core, AMD is done with socket AM3 and moving on to bulldozer, which MUST be a different socket because Bulldozer is going to utilize AMD fusion (onboard GPU) just like intel has done with the I3 and I5's.
I have owned an I3, and I can tell you it is an awesome gaming CPU.
) than any of the AMD's in similar price range, probably about 700-800 mhz higher atleast. And with gaming, higher core clock is better. My I3 would clock to 4.5ghz on air with HT on, and 4.7ghz with HT off. But my chip wasn't that great, I've seen lots of better overclocks, in fact mine was the worst I've seen. An Athlon II 630 will probably only clock to 3.6ghz or so, and honestly even clock for clock the I3 would outperform the Athlon II in gaming.
