Core i5 750 or Core i7 920

J

josh088

New Member
I am looking to build a new computer and saw Microcenter is running a special on both of these processors.

i5 750 for $150
i7 920 for $200

Is the $50 difference in price on this plus the additional money on the motherboard worth getting the i7 over the i5?

The unit will be used for for video editing type applications than gaming applications.

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Bodaggit23

Bodaggit23

Active Member
Yes, it's worth it. The i5 does not Hypterthread, and 1156
motherboards only run Dual Channel RAM.

You can find reasonable 1366 motherboards for around $150.
 
Bodaggit23

Bodaggit23

Active Member
Np. There's nothing wrong with the 1156 i5/i7 stuff, but you're not going to save enough money, in my opinion, to sacrifice the performance and future upgrade ability.
 
8

87dtna

Active Member
Bodaggit23 said:
Yes, it's worth it. The i5 does not Hypterthread, and 1156
motherboards only run Dual Channel RAM.

You can find reasonable 1366 motherboards for around $150.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you are using the PC for.

Triple channel memory is more expensive, and 1366 motherboards are more expensive. It's not just the cost of the CPU.

Honestly, for an I5 vs I7 system you are looking at atleast $200 more for the I7....and 99% of people would never fully use the power of an I5 setup.

And where are you finding a decent 1366 board for $150? Yeah right, try $250. The cheapest crap 1366 motherboard on newegg right now is $170. It's $150 for a decent 1156 motherboard.

Take a look at a direct comparison of the I5 750 vs the I7 920-

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=47

The I5 beats the I7 in a lot of benchmarks, and when it looses it's almost never by much. It's also apparently a better gaming CPU.
 
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J

josh088

New Member
87dtna said:
Depends on what you are using the PC for.

Triple channel memory is more expensive, and 1366 motherboards are more expensive. It's not just the cost of the CPU.

Honestly, for an I5 vs I7 system you are looking at atleast $200 more for the I7....and 99% of people would never fully use the power of an I5 setup.

And where are you finding a decent 1366 board for $150? Yeah right, try $250. The cheapest crap 1366 motherboard on newegg right now is $170. It's $150 for a decent 1156 motherboard.

Take a look at a direct comparison of the I5 750 vs the I7 920-

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=47

The I5 beats the I7 in a lot of benchmarks, and when it looses it's almost never by much. It's also apparently a better gaming CPU.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the input as well. I have spent most of my un-productive afternoon at work doing research and as you said it looks like at least $200 more for the i7 system. I'm leaning towards staying with the i5 and purchasing better parts to go around that as opposed to cheaper parts with the i7.
 
8

87dtna

Active Member
josh088 said:
Thanks for the input as well. I have spent most of my un-productive afternoon at work doing research and as you said it looks like at least $200 more for the i7 system. I'm leaning towards staying with the i5 and purchasing better parts to go around that as opposed to cheaper parts with the i7.
Click to expand...

I honestly think that would be the better way to go.

Great motherboard here-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128400


I'm a big fan of gigabyte and ASRock boards, but you can't beat gigabyte's quality.

I'm building an I5 system myself. Got the CPU and ram, just need a mobo. I think I'm gonna go with either that gigabyte or this board-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157172

It was $140 yesterday.
 
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H

Hass

New Member
I was going to build a lynnfield system previously, until newegg was running great promo on AMD+mainboards combos.
so i picked up a 965 and some mainboard... forget the model.

saved me ~$200 versus a lynnfield setup (~400 versus 920)

I am losing performance, but... for the money I saved i can live with that.
But then, considering I went out and bought a mega cooler, 6 scythe ultra hazes... meh. the extra money spent on cooling doesnt quite make sense though. ;p
 
ScottALot

ScottALot

Active Member
Really, the i5 is great and will remain great for a while because it's one of those all-around exceptional pieces of engineering. The i7, however, will set you back a good amount of money, and it will outperform any CPU because of hyperthreading, etc... and it will remain a top-of-the-line CPU until who knows when.
 
S

Stoic Sentinel

New Member
8

87dtna

Active Member
No way, that asus is not worth it compared to the ones I linked too. First off, the second x16 slot is only 4x. And secondly, that board only supports Xfire anyway not SLI + Xfire. And third, I've never liked the Bios layout of ANY asus board I've owned.
 
ScottALot

ScottALot

Active Member
:( I thought I made a good choice... go away.

LMAO, sometimes the board looks so good, the eyecandy draws me from the specs.
 
Jet

Jet

VIP Member
87dtna said:
And where are you finding a decent 1366 board for $150? Yeah right, try $250. The cheapest crap 1366 motherboard on newegg right now is $170. It's $150 for a decent 1156 motherboard.
Click to expand...

I can't wait to prove you wrong.

I paid $118 for the ASRock X58 Extreme (Open Box)--Tomshardware's best buy for an X58 board, picked up an i7 920 for $200 (Microcenter), 6GB of DDR3 1600 for $115--not much more, if at all, than an i5 build.
 
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J

Jamin43

banned
Jet said:
I can't wait to prove you wrong.

I paid $118 for the ASRock X58 Extreme (Open Box)--Tomshardware's best buy for an X58 board, picked up an i7 920 for $200 (Microcenter), 6GB of DDR3 1600 for $115--not much more, if at all, than an i5 build.
Click to expand...

Nice score - especially on that MOBO.
 
8

87dtna

Active Member
Jet said:
I can't wait to prove you wrong.

I paid $118 for the ASRock X58 Extreme (Open Box)--Tomshardware's best buy for an X58 board, picked up an i7 920 for $200 (Microcenter), 6GB of DDR3 1600 for $115--not much more, if at all, than an i5 build.
Click to expand...

hahaha

First, open box is not a ''deal''. You get no warranty besides DOA, and it usually doesn't include accesories. It's a crap shoot. That board is normally $170 at newegg for new retail.
Second, you think the Asrock X58 extreme is a good quality board? Think again. Thats the low end of 1366 boards. I like ASrock boards, but you CANNOT buy their lowest end boards, you have to get atleast mid range to get a decent asrock board.
What brand DDR3? What timings?
 
Bodaggit23

Bodaggit23

Active Member
87dtna said:
The I5 beats the I7 in a lot of benchmarks, and when it looses it's almost never by much. It's also apparently a better gaming CPU.
Click to expand...

Better gaming cpu? Can you run two gpu's @16x on a P55 motherboard?...

My point is, yes, you could save a couple hundred dollars on a $1000+ build, but at this price point, why?...
 
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