CPU GHZ Question i7 vs i5

[drumsonly2002]

Here goes, the lame question of the day.... pre amble. Noticed a lot using the i7 platform. The i7 920 is a good overclocker. Then again, lower priced intell CPU's are good over clockers. Would it be better for me to lower my CPU sights and get a "cheaper" CPU and over clock it? (1156 board/cpu vs 1366) GHZ wise the dual core stuff over clocks well, but speed wise, what is your advice. Got my plans initially for a i7 920, but looking at the lower CPU and they seem to over clock as well. Stupid question, does the i7 have more punch than the over clocked "lower end " CPU's? A computer guy told me I could get a lower price CPU and board, over clock it and it would work "almost" as good as the i7.

  My gridlock in the new build is funds, then again  I hate to compromise as i am trying to build the best computer for FSX. That being said, I would rather wait and get the "good" stuff" and be rewarded with the quality in the long run. You guys are running FSX and know what works best. Getting a pouch full of Orbx later today, but I will run it on my humble AMD 6000 dual core unit for now.

So, is the i7 much better than i5?

Dipping in my beer money for the Orbx purchase, but sacrifices have to be made. 

 

[Sniper31]

Well my friend, that is a hard question to answer...you can see my FSX PC spec's below. I've been running my I7 940 for over a year now, and it's been running great. It O/C's easy too. I know many other folks on here are running I7 920's and 940's with similair results but I don't know of too many with the I5 cpu's yet. It's going to be difficult to find hard, cold numbers comparing the two with FSX. On the surface, I would have to say that the I5, being a lower end CPU as you pointed out, is going to be less capable. Simply, you get what you pay for most times. I would suggest saving for an I7 920 and O/C as you said, especially since the new steppings are out now. Just make sure you get an I7 920 with core stepping D0 as opposed to C0 so you can take advantage of the second gen CPU.

[Ian Routley]

i5 is arguably the best "budget" CPU on the market (at the moment)

It apparently overclocks well (I have one running at stock speeds, non-clocked in a non-FSX related computer)

The big difference between the i7-920/940 that most of us use, and the i5 is ... the socket, and hence the Motherboard chipsets available.  This may well change.

If you are on a budget, an i5 Socket 1156 option is going to be less expensive, and I suspect you are only sacrificing running DDR3 in triple channel mode ... which is nice but not the be-all and end-all.

[Lynchee]

Go the 17 920, 1366 socket.  Then if you wish to upgrade in a year or 2 the i9's being released next year will fit as they are a 1366 socket as well.

Lynchie

[Dwho]

Intel is now calling the Gulftown Chip the "intel Core i7 980X" not Core i9 (32nm 6 core CPU) hopefully they release a cheaper version like they have done with the 45nm i7's like you would get an i7 920 over spending the $1000+ for the i7 975

[RallyFan]

My Five Cent - I too debated between the i5 and i7, and then between the i7-1156 and i7-1366 sockets, before I started my system build.  I went for the i7-920 at the end because the price difference was acceptable to me, and seeing that most people around here reported good performance with an overclocked i7 system that was the safe bet for me given that I couldn't find much during my research on how the i5 would perform with FTX products.  You should also bear in mind that the price difference between the 1156 and 1366 sockets is not only confined to the CPU, you would also be making some savings on the Motherboard and possibly RAM (if you decide on 4GB with a 1156 system as opposed to 6GB on the 1366 to enable tripple-channel).

Whilst I can't tell you how an i5 will run FTX products (I'm going to assume thats your main interest here as I suspect the i5 will more than adequately run default FSX with most sliders maxed), I can definitely say that for me an overclocked i7-920 provides a smooth and enjoyable experience on all FTX products published as at today - provided I make some adjustments for more resource intensive airports like YMML.  Having said though, even using lower settings, FTX YMML will look much better than default YMML any day - and to me its perfectly flyable.

So, in answer to your question, if you can afford it, I think an overclocked i7-920 is the safe bet at the moment, and would also provide more options for upgrading in the future as the newer chips from Intel will be socket 1366.  If its not within your budget, or if you can find evidence to satisfy yourself that an i5 will run FTX products well, then i5 is obviously the way to go.  Either way, I think you're going to need to overclock your CPU to run the more resource intensive FTX products smoothly, with most scenery sliders maxed (if thats your expectation).

Cheers

Jason