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dahuman on 29 December 2009
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Soleron said:
kylohk said:
^Yup, some previous thread seemed to favour i5 over i7.

But if I must insist on an i7, which socket should be used, since there are two.

Intel's naming system is screwed up.

If you are buying a Lynnfield i7 (i7 8xx) then you want socket LGA1156, P55/P57/H55/H57 chipset. These use dual-channel RAM.

If you are buying a Bloomfield i7 (i7 9xx) then you want socket LGA1366, X58 chipset. These use tri-channel RAM.

 

But really you should ask yourself whether you need an i7. What will the computer be used for, and what's your budget?

EDIT: You don't need an i7. You don't even need an i5. For 'some video editing' I would go with a midrange quad like the Phenom II X4 945 or Core 2 Quad Q9400, whichever is cheaper since they perform similarly. Games depend far more on the GPU and you should spend preferentially on that if you have the budget. Documents and spreadsheets only need a $60 dual-core really, so don't even affect your choice.

What games, and what resolutions/settings? Have you thought about a graphics card?

I don't know dood, I maxed everything out in GTA4 and the Core i5 went up to about 80% at some parts and that really scared the shit out of me lol. oh and that's on a 4890 so it might be a little lower if I had Nvidia.