So my local Microcenter is still selling the i5's and i7's at ridiculously low prices compared to the internet, and I'm considering upgrading already to an i7. I'm currently running an i5 750 with a GTX260. I can get the i7 860 though for 210$ and was wondering if the double in hyperthreading would be worth it.

I know I wouldn't see much of a difference right off the bat, but stock speed would go up from 2.4ghz to 2.8 for me. I'm just worried my i5 is going to bottleneck my new vid card when I decide to purchase it. I'll be purchasing a new Nvidia line DX11 card, probably around the 400-500$ range. Should I be fine with keeping the i5, or do you think it will hinder my VC?

Dude...5

i have an I7 920 and its amazing, and I dont think u will bottleneck it as I5's and I7's are amazing and powerful processors. But mayb if you really want to get like 60fps on crysis with two new nvidia cards or something hell why not upgrade while prices are down, really in the end. Its a question of value thats up to you. Id wait until something flashier than the current I7's come out myself but whatevz

i5 should more than suffice for now.
I agree with perterisyum, stick it out till something better comes out.

In certain situations, 5870s have been known to be bottlenecked by overclocked i7s. :P

Just throwing that out there.

Stick with the i5. Unless you know you would benefit from 8 threads, I would wait until you need it before upgrading. What are you using the computer for?

Nvidia DX11 GPUs? Like they're ever going to come out. Nvidia announced that the new Tesla cards will only have 448 shaders instead of the original 512, and planned clocks (1.25-1.4GHz) are actually lower than previous Teslas (1.5GHz). Plus, a 225W TDP is very very high for a single-GPU card. And the launch stepping hasn't even taped out.

I've NEVER had a good experience with ATI.

But I'm || close to getting that card. 

You should just wait until you actually need the extra power. (like when you buy your new video card(s) ). By then the prices on the i7 or alternative will be even lower than they are now, so you will save money. Unless you really need the extra computing power now there is no reason to upgrade.

Except that their official roadmap shows no drops on the i5 or i7 until at least Q1 '11.

He could always buy it and just leave it be until he needs it so he saves money and has an i7