I5 or I7 for max settings...

[Avenged]

<p>plannin on doing a complete platform change soon. currently running amd am3 but i have read all over that amd cpu's have a wall when trying to overclock past 3.8ish on a 64bit os. amd have yet to be able to fix the problem. i know i need sheer speed in eq2 and im lookin for that golden 4ghz and beyond on a 64bit os. Intel seems to do this well. and tho i love my current system i seek more speed. so who out there has had the chance to play eq2 on a i5? is it worth it more so than an i7 setup. if you have either of these setups please give your insight. im looking for extreme quality in game and no less. thanks in advance.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>I haven't had much time with the I5 chips, but the I7 chips in the $250-$300 range are a very good value right now.  If I was going to suggest a chip for max out settings then it would be the I7.</p>

[Psyren]

<p>i7 is overkill if all it's going to be used for is EQ2, IMO. A decent Core2Duo could handle it. I use a Phenom II and I don't have any problems doing EQ2 on extreme.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Psyren@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>i7 is overkill if all it's going to be used for is EQ2, IMO. A decent Core2Duo could handle it. I use a Phenom II and I don't have any problems doing EQ2 on extreme.</p></blockquote><p>I agree to a certain extent.  Still, the I7 is a beautiful piece of hardware design and I have a hard time not recommending it at every opportunity.</p>

[Avenged]

<p>from what i hear i5 is basically i7 without triple memory and hyperthreading, the latter sometimes hurting performance in games. ive got my phenom 2 550 unlocked to 4 cores at 3.72ghz and i still lag pretty good in certain areas. bein on a pvp server im tryin to further eliminate that. maybe part of that has to do with my 4870 only having 512mb of ram. i hear more ram definitely does the trick if aa is forced as well. any hoot i know intel is faster clock for clock at the moment. so still debatin on which to go with. i know i5 is the more mainstream path where the i7 is the top of the line. but i5 definitely seems like the deal for gameing unless you go sli or crossfire.</p>

[Tallisman]

<p>i7 920 (D0 step). Given the price and it's great o/c potential, pound for pound, it's unbeatable. If you don't fancy overclocking then perhaps an i7 940 or even 975 but you get diminishing returns when it comes to GHZ versus £'s.</p>

[TSR-KenC]

<p>My brother installed an <span >i7 920 in his system not too long ago. He spent a while testing it in comparison to his old CPU. Though his door was shut, I swear I heard manaical laughter. If only lightning could have struck dramatically at that moment. </span><span ></span></p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Tallisman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>i7 920 (D0 step). Given the price and it's great o/c potential, pound for pound, it's unbeatable. If you don't fancy overclocking then perhaps an i7 940 or even 975 but you get diminishing returns when it comes to GHZ versus £'s.</p></blockquote><p>I agree 100%.  He probably wouldn't even need to overclock the 920 if he's just looking to max out EQ2.  If your computer budget allows it then I would continue to recommend the I7 for the current generation of chips.</p>

[bluefish]

<p><cite>Psyren@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>i7 is overkill if all it's going to be used for is EQ2, IMO. A decent Core2Duo could handle it. I use a Phenom II and I don't have any problems doing EQ2 on extreme.</p></blockquote><p>What FPS you get running a full 24 man raid?</p><p>also what resolution are you gaming at?</p><p>For the record setting the game to Extreme quality does not max out graphics settings</p><p>Try it, then go to each setting individually and you will see what I am talking about.</p><p>Extreme quality is just a preset .. it is NOT max settings.</p><p>.</p>

[Gaige]

<p><cite>Avenged wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>from what i hear i5 is basically i7 without triple memory and hyperthreading, the latter sometimes hurting performance in games.</p></blockquote><p>The i5 750 is the exact same as the i7 860/870, just sans hyperthreading.  All three processors use socket 1156 mobos with P55 chipsets and they all have onboard PCIE and dual channel memory.</p><p>HT isn't really noticeable in games tbh, since all the chips being discussed are quad core anyway, HT is really only noticeable as a "seat of the pants" type deal and in synthetic benchmarks.</p><p>Both the i5 and the i7 on socket 1156 are more than good enough for EQ2, and remember EQ2 is a cpu intensive game and they offer things like higher clockspeed for single threaded apps via turbo (upwards of 3.4Ghz) and a lot of L2 cache which is noticeable in this game.</p><p>As for future upgradeability, all Intel has said is that the six core gulftowns will be going to 1366 first.</p>