I am going to be purchasing two 5870s to crossfire and was curious if the i7 is worth the money or should i just go with an i5...?

You get the most for you money with the i5's but if you're going to need a ton of CPU power if you've got two 5870s in Crossfire so I would go for the best CPU possible. How much are you willing to spend on a CPU? That is the question.

By all accounts at this moment in time the TRIPLE CHANNEL memory of i7 would suit you better then the DUAL CHANNEL of the i5 if you getting 5870 XFIRE.

I would wait a tad longer and let the prices even out. Plus the i7 boards are more stable and lots more choice. Yes the i5 runs using less power and is cheaper but I would not be so hastey just yet........

I think the way to go is the latest round of AMD chips, they have intel on the run and my current chip is just as fast if not faster then an i7 and my GPU complements it brilliantly.

has anyone seen any benchmarks on how the 5870 card(s) perform with various CPUs?

Think its a tad early Bungle....not many reviewers have the cards long enough to put them through their paces yet....here is a decent read all the same....

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19979&page=1

OMG Plug & Play said something good abood about i7's and X58 mobo's..LOL

Tom Jones said:
I smell bulls**t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AMD isnt even close to intel atm.Dude have you used a intel cpu and mobo lately?Stop smoking crack man

Also checkout this latest round of Forumwars.The intel systems killed and Raped every AMD system period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Even the core 2 Duo beat them

Plug & Play said:

Just going off the low res Enemy Territory:QW numbers it looks like a stock clocked Q9650 is about 92% as fast as a i7 920...

I guess I'm just wondering at what point the bottle neck moves from GPU back to CPU. I know in higher resolutions most of the quads (AMD Barcelona chips excepted) perform pretty much identical.

I've seen reviews where dual 5870's were being bottlenecked in Fallout 3 by a i7 965 @4.2 GHz which is a pretty damn fast CPU by just about everyone's standards. I'd like to see some numbers in various games between a core 2 quad, an i7 920, an OC'd i7 975, a Phenom II X4, and maybe even one of the higher clocked C2D's just to see how much CPU is really needed to make the mulit chip 5 series radeon config's shine. My reasoning is that I'd like to drop a 5870X2 in my system later on this year but if my CPU is too weak whats the point?

Mothow said:

You crack me up Tom, I never said ANYTHING bad about the i7's...I just think peeps were a little quick out the gate to buy them. You said yourself you wish you had your old rig back did you not at one stage? I just said a few months back that the i5's will give it a run for its money when released and I have been proved right....But the memory is a HUGE factor in gaming....

I would still love to have your rig....without the exspense!

This is a great read Tom,

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/09/14/lynnfield-pci...formance/1

Where did you see the dual 58xx being benched Bungle me WANT LINK.....PM me dude.

If you look at the above link bungle, you will see the C2D quads performing very well still....I dont understand why they did not use a GTX295 or 4870x2, an upgrade would only be advisable if you could sell your exsisting components for minimum outlay....and even then you would have one eye on the future games. As you can see even at 1600 res there is only a few FPS in it.

Most them reviews Intel pays off the companies to have the intel CPU in the lead...my friend has an i7 and he says my machine is faster cycle per cycle and instruction per instruction.

I know what I say I work in a computer store....jeez " title=">">

double posted srry.

Security for MR JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While the progress made with the latest AMD chips is impressive, I am afraid you could not be more wrong.

If you work in a PC store you really should know your market my friend. The next time you and your mate get drunk and play kiss chasing....get him to swap PC's dude if he likes it that much you will be glad you did.

Plug & Play said:

Yep I really didnt feel the i7 was that big of an increase in gaming.My Q9650 ran neck and neck with my i7.But at the time i had a crappy i7 920 C0 that wouldnt OC worth a darn.Now my D0 is awesome OCing to 4.4 + ghz at 1.325v and thats no where near maxed out.But the temps are just to much for my TRUE to handle after 4.2ghz.Maybe my Megahalem would do better..lol

Tom Jones said:


I know the Phenom's performance has increased a lot but I don't think it's near that of an i7. If you care to show a link please do, as I'm always in favor of the best.

Tom Jones said:



ahahahaha.... that's too funny....


That statement is the same as a Geek Squad kid stating the same comment.... "I know what I say I work at Best Buy store...... jeezzzz"....


ahahahah


Yes... we all should stand up and bow to you since you work in a computer store....

You could be the janitor at NASA doesnt mean that you are qualify to be an astronaut.... heheheheh

Thank you G.G. I thought about the same thing but didn't write about it, but glad that you did.

Tom Jones said:

So, by that logic, does Intel pay off every single guy with an Intel chip to post awesome results whenever they have the tiniest inkling of posting on a forum that compares our electronic penises?

It sounds more like you've been paid off by AMD/ATi, than the opposite.

Plug & Play said:


Ok so it wasn't a 4+ GHz Core i7 965... it was a 3.75GHz i7 965... it was from memory so sue me

Here's the link to the review:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5870-crossfirex-test-review/1

Tom Jones said:

Oh man I had to come out of my cave for this one....that's just freaking priceless you retard lol
Working in a computer store doesn't qualify you as anything among these guys and for the record i7 rips Phenom a new one, even the Qxxx will give it a run for its money.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/c....html?prod[2629]=on&prod[2620]=on&prod[2617]=on
Some nice reading for you, although you seem to think TH is paid off because someone at 'work' told you no doubt so you could make some more 'sales' of POS machines left in stock...