920 v. 860 decision

May 16, 2000
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I've been tossing this around for months, hoping that the 920s and 1366 boards would drop in price making the decision for me, but so far they haven't budged.

I'll be running a pair of 260gtx cards (already have them is why). In all the reviews I've read the suggestion is that when running 2+ video cards the 920/1366 is a superior choice. I'm wondering if it matters enough to justify the additional cost (mb/proc/ram) over an 860/1156?

I do not overclock (ever...at all), and I won't be upgrading for many many years (so 6core is meaningless to me).

Given that, what's the opinion on which way to go?
 

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
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I don't think 2xGTX260 will max out the bandwidth available on P55, and with overclocking out of the equation, i think i would just go with 1156...
 

Jd007

Senior member
Jan 1, 2010
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As seen in this very recent P55 vs. X58 CrossFire Scaling Analysis article, even with the powerful 5870 cards, P55's PCI-E lower bandwidth/lanes only shows significant performance hit when using 3 cards in 3-way CrossFire. So for you with only two GTX 260s, LGA 1156 + i7 860 is perfectly fine.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
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I do not overclock (ever...at all), and I won't be upgrading for many many years (so 6core is meaningless to me).

Given that, what's the opinion on which way to go?


Considering the difference in SLI scaling between X58/P55 should basically be unnoticeable, & your lack OCing, i'd say P55 is the better value.
Honestly, if you don't do encoding, i'd even say just get the i5 750.

I honestly have seen absolutely zero benefit going from my i5 750 to my i7 860 as the most intensive thing i do on my PC is game.
 

stipalgl

Member
Jul 17, 2008
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PrinceofWands, have you considered holding out for something like the Westmere based E5640 at 2.66 GHz?

At 80W power consumption, it should run cooler and perhaps a little better (especially with the increased cache) than the i7 920. It will probably overclock like a champ as well. I'm confident it won't be that much more expensive either, if any.
 

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
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920 will stay at its current price point until replaced by 930. Hot deals, such as the Microcenter one, aren't accessible to everyone :(