I7 920 or 940?

[daw123]

Hello guys and girls,

I'm looking to buy a I7 rig (CPU, MB and RAM) and I was wondering how the 940 compares agaionst the 920 in terms of over-clocking.

This is just a general question because I know one 920 will not overclock the same as another 920.

If any one has any real-world experiences of either or both chips, then please post your experiences.

Which ever chip I buy, I hoping to get it over 4.0Ghz with liquid cooling.

 

[Elusiv1]

Go with the 920 it's the best bang for the buck right now, it overclocks to 4Ghz easily on air assuming you plan on overclocking.. The 940 basically has a higher multiplier then the 920, that's the only difference in the two. I just think the price premium on the 940 is way too high for the performance advantage, i recommend the 920..

 

[aigomorla]

well yes in a sort of way.

the 920 is a good value, however i found out that i7's like the odd multi more over the even multi.

This isnt too bad because even if you set the multi at 19x the i920 will be bclk'd walled faster then DDR3 1333.

If you can pick out your stepping / bin, i would highly recomend you find a B coded CPU.

These will have the middle letter being B instead of A.

Seems like B's handle less voltage, and also play nicer with an even multi.

The 940 according to Dr. Who on XS is a better buy because of its odd multi. This would allow you to use cheaper ram, but bah, its a bit too pricey for me. Honestly, id step up and grab a 965 at this point.

Originally posted by: daw123
Which ever chip I buy, I hoping to get it over 4.0Ghz with liquid cooling.

Gaurentee is the 965.
Highest Possibility is the 940 for 4+
Luck of the draw is on the 920. She will do 4ghz on water, 4+ tho... very difficult.

 

[Elusiv1]

@aigomorla, your right about the 920!! That was my Q9550 mentality right there thinking that's it's easy to get the i7's to 4ghz on air!!lol So i hear the temps are crazy high on the i7's, now if you were to OC on air would you say that the Coolermaster V8 or the True are the best coolers for the i7's?? I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon but i'm just trying to get an idea on what the OC temps would be on air for these things.

 

[Elusiv1]

That was very informative aigomorla, i found out first hand how important steppings were when i bought my Q9550.. I currently have a C1 stepping which requires more voltage and alot more tweaking then an E0 to achieve 4Ghz, what a nightmare!!

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
well yes in a sort of way.

the 920 is a good value, however i found out that i7's like the odd multi more over the even multi.

This isnt too bad because even if you set the multi at 19x the i920 will be bclk'd walled faster then DDR3 1333.

If you can pick out your stepping / bin, i would highly recomend you find a B coded CPU.

These will have the middle letter being B instead of A.

Seems like B's handle less voltage, and also play nicer with an even multi.

The 940 according to Dr. Who on XS is a better buy because of its odd multi. This would allow you to use cheaper ram, but bah, its a bit too pricey for me. Honestly, id step up and grab a 965 at this point.

Originally posted by: daw123
Which ever chip I buy, I hoping to get it over 4.0Ghz with liquid cooling.

Gaurentee is the 965.
Highest Possibility is the 940 for 4+
Luck of the draw is on the 920. She will do 4ghz on water, 4+ tho... very difficult.

I been speaking to the guy on eBay, who I bought the QX9770 from (he owns a computer shop). He offered to RMA the CPU for me, until I told him that it had obvious damage on it. It was nice of him to offer though.

Any way, he going to have some more retail 940s in stock in the next few weeks. I'm sure he will tell me if they are batch A or B. I can get it for about £75 ($110) cheaper than in the shops.

I've settled on the 940, so thanks for the posts. I reckon the 940 has the best chance of getting the better overclock (excluding the 965 of course).

The 965 is well out of my price range, since I'm going to have to buy a new CPU, MB and RAM (it will cost about £800 / $1,200). The cheapest I've found was on eBay and it was still £670.00 (or $1000).

Edit:
@Aigo. By A and B batch numbers do you mean, for example:
3838A671 = Batch A
3837B073 = Batch B