i7 vs. i5

[Collider]

This may be a well covered topic but I haven't read too much about i5 except it being a scaled down version of i7.

I was planning on building a system around i7 920 d0. Does it make sense to hold out for i5? When is it supposed to be out?

 

[Fox5]

There will be i7's on the new cut-down intel socket. They'll only lack in pci-express lanes and memory bandwidth (dual channel instead of triple), otherwise they'll be the same. i5 will just lack hyperthreading.

 

[Lonyo]

Obviously, we cannot discuss performance yet, but the i5 is going to surprise a lot people, especially those buying into the lower end i7 market.

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=622

Might want to hold off on that i7 build.

 

[taltamir]

i recommend holding out for the P55 motherboards. note there will be i3, i5, and i7 available for the P55 mobos. So based on pricing you might still want to go with an i7 for the P55

 

[Collider]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Obviously, we cannot discuss performance yet, but the i5 is going to surprise a lot people, especially those buying into the lower end i7 market.

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=622

Might want to hold off on that i7 build.

Yeah I started wondering once I read that. Anand is usually right when he says to wait.

Anyone know when p55 will be launched?

Also has anyone found any benchmarks comparing the i5 vs i7?

 

[taltamir]

there are already engineering samples... so "soon"

 

[Collider]

Originally posted by: Fox5
There will be i7's on the new cut-down intel socket. They'll only lack in pci-express lanes and memory bandwidth (dual channel instead of triple), otherwise they'll be the same. i5 will just lack hyperthreading.

So the new socket i7's will be DDR2 not DDR3?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: avp2306

Originally posted by: Fox5
There will be i7's on the new cut-down intel socket. They'll only lack in pci-express lanes and memory bandwidth (dual channel instead of triple), otherwise they'll be the same. i5 will just lack hyperthreading.

So the new socket i7's will be DDR2 not DDR3?

No, they are both DDR3.
DDR/2/3 refers to the iteration of the memory technology, channels refers to something else.
Basically socket 1366 has 3 channels of 64 bits each, so you want multiples of 3 RAM sticks for maximum bandwidth (e.g. 3 or 6 sticks of DDR3 so each channel has an equal amount of RAM), while Socket 1156 only has 2 channels, so 2 or 4 sticks of DDR3 will fill the channels and ensure equal amounts, but you only have 2/3rds of the bandwidth assuming equal clocks.

 

[Axon]

Originally posted by: avp2306
Yeah I started wondering once I read that. Anand is usually right when he says to wait.

Anyone know when p55 will be launched?

Also has anyone found any benchmarks comparing the i5 vs i7?

P55 was scheduled for launch in September, but there's no telling for sure. It does seem that way since boards are rolling out to review sites.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that an i7 920 OCed will not exactly get smashed...we shall see though, we shall see.

 

[Pollock]

So if say, you have the option to buy an i7 920 for $200 right now, would you take it and sell your current hardware for its maximum value? The price of X58 motherboards is killing me, but I'm not sure P55 will be any better.

 

[firewolfsm]

P55 will get cheap, but it won't happen until 2010.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Yeah that's the thing P55 looks to be only about $50 cheaper than X58. I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the latest stepping 920's as I'll be doing alot of AVCHD video editing and that has all 4 cores on my 9550 full bore. In this situation an o/c 920 i7 should smoke the i5 as turbo-mode doesn't work when all 4 cores are being worked.

 

[Axon]

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Yeah that's the thing P55 looks to be only about $50 cheaper than X58. I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the latest stepping 920's as I'll be doing alot of AVCHD video editing and that has all 4 cores on my 9550 full bore. In this situation an o/c 920 i7 should smoke the i5 as turbo-mode doesn't work when all 4 cores are being worked.

My only concern with the current 1366 socket is that after the 920, there is no reasonably priced CPU on the horizon. Otherwise I believe your assessment to be 100% correct.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Yeah that's the thing P55 looks to be only about $50 cheaper than X58. I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the latest stepping 920's as I'll be doing alot of AVCHD video editing and that has all 4 cores on my 9550 full bore. In this situation an o/c 920 i7 should smoke the i5 as turbo-mode doesn't work when all 4 cores are being worked.

The Quad core max Turbo is +2 steps or 266MHz. Not as high as the other ones of course but higher than the Bloomfield ones.