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#21
While the i7 might be almost as cheap as the i5, you've got to remember the platform isn't. Good X58 boards can be pricey, whereas you can get a really good P55 for ~ $100.00.
As far as being able to "take advantage" of triple channel, if it's games we're talking about, they don't really take advantage of it. Again though, if your bud uses apps that are memory intense and can use hyper-threading, go for it... but if not, it's really money that could be pumped into a better graphics card.
Yes, the X58 platform is better than the P55; however, in terms of gaming performance, the difference is almost negligible... certainly not worth the increased costs, imo.
Since no one seems to have mentioned it, if you've considering the i7 920, I'd go with the i7 930 for the consideration instead. It's newer than the 920, out to replace it. Has a higher stock clock - 2.8 vs. the 920's 2.66. And it's the same price.
Thanks again to everyone for their help and advice.
I guess really I wanted to make sure neither of them were versions of the i7 to avoid.
A bit like my Q8300 lol.
I have discussed things with him and he decided to go with option 1 which was
ASUS P7P55D-E P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX.. | Ebuyer.com
Intel Core i7 860 2.8GHz Socket LGA 1156 8MB L3 Cache.. | Ebuyer.com
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw.. | Ebuyer.com
Placed the order earlier , delivery tomorrow then the build on saturday
I am sure he will be more than happy with his new setup.
Cheers
Paul.
Just to let you know , I finished the build for him about a couple of hours ago.
He is very happy , its running sweet.
Winsat mem score 17980
WEI scores -
CPU 7.5
Mem 7.5
Graphics have gone up by a notch on both counts as well
Jobs a goodun
Cheers
Paul.