Can't Decide on a processor!!

Rohan their is a difference between the core 216 and 280, both can be overclocked pretty good, and very easily if you get the evga versions. If you look, a lot of people that have over the core 216 switched to 280's, the price difference is not large and the performance is a bit better. I would not go with a 295 because its dual GPU, No dual GPU card has been completly fluent with drivers and performance yet (note the 9800GX2 and somewhat 4870x2).

Links or GTFO
Anandtech Benchmarks
Crysis
Enemy Territory
Race Driver GRID

Theres only 3-10 FPS difference
Cheapest EVGA (because you are talking about EVGA) Graphics cards on Newegg.
EVGA 260 216 cores - $230
EVGA 280 $370

Thats over $100 in difference for 3-10 FPS. People that have switched might have not thought of through completely or you are making things up.
If you dont want 295 because its an Dual GPU, then you are you talking about SLI? its basically the same exact thing, SLI just takes more room, cause more heat, and maybe take more power.

Teny, here's the thing though. If you get a 940 would you keep it at stock speeds? Maybe while you learn how to OC it...the same way you can OC a 920 you can OC a 940 so the problem isn't there.

By the way, speculations are that the 940 will OC to 3.3GHz and maybe more.

That is true and i agree with you, but does that justify the $300? I guess thats up to the OP
 
Well we'll see what he decides. I can't stress enough that his original post was the best he could get for $2000-2500. I can get the post if you don't believe me. We then lowered it to just $2000. If he gets the 920 he will be short of the $2000. With the 940 he will be right on $2000. Unless he's upgraded in some other areas, these figures should be accurate.
 
I've decided to go with the 920. I want a good computer, but from several sites I have looked at, I decided that for my personal choices in what I will be using this computer for, there is no DRASTIC difference, so the 920 will suit me fine. I am going to get the GTX 280 as well, but will not be using it for SLi anytime soon. I was going to get the 940, but after looking over the figures, i could get the 940 next week and have like $20 left over total, or I could get the 920, and have around $280 left over. I respect all of your input guys, and I appreciate the suggestions, and the links. I will be ordering all of this once the GTX 280 comes off of that annoying "deactivated" state on newegg, and will let you all know how it turns out!

This was a VERY hard decision, and I am quite stressed lmfao. But I feel even with the 920, this will still be an exceptional computer.

And the total cost with the 920 will be approx. 1900, while with the 940 would be about 2170ish.
 
I've decided to go with the 920. I want a good computer, but from several sites I have looked at, I decided that for my personal choices in what I will be using this computer for, there is no DRASTIC difference, so the 920 will suit me fine. I am going to get the GTX 280 as well, but will not be using it for SLi anytime soon. I was going to get the 940, but after looking over the figures, i could get the 940 next week and have like $20 left over total, or I could get the 920, and have around $280 left over. I respect all of your input guys, and I appreciate the suggestions, and the links. I will be ordering all of this once the GTX 280 comes off of that annoying "deactivated" state on newegg, and will let you all know how it turns out!

This was a VERY hard decision, and I am quite stressed lmfao. But I feel even with the 920, this will still be an exceptional computer.

And the total cost with the 920 will be approx. 1900, while with the 940 would be about 2170ish.

NO! Don't get the 280. You will get the same performance, give or take a few FPS with the Core 216. Trust me, I spent 2 weeks studying both cards.
 
I've decided to go with the 920. I want a good computer, but from several sites I have looked at, I decided that for my personal choices in what I will be using this computer for, there is no DRASTIC difference, so the 920 will suit me fine. I am going to get the GTX 280 as well, but will not be using it for SLi anytime soon. I was going to get the 940, but after looking over the figures, i could get the 940 next week and have like $20 left over total, or I could get the 920, and have around $280 left over. I respect all of your input guys, and I appreciate the suggestions, and the links. I will be ordering all of this once the GTX 280 comes off of that annoying "deactivated" state on newegg, and will let you all know how it turns out!

This was a VERY hard decision, and I am quite stressed lmfao. But I feel even with the 920, this will still be an exceptional computer.

And the total cost with the 920 will be approx. 1900, while with the 940 would be about 2170ish.


Good call on the 920. I was just about to suggest the same. 940 is not worth the extra three hundred dollars you'll have left over. It's similar to comparing the Q6600 vs. Q6700.
 
Dude if you have the money to go for i7 940 without making any critical economic sacrifices go for it. You'll get 250MHz + OC room. If you go with the Core i7 920 you will get some good OC room, probably the same as with the 940, however you'll always be down that 250Mhz. If you think you won't need it, don't get it. The only problem is that if you do need it and you can't get what you need with an OC you'll have to buy a new processor. At the moment, the only thing that would gain from the extra 250MHz is video and sound editing/encoding. However in the future there will be loads more. If you plan on keeping this for a long time, I recommend the 940.

Oh by the way, you'll have a lot of difficulties OC'ing this chip, especially if you haven't had much practice. It has great potential, but you really need to know the hardware. Although you may not have the whooping 4GHz a PII can achieve, I honestly think that this re-designed architecture (which I love by the way, even if it may be similar to the PII) will match if not exceed the OC'ed PII. Raw power is not the only thing that matters...

You can also have a read and decide for yourself: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/nehalem_core_i7_review/

Joga, thanks for the review link, it was a good read. However I gat a little confused by one of his statements. In the #29 overclocking section he talks about the i7 940 and saying that it will at least OC to 3.3Ghz. Then he also is saying that i7 920 is limited to its 21x and will OC to only about 30.8% (that's like 3.4gGhz I think.) & then add this "I can't wait to get my hands on some nice third party overclocking boards, I think 4GHz ought to be quite reachable with an i7 920." I'm still learning about OC myself, but I take it that the mobo that they had wasn't an OC MOBO? With the current X58 MOBO's out there right now, do you think you can get 4Ghz with the i7 920?

Thanks
 
It really depends. The first barrier you'll probably encounter with the i7 920 is a power output. I think they've limited it to 130W. So long you're using less than or exactly 130W your good to go. Next to that you'll probably have the heat barrier. Considering that I haven't been exposed to many 920 OC's, I'd say you might be able to reach 3.5-3.7 on the eVGA X58 board. The only reason I think you can't go further is because of the power output limit.
 
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