Intel i5 - Evolutionary?

polkatese · May 2010

I supposed if one needs to buy a new computer, it would be prudent to get the latest iteration of CPUs. Are these new lineup evolutionary or revolutionary? It's been out since September '09 and yet I didn't read a lot of review on these. Or perhaps because I haven't been looking for it. Has anyone bought a new desktop/laptop with these new chips?

VR3 · May 2010

I have an i7

The motherboard and video card melted down within two months due to heat.

I ordered a fan platform - they replaced the mobo and video card under warranty

Super fast************************************, incredibly fast - but long term will tell the real story

polkatese · May 2010

Trey, is that for a desktop? super fast in windows 7 boot time or overall?

VR3 · May 2010

Boot time on Windows 7 is around 45-60 seconds - but I run a clean start up.

Its a laptop...

VR3 · May 2010

Everything is fast - I can run three virus scanners, watch a DVD, run PSP7, open microsoft word, and browse the internet and only use 25% processing power.

polkatese · May 2010

Is the heat really bad that you can't have it on your lap? what's the brand?

ryanjoachim · May 2010

The new lineup are evolutionary, and not a very big step from previous "I" generations.

However, going from anything else to an "I" generation you'll see a huge improvement. However, depending on your current setup any "boost" you see may not be totally because of the CPU.

With the new "I" cpus you are required to have a new socket (mobo) and memory. You can't use an older board. So a good amount of your performance boost should come from a new mobo and memory.

But the "I" cpu is still a great product. I'm rolling a quad core now, but it's not an "I" generation. My home server is running AMD, just because Intel can't compete in the low-cost/high performance market vs AMD.

cnh · May 2010

I'm just a bit curious as to what you guys are doing that 'requires' so much power. A software engineer here told me that the 'current CPUs' probably have more power than MOST everyone would 'ever' need for most applications?

Now if you're competing in the World RoboCup then you might need something more. But then that's pretty much Robot soccer...and we're North Americans....right? Not a group of nerdly boys trying to develop a class of robots that could win a World Cup?

cnh

billbillw · May 2010

Anything new is going to seem very fast to you if you are upgrading from something that is more than a few years old.

That said, Core I5 is not really much faster than a comparable Core2 cpu. Example, my Q9550 (Core2 Quad) benchmarks faster than the Core I5 750. Beware that many of the Core I5 are actually dual core, not quad core. The Core I7 are a pretty big step up though.

Don't forget to look at the offerings from AMD as well. They tend to be cheaper, but still perform very well.

polkatese · May 2010

Thanks guys.

cnh, I like to think that spending money on new computers is partly an effort to mitigate future planned obsolescence, since I don't know what new software might come down the pipe in near future. I still have a Dell P4 Dimension 8400, 6 years old, that breathed a new life with Windows 7. With laptop, I tried to stay within 4-5 years life. But I do feel that dual core still has a few year life, perhaps till 2014.

cnh · May 2010

Wow...that is old..a Dell. My institute used to upgrade our work laptop every 3 years..now, in this economic climate...we've moved to every 4 years. I have a Dell Latitude--AND this is 'my' year. So I understand where you're coming from. Yeah 4 or more years that's getting there!

As for RoboCup....one of my Chinese Ph.D. students is a member of the Chinese team. lol

cnh

polktiger · May 2010

cnh wrote: »

I'm just a bit curious as to what you guys are doing that 'requires' so much power. A software engineer here told me that the 'current CPUs' probably have more power than MOST everyone would 'ever' need for most applications?

cnh

For me it is video encoding. Using handbrake with identical settings, no overclocking, identical input file, and identical "grade" motherboard/ram/harddrive, same version Win 7 Pro - the i5 750 machine completed the 1 hr episode of Pacific in just over 20 minutes, the e8400 took just over 46 minutes.

VR3 · May 2010

I just want a laptop that can do anything I would ever need it to

renowilliams · May 2010

polkatese wrote: »

I supposed if one needs to buy a new computer, it would be prudent to get the latest iteration of CPUs. Are these new lineup evolutionary or revolutionary? It's been out since September '09 and yet I didn't read a lot of review on these. Or perhaps because I haven't been looking for it. Has anyone bought a new desktop/laptop with these new chips?

The first question you should ask before buying a new computer is, " does my current computer do everything I need it to do"? If the answer is yes then maybe just do some upgrading. For example, put in a solid state hard drive as your boot drive. In my opinion, this upgrade will show you the most significant performance increase. I can't speak for the i5 processors but I built a new i7 and have been very pleased as it is very fast. That said, cnh is right when he says most users will never need or use the power of a quad core. Frankly, I could have made due with my duel core but I wanted a new toy.

ps To give you an idea of performance, my duel core 2.8 GHZ laptop will encode a 700 meg. avi in 24 minutes. My i7 desktop will do the same in 6 minutes.

polkatese · May 2010

renowilliams wrote: »

ps To give you an idea of performance, my duel core 2.8 GHZ laptop will encode a 700 meg. avi in 24 minutes. My i7 desktop will do the same in 6 minutes.

That's amazing. I need that.

Polkitup2 · May 2010

I just bought a Dell desktop with the I5 and like it. It is dead quiet and almost no heat. My previous dell Dimension was loud and ran very hot. Multiple sales people at different stores (Best Buy) steered me towards the desktop versus laptop based on my usage. They said that in general, due to heat, the laptops have more issues and are more expensive to repair than desktops.

fatchowmein · May 2010

polktiger wrote: »

For me it is video encoding. Using handbrake with identical settings, no overclocking, identical input file, and identical "grade" motherboard/ram/harddrive, same version Win 7 Pro - the i5 750 machine completed the 1 hr episode of Pacific in just over 20 minutes, the e8400 took just over 46 minutes.

With the faster i5, are you able to determine if your disk drive speed is now the bottleneck? I'm curious as to when the newer CPU becomes fast enough to eclipse and has to wait for the 7200 rpm drives.

How much memory are you running?

Thx!

Sherardp · May 2010

An i5 CPU with a SSD boot drive should scream fast. Add at least 4gb of RAM and you should be set. I run a quad-core 965BE with SSD as my main drive, and a Western Digital Caviar Black as my secondary. My boot times are 6-10 seconds after bios check, and that's to desktop load. Windows Experience 7.4 baby. Yeah! The only thing to make my rig faster would be SSDs in raid setup. So I may add another.

renowilliams · May 2010

Sherardp wrote: »

An i5 CPU with a SSD boot drive should scream fast. Add at least 4gb of RAM and you should be set. I run a quad-core 965BE with SSD as my main drive, and a Western Digital Caviar Black as my secondary. My boot times are 6-10 seconds after bios check, and that's to desktop load. Windows Experience 7.4 baby. Yeah! The only thing to make my rig faster would be SSDs in raid setup. So I may add another.

I would highly recommend the second ssd in raid o. I currently run two intel x-25M ssd in raid 0 and my drive read rate is over 500 M/sec.

billbillw · May 2010

Be careful when looking at the Core I5 CPUs. Only the top model I5 750 is a quad core. The others are dual core. Personally, if I were buying Intel right now, I'd get the I7 870. Its not much more than the I5 750, but its a whole lot faster.

Sherardp · May 2010

renowilliams wrote: »

I would highly recommend the second ssd in raid o. I currently run two intel x-25M ssd in raid 0 and my drive read rate is over 500 M/sec.

Then I'll be adding another this week, wow that's insane.

polktiger · May 2010

fatchowmein wrote: »

With the faster i5, are you able to determine if your disk drive speed is now the bottleneck? I'm curious as to when the newer CPU becomes fast enough to eclipse and has to wait for the 7200 rpm drives.

How much memory are you running?

Thx!

I don't think the drives are the bottleneck yet. In fact I have read forum pages with people claiming to be running dual CPU server boards with 2 i7 chips that still do not max out 7200 rpm drives. I am running 4gb of ram (both on the e8400 system and the i5 750 system). I have considered going to 8 gb, but I can't get anything definate that it will speed things up (I don't want to buy extra ram if it is not needed). I think handbrake claims to use less than 1gb at a time during an encode.

fatchowmein · May 2010

polktiger wrote: »

I don't think the drives are the bottleneck yet. In fact I have read forum pages with people claiming to be running dual CPU server boards with 2 i7 chips that still do not max out 7200 rpm drives. I am running 4gb of ram (both on the e8400 system and the i5 750 system). I have considered going to 8 gb, but I can't get anything definate that it will speed things up (I don't want to buy extra ram if it is not needed). I think handbrake claims to use less than 1gb at a time during an encode.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm using a Q9300 with 8GB ram but have not really noticed any difference from 4GB but perhaps I should reduce my paging file size to see what'll happen. I've used handbrake in the past and it max'd my Q9300 (at least that's what my little tool sitting in my Sidebar showed). I'm on Vista Ultimate.

wayne3burk · May 2010

I bought my wife a new Dell laptop from Staples less than a month ago -- has the intel i5...

17 inch screen - 4gb ram and 320gb hard drive.

The sales guy said it wasnt powerful enough graphics for gaming - but my wifes solitaire game is pretty graphics processor non-intensive.

all that said when you go to task manager and the performance tab it indicates a quad processor. boots up fast and blows the doors off her old Sony Viao Celeron processor laptop.

All for 649 USD on sale (normally 799)

-- happy shopping --

wayne

renowilliams · May 2010

all that said when you go to task manager and the performance tab it indicates a quad processor. boots up fast and blows the doors off her old Sony Viao Celeron processor laptop.

Just a little info on why it shows it as a quad core in the task manager. The reason for this is the hyperthreading built into the chip. My i7 860 processor shows 8 cores in the task manager. But that said, the new intel chips are very fast and multitask very well.

MADGSF · May 2010

I built a i7 920 last summer, 6G RAM, a GTRX260 video card and overclocked the CPU to 3.6GHz which is very safe with a good MB and cooling. You must cool it properly I have an aluminum mid tower case with 3 fans and a CoolerMaster V8 heat sink.

Why so much power? I kept the last PC I built for 8 years so it has to be ready for future OS and programs. I also like to play the occasional graphic intensive game. Having said that I find Windows 7 to not be as processor heavy as XP and I probably would of been fine with less horsepower. I gave that last PC to my father in law who is happy with it.

dkg999 · May 2010

Bought a Dell Studio 15 with i5 quad core a couple of months ago. I love it. Super fast, the HD screen is incredible, got it in red for no upcharge. I've been surprised how cool it runs, but when the fan comes on it moves a lot of air through it.

Sherardp · May 2010

The best upgrade one can ever do is add an SSD to your rig. Enough said. You'll notice the improvement over any RAM upgrade, CPU upgrade than anything else. Check out one of those Intel drives, simply cannot beat it.

fatchowmein · May 2010

Sherardp wrote: »

The best upgrade one can ever do is add an SSD to your rig. Enough said. You'll notice the improvement over any RAM upgrade, CPU upgrade than anything else. Check out one of those Intel drives, simply cannot beat it.

I recall the earlier SSD's were fast on Read but slow on Write. Is that no longer the case? Also, is the longevity of the SSD drives not a concern either?

Thx

Fongolio · May 2010

I only have a duo core Intel e8400 that runs stock at 3 GHz. However I have a Corsair sealed liquid cooling unit with radiator and 120mm fan and that allows me to comfortably overclock it to 4 GHz. That with 8 gigs of ram and my computer is very fast. I'm running Windows 7 Extreme 64 bit. I have a terabyte drive, two 550 gig drives, a 250 gig and a 160 gig. Also a Radeon 5770 video card. A 700 watt Antec Trupower PS supplies the juice for all that. Next upgrade will be a SSD for the OS.

Sherardp · May 2010

Fongolio wrote: »

I only have a duo core Intel e8400 that runs stock at 3 GHz. However I have a Corsair sealed liquid cooling unit with radiator and 120mm fan and that allows me to comfortably overclock it to 4 GHz. That with 8 gigs of ram and my computer is very fast. I'm running Windows 7 Extreme 64 bit. I have a terabyte drive, two 550 gig drives, a 250 gig and a 160 gig. Also a Radeon 5770 video card. A 700 watt Antec Trupower PS supplies the juice for all that. Next upgrade will be a SSD for the OS.

That's probably one heavy case you got there with all those drives in there. Cant go wrong with tons of storage though.

Intel i5 - Evolutionary?

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