i7 or i5? HT worth it?

[Laurijan]

Hi!

I bought a ASRock Z77 Extreme4 mobo and some Samsung 30nm ram but no CPU for my new rig.
Is HT in an i7 3770 Ivy Bridge worth the extra 100 bucks over a i5 3570 or i5 3550 CPU without HT?
I´d use the rig for gaming and my day to day stuff.

Greetz
Lauri

[reverze]

unless time is money aka you video encode for a living , i5 2500k is the way to go

[brandonwh64]

I know I probably don't need it but I usually go with CPU's that have HT but that is me cause I like to have it just in case but whatever is in your budget is what you should get. If you can locate a cheap 2600K then thats what I would get but if 2500K suits your need then you should be set

[Laurijan]

Why 2500k 2600k over an Ivy Bridge?

[Scheich]

When they introduced HT on the pentium 4 people couldnt stop laughing about it. Its just marketing.

[Yukikaze]

Originally Posted by Scheich

When they introduced HT on the pentium 4 people couldnt stop laughing about it. Its just marketing.

It really isn't.

[n-ster]

3570K

/end thread

[Protagonist]

More threads are always welcomed, but for me i say if i can get more cores (Intel not AMD cores) the better and i it comes with hyper threading even better, so if there were an i7 with 6 cores but no threads i would go for that over an i7 with 4 cores 8 threads.

[Fourstaff]

If you are asking this question then you should get the i5.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by Scheich

When they introduced HT on the pentium 4 people couldnt stop laughing about it. Its just marketing.

Really now? Check out the different between a 2500K and 2600K in WCG and come back with your result

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Laurijan

Why 2500k 2600k over an Ivy Bridge?

Cheaper, performs the same, has more of a temp tolerance with overclocking.

@Brandon

Not everyone crunches. Name a few other things that can utilize the extra 4 threads. I can't think of anything else other than trans/encoding.

[MasterInvader]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Cheaper, performs the same, has more of a temp tolerance with overclocking.

+1 Agree

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Cheaper, performs the same, has more of a temp tolerance with overclocking.

That only applies to overclockers though, if you are not overclocking then IVB is slightly better.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

if you are not overclocking then IVB is slightly better.

Ok? Then compare pricing between an i5 2500k and i5 3450 3550?

2500k: 3.3Ghz/3.7Ghz Turbo
i5 3450: 3.1Ghz/3.5Ghz Turbo
i5 3550: 3.3Ghz/3.7Ghz Turbo

Going by current prices on the 'Egg. The premium for the unlocked multi would be worth it.

EDIT:

Then if you look up to 4c/8t cpu's you have the i7 3820, which right now is $20 cheaper than it's 1155 counterparts. Granted the boards are touch more expensive but an even better cpu all-around. I don't care who you are, Ivy right now to me is reminiscent of Bulldozer, but in aspect with it's extra heat at lower end clocks.

[Frick]

A slightly related question: HT is good with heavy virtualization yes?

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Ok? Then compare pricing between an i5 2500k and i5 3450 3550?

2500k: 3.3Ghz/3.7Ghz Turbo
i5 3450: 3.1Ghz/3.5Ghz Turbo
i5 3550: 3.3Ghz/3.7Ghz Turbo

Going by current prices on the 'Egg. The premium for the unlocked multi would be worth it.

EDIT:

Then if you look up to 4c/8t cpu's you have the i7 3820, which right now is $20 cheaper than it's 1155 counterparts. Granted the boards are touch more expensive but an even better cpu all-around. I don't care who you are, Ivy right now to me is reminiscent of Bulldozer, but in aspect with it's extra heat at lower end clocks.

Egg prices 3550 and 2500K the same, personally I would get the 2500K for my usual day to day activities since that I will be doing some overclocking, but if you are not the 3550 is slightly better. The advantage of 2500K only shows when you overclock, if not then the 3550 is ever so slightly faster. The small amount of temp increase at stock doesn't really translate to higher power draws. Try to look from the perspective of a regular tech user not a power user, and you will get my point.

2011 is actually a good idea at current prices if you need all those threads.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

Egg prices 3550 and 2500K the same

Not when you account for that extra $10 promo card. What I am saying is this: for those regular users that don't mind doing a few small tweaks; 4.4Ghz > 4.1Ghz. Both clocks can be obtained at stock voltages. I understand what you're telling me, I know exactly what you're saying.

@Frick

Yes.

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Not when you account for that extra $10 promo card. What I am saying is this: for those regular users that don't mind doing a few small tweaks; 4.4Ghz > 4.1Ghz. Both clocks can be obtained at stock voltages. I understand what you're telling me, I know exactly what you're saying.

I completely understand what you mean too, but other users prefer to keep their stuff at stock. I met a person unfortunate enough to get an unstable overclock but did not get picked up by the usual stress tests. A few days worth of simulations down the drain, which is why I understand some people rather keep things at stock.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

I met a person unfortunate enough to get an unstable overclock but did not get picked up by the usual stress tests.

Eeek. That's a very very unfortunate case. Might have been a dud cpu, I would had rma'd it.

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Eeek. That's a very very unfortunate case. Might have been a dud cpu, I would had rma'd it.

He swears by server stuff with ECC now

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

He swears by server stuff with ECC now

Even that can have it's downfall.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Not everyone crunches. Name a few other things that can utilize the extra 4 threads. I can't think of anything else other than trans/encoding.

Here is a short list of programs that utilize HT

Games, Game Engines, And Middleware

Activision Ghostbusters
Capcom Lost Planet Colonies
Capcom Resident Evil 5
CJ Internet Prius Online
Codemasters GRID (with patch)
Codemasters Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Crytek Crysis Warhead (Windows XP only)
EA Need for Speed: SHIFT
Havok SDK v5.5 (Tool / Middleware)
Illuminate Labs Beast 5 (Tool/Middleware)
Geomerics Enlighten
Kingsoft Mission Against Terror
Kingsoft JX Online III
NC Soft Aion
NC Soft Lineage II
Neowiz Alliance of Valiant Arms
Sega Football Manager 2009
Sega Football Manager 2010
Sega Empire: Total War (with patch)
Simul Software Ltd Simul Weather (Middleware)
THQ Relic Company of Heroes
Trinigy Vision Engine v7 (Middleware)
Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed
Ubisoft Far Cry 2 (with patch)
Ubisoft HAWX
Ubisoft World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Winking Sakura
Media And Productivity Software

ABBYY Fine Reader
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop*
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Adobe Premiere Pro
Arcsoft Total Media Showbiz DVD
AutoDesk 3ds Max*
Autodesk Maya
Avid Pinnacle Studio
Bibble Labs Bibble
Blender
Cakewalk Sonar Producer
Cineform Prospect HD
Corel DVD Factory in Digital Studio
Corel Video Studio
Cyberlink MediaShow & MediaShow Espresso
Cyberlink Power Director
Cyberlink Power Producer
HandBrake*
Ichikawa Soft Laboratory SILKYPIX
Kolor Autopano Pro & Giga
Magix Video Deluxe / Movie Edit Pro
MainConcept Reference Encoder and Decoder*
Maxon Cinema 4D & Cinebench*
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Expressions Encoder
Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker
Movavi Video Converter
Nero Multimedia Suite
Newtek Lightwave
Nik Software Silver Efex Pro
On2 Technology True Motion VP8
Pegasys TMPGEnc Xpress
Persistence of Vision Raytracer
Photodex Proshow Gold
RARLAB WinRAR*
Sonic Roxio Creator
Sonic Solutions Cineplayer
Sony ACID Music Studio
Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio
Sony Sound Forge Pro
Sony Vegas Pro
Sony Acid Pro
Sorenson Media Squeeze
Steinberg Cubase
Steinberg Nuendo
VirtualDub w/Divx
XtraSens Retina
3ivx MPEG-4

The list certainly isn’t complete. For example, we noticed that Intel didn't list 7-Zip, which is an archiving tool.

For more info please click HERE

[reverze]

question is, should one rather invest the extra cost of i7 in a better videocard which would give more fps improvement if gaming is the main purpose.

[Completely Bonkers]

Originally Posted by Scheich

When they introduced HT on the pentium 4 people couldnt stop laughing about it. Its just marketing.

^^What this man said was true in P4 days. I remember doing extensive testing and in the best possible circumstances you could expect a 15% improvement. In worst case situations you could get a 5% reduction in performance. (Poor thread scheduling, optimisation, cache clutter, etc.). Net result was on average about 3-5% gain on multi-threaded applications. NOT WORTH IT. It really was marketing spin and a small OC or BSEL mod would be a much better way of getting higher performance.

Originally Posted by Yukikaze

It really isn't.

^^What this man said is true today. New Intel processors will give you a gain of 70% in best possible circumstances and a loss of 5% in worst case. On average you will get 30-40% gain on multithreaded applications. DEFINITELY WORTH IT. All said and done, if you only use your PC for gaming and don't really use multi-threaded applications or run concurrent applications, then a non-HT is fine if it saves you budget for more RAM or better GPU

[T4C Fantasy]

Originally Posted by Laurijan

Hi!

I bought a ASRock Z77 Extreme4 mobo and some Samsung 30nm ram but no CPU for my new rig.
Is HT in an i7 3770 Ivy Bridge worth the extra 100 bucks over a i5 3570 or i5 3550 CPU without HT?
I´d use the rig for gaming and my day to day stuff.

Greetz
Lauri

this answer is simple if you are an enthusiast, then yes the i7 is way better... better for folding, crunching, multi tasking, anything that utilizes all threads the i7 will be better in.