I assumed that's what you were saying, but if you look closely I'm just saying... even as a hobby. OCing much further than what you get easily is a PITA with the i7. You may even waste money buying different mobos/memory because that can be the issue holding you back. Your chip is very important as well, but other components can cause weak OCs. Ahhh it sounds like you made up your mind. Why ask if I'm going to end up just getting your $0.02 in hobbyist logic?
At the end of the day I do use my i7, but I fold... sometimes crunch, edit 3D, game, and encode/edit video. I guess for you it's OC or just sell the thing, right?
No I haven't totally made up my mind and to be honest, this is the first chip I've really overclocked. I'm happy with 4.1Ghz, but if I could get 4.2Ghz easily then I would do it. I do know what you mean about the money wasting though.. I see people all the time upgrading motherboard so they can overclock more and tons of other things I would never do.
My point about "using" the i7 fully: for gaming, it isn't vastly better than anything else, especially since graphics cards are the bottleneck now, even for nippy C2Ds, let alone 4+ Ghz quads. Video encoding, photoshop, 3d work etc fair enough, but unless you're doing it a LOT or you are paid to do it, saving a couple minutes isn't such a huge issue. And let's face it, the whole reason this section of the forum exists is for enthusiasts
It's a normal, natural thing to want to weak and fiddle. People like fast cars when you can only drive the maximum speed limit and even accelerating at the cars maximum potential will probably get you a ticket for dangerous driving.
It's not just hobbyist logic. I'm happy with my o/c and computer performance, but if I can easily get more, I would like to do that. If not, then I'll leave things and stay happy with my new computer.
