# For gaming: i7 860 versus x6 1055T



## TooMuchButtHair (May 30, 2010)

I'm getting a new comp this week, and it comes down to which of these two processors will be in the machine.  The GPU will be the same regardless, as well the memory.  Will games like Crysis and starcraft 2 work better with the i7 or the x6 1055T?  

Mostly, I'm wondering if it's beneficial to turn off two cores in the i7 and take advantage of the turbo boost feature, since even then it would be running two cores (and four threads) but would have the advantage of a higher clock.  How well would most modern games take advantage of 4 or 6 cores (and 8 threads)?  Gaming is what I will be doing 99% of the time with this machine, so please make your suggestion accordingly


----------



## funkysnair (May 30, 2010)

what? cant you run i7 and turbo boost with all 4 cores normal? even if you couldnt, what would be the advantage of 2 cores with turbo boost to 4 cores without?.....

i7 is a beast of a cpu and ive never heard of having to turn off 2 cores? am i stupid or somthing here?

you get a quadcore i7 and you want to dissable 2 cores for turbo boost?


----------



## TooMuchButtHair (May 30, 2010)

funkysnair said:


> what? cant you run i7 and turbo boost with all 4 cores normal? even if you couldnt, what would be the advantage of 2 cores with turbo boost to 4 cores without?.....
> 
> i7 is a beast of a cpu and ive never heard of having to turn off 2 cores? am i stupid or somthing here?
> 
> you get a quadcore i7 and you want to dissable 2 cores for turbo boost?



The few cores you have active, the higher the turbo boost.  Stock clock is 2.8 GHz, but with 3 or 4 cores active, turbo boost only kicks the clock to 2.93 GHz.  With two threads active, the clock is bumped to 3.33 GHz, and with one core active, the clock is moved to 3.46 GHz.  That's why I was asking


----------



## Intel_man (May 30, 2010)

Or.... just get an i7 930.


----------



## jarlmaster47 (May 30, 2010)

no no go ahead and get an i7 860. but just overclock it. u cant turn off any of the cares. turbo boost dynamically boosts ur cpu's clock based on load. what u were describing is amd's turbo core. intel DOES NOT have that feature. go ahead and get the i7. i7 usually beats the thuban in most applications anyway.


----------



## Intel_man (May 30, 2010)

jarlmaster47 said:


> no no go ahead and get an i7 860. but just overclock it. u cant turn off any of the cares. turbo boost dynamically boosts ur cpu's clock based on load. what u were describing is amd's turbo core. intel DOES NOT have that feature. go ahead and get the i7. i7 usually beats the thuban in most applications anyway.



maybe if you did not speak out of your ass half the times, you would know better you can disable the cores via BIOS settings.


----------



## TooMuchButtHair (May 30, 2010)

Intel_man said:


> maybe if you did not speak out of your ass half the times, you would know better you can disable the cores via BIOS settings.



LOL!  Well, I still think OC'ing is a good idea.  Any idea on how much you can OC the 860 with the stock cooler?


----------



## just a noob (May 30, 2010)

You could overclock an i7 930, and looking at the 860's stock cooler, not very far


----------



## danthrax (May 30, 2010)

Have you considered the 930?  Very close in price to the 860, within about $10.


----------



## jarlmaster47 (May 30, 2010)

danthrax said:


> Have you considered the 930?  Very close in price to the 860, within about $10.



u do realize that the 930 is lga 1366 and the 860 is lga 1156 right? lga 1156 mobos are quite a bit cheaper then lga 1366. sure lga 1156 cant run triple channel but still. as for the guy who was saying that I talk out of my ass I respond by saying that you can crawl back into the crack in the earth that you climbed out of. I know WAYYY more about computers then you will ever hope to. YOU CANNOT DISABLE CORES. you can ENABLE cores but not DISABLE them. Shut ur mouth


----------



## Method9 (May 30, 2010)

Not sure if it's compatible with your setup, but if you have an AM2 mobo not a 939, what about just slapping in an AMD Regor 250 with a bigger cooler and OCing to 3.8GHz? Seems like a cheaper way to boost your gaming.


----------



## danthrax (May 30, 2010)

jarlmaster47 said:


> u do realize that the 930 is lga 1366 and the 860 is lga 1156 right? lga 1156 mobos are quite a bit cheaper then lga 1366. sure lga 1156 cant run triple channel but still



Ahh I was unaware there was a large price difference between different socketed mobos.


----------



## funkysnair (May 30, 2010)

well there is unfortunatly, not only that but 1366 is tripple channel ram and 1156 is dual...

there are a few factors that play a part in decision making


----------



## just a noob (May 30, 2010)

jarlmaster47 said:


> u do realize that the 930 is lga 1366 and the 860 is lga 1156 right? lga 1156 mobos are quite a bit cheaper then lga 1366. sure lga 1156 cant run triple channel but still. as for the guy who was saying that I talk out of my ass I respond by saying that you can crawl back into the crack in the earth that you climbed out of. I know WAYYY more about computers then you will ever hope to. YOU CANNOT DISABLE CORES. you can ENABLE cores but not DISABLE them. Shut ur mouth



What do you say to this? http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4409155&postcount=1
And it sure is cheaper to go with p55($165) over x58($148)


----------



## jarlmaster47 (May 31, 2010)

just a noob said:


> What do you say to this? http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4409155&postcount=1
> And it sure is cheaper to go with p55($165) over x58($148)



way to choose the cheapest lga 1366 mobo and one of the more expensive p55 mobos. just shut up. ur "evidence" is one forum. I have heard plenty of people say you can't do that. it doesnt matter either way. ur overly hostile and that was uncalled for.


----------



## just a noob (May 31, 2010)

I'm being overly hostile? I'll have to take a picture of the feature to disable a core in my bios
also, Asus rampage III extreme $359, Asus maximus III extreme $359, both after shipping


----------



## jarlmaster47 (May 31, 2010)

just a noob said:


> I'm being overly hostile? I'll have to take a picture of the feature to disable a core in my bios



u do that.


----------



## just a noob (May 31, 2010)

Sorry about the off topic OP, but here's proof that cores can be disabled:


----------



## StrangleHold (May 31, 2010)

just a noob said:


> Sorry about the off topic OP, but here's proof that cores can be disabled:


 
Funny thing about it noob, his own bios has the setting and he doesnt even know it.


----------



## ganzey (May 31, 2010)

but why would you overclock simply for gaming? you will not see a huge performance boost


----------



## Gooberman (May 31, 2010)

Lol that was ownage  made my night


----------



## CrayonMuncher (May 31, 2010)

most definatly ownage, so good, nice one justanoob


----------



## Intel_man (May 31, 2010)

just a noob said:


> Sorry about the off topic OP, but here's proof that cores can be disabled:



Thank you "just a noob" for posting pictures to prove to him that my reply to him is correct. 


So my theory is correct. He does talk out of his ass most of the times.


----------



## mihir (May 31, 2010)

I have seen that option on bios for turning off cores and wanted to try it once but was afraid to go ahead with it without further knowledge.
Would it harm my CPU in any way once i turn on all the cores


----------



## just a noob (May 31, 2010)

mihir said:


> I have seen that option on bios for turning off cores and wanted to try it once but was afraid to go ahead with it without further knowledge.
> Would it harm my CPU in any way once i turn on all the cores



Unless you have a 980x, it shouldn't


----------



## jarlmaster47 (May 31, 2010)

Intel_man said:


> Thank you "just a noob" for posting pictures to prove to him that my reply to him is correct.
> 
> 
> So my theory is correct. He does talk out of his ass most of the times.



I am going to pretend I didn't read that. I suggest that you not make asinine comments like that. So I was wrong, big woop! 99% of the time I am right on the money.


----------



## Intel_man (May 31, 2010)

jarlmaster47 said:


> I am going to pretend I didn't read that. I suggest that you not make asinine comments like that. So I was wrong, big woop! 99% of the time I am right on the money.



Again, no you're not. Your fanboyism in the other parts of the forums especially the video card section is ridiculously hilarious.


----------



## Gabe63 (May 31, 2010)

To the original question it looks like the i7-860 or or i5-750 are faster for games. 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/1

The 6 core barely beat the i5-750 in any benchmark and lost in as many, it does not win in gaming. If you want 6 cores AMD does seem like a better value.


----------



## Aastii (May 31, 2010)

Gabe63 said:


> To the original question it looks like the i7-860 or or i5-750 are faster for games.
> 
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/1
> 
> The 6 core barely beat the i5-750 in any benchmark and lost in as many. If you want 6 cores AMD does seem like a better value.



just a thought which actually only just occured to me, with the hex core processors, does windows automatically set the affinity to have all 6 cores on an application? If not, if you were to set it to all 6 cores, would it then utilise the full power and blow the quads out of the water


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

OMG of course you disable cores.  Hell, I've done 1 core 1 thread, 1 core 2 threads, 2 cores 2 threads, 2 cores 4 threads, 3cores 3 threads, 3 cores 6 threads, 4 cores 4 threads, and 4 cores 8 threads on my old I7 860.  It can do any configuration.

As for gaming, I would go with the I5 750 honestly.  Hyper threading does nothing for gaming, unless you only have a dual core like an I3 

Just a Noob, plenty of P55 boards are cheap.  My personal favorite is the ASRock P55 pro for $110.  You can only use a single x16 slot with that though, you have to buy the P55 extreme for 8x/8x SLI/Xfire which is $140...except of course right now there's an open box extreme for $80 on the egg.  A steal of a deal with an I5 750 and 4gb of G.Skill ddr3-2000 cas 9 memory would really kick ass for gaming.  I personally like just running one strong card instead of SLI or Xfire, so have full 16x/16x is pointless.  There's no game at any resolution a GTX480 or a 5970 can't play.

The Phenom II X6 is just that, a lame Phenom II with 2 extra crappy deneb cores stuffed on the same die.  There's only a hand full of games optimized for quad cores, it won't be for most likely 1-2 years before games will utilize more than 4 cores and even in the beginning a super strong quad like the I5 won't bottleneck you if you overclock it.  I ran mine at 4.0ghz 24/7, a beast of a gaming CPU.


----------



## just a noob (Jun 1, 2010)

Lies, there can be no cheap electronics


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

Let me rephrase...cheaper...


----------



## bomberboysk (Jun 1, 2010)

Stay on topic guys, that means all of you.


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

How is this off topic?


----------



## Leopold Butters (Jun 1, 2010)

To the OP! If you are going to choose between those 2 I'd go with the x6. It's cheaper than an I7. You will get very good gaming performance, AM3 is still getting new CPUs next year. Having 6 cores is more future proof. As games start to use more cores your games will run better with the x6 over the i7. Just my 2cents, hope it helps.

Also check online for a Mobo that will work well with the x6, see what other people are using and if they have any troubles if you decide to go that route.


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

Bulldozer will not be on AM3....only deneb stuff is gonna be on AM3.


----------



## Leopold Butters (Jun 1, 2010)

87dtna said:


> Bulldozer will not be on AM3....only deneb stuff is gonna be on AM3.



I didn't say bulldozer, I said new CPUs in 2011.

http://plaza.fi/muropaketti/amdn-tyopoytaprosessorien-suunnitelmat-julki-vuoteen-2011-asti

It's AM3+ But i'd assume that it will work with AM3.


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

Leopold Butters said:


> I didn't say bulldozer, I said new CPUs in 2011.
> 
> http://plaza.fi/muropaketti/amdn-tyopoytaprosessorien-suunnitelmat-julki-vuoteen-2011-asti
> 
> It's AM3+ But i'd assume that it will work with AM3.



Uhh, you do realize that the only difference in onboard GPU there?  The ''new'' cpu's are not even hex core's just quads.  This is not any kind of ''futureproof'' for gamers whatsoever.


----------



## Drenlin (Jun 1, 2010)

Bulldozer will be on AM3. Probably AM3+, but AM3 none the less.


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

I believe that chart has already been debunked.....AMD realized they couldn't produce bulldozer on only 938 pins.


----------



## bomberboysk (Jun 1, 2010)

87dtna said:


> How is this off topic?



That was not directed at you, but rather at posts by a few users earlier in the thread.


----------



## 87dtna (Jun 1, 2010)

bomberboysk said:


> That was not directed at you, but rather at posts by a few users earlier in the thread.



Oh oh, my bad.


----------



## an0nym0us (Jun 2, 2010)

i have both the 860 and 930. i'd rather have an 860 just for the price difference, the 930 kicks ass, but the motherboard is 100USD more and the RAM is 30-40% more.


----------

