Intel Processor i5 vs i7

[JayCub]

From what i have read on the net the i5 can be clocked to match it's i7 counter part as there are varying i5 and i7 clock speeds but the processor is more or less the same just a cut down version to make it cheaper to sell than it's I7 counterpart or at least that's what i can gather from the information i have gathered and talking to various people
any-one have anything to add please let me know
So you could theoretically buy the cheaper I5 and over-clock it to match the I7 taking cooling the cpu into consideration and warranty...

[johnshaw1917]

Hi Jay,

From what I could gather from this article http://www.brighthub.com/computing/h...les/48391.aspx the new i5 processors will have the same turbo mode as the i7, which will allow for over-clocking. I guess if you are into gaming, this would be more important than it would be for the average PC user.

[hellnoire]

I've read the same thing: the i5s are underclocked i7s. Hence why it's 3.9/4.0Ghz they can both overclock to.

[A Guy]

Wow, not an easy answer, there are several i5 and several i7 CPU's. Sure you can clock the i5 750 to get similar performance as the i7 920, or even 930...but you can overclock both those i7's to get even greater performance. I personally got the i5 750, but I don't need the extra performance capabilities of the i7. But the i5 750 (and this is the only i5 that can be used in this comparison) does not have Hyper Threading. Important for things such as video encoding, and Apps that take advantage of HT technology. So, just generally, yes, you can get i7 like performance from an i5 by overclocking if you have hardware and cooling to handle that. But I wouldn't call an i5 (750) a "cut down" version of the i7. And the i7 965, i7 975, and i7 980 all exceed the performance (and cost!) of the i5 750 overclocked. But for most bang for the buck, the i5 750 is a monster. Relatively easy to overclock to 4.0 or 4.2 GHz, 100% stable (with air cooling and a well cooled case). Or overclocked with a conservative BCLK change with turbo mode and all power saving features on, such as I have. A Guy

[JayCub]

Just read your replies thanks guys ... i looked it up after Paul was talking about the specs of his new PC and his choice of processor, if or when i build my next pc i will allow for changes to all aspects of my new machine,
Thanks A Guy a well detailed response and a worthy read as you mentioned good air cooling, i was wondering how water cooled PC's along with air cooling would be of benifit, keeping the inside of the pc dust free is just part of a routine maintenace i have in place now......

[A Guy]

Water cooling would allow you to take the overclock to another level. Or lower your current temps even lower, compensate for less efficient case cooling. It is also often less noisy. Water cooling can be used to also cool GPU and Northbridge as well. Of course, introducing a conductive fluid into an electronic environment could certainly have destructive consequences, but people do it successfully all the time. You can even use a closed system, CPU cooling solution such as the [url=http://www.corsair.com/products/h50/default.aspx]Corsair H50 making the process much simpler and taking some of the worry out of it. A Guy