i7 vs i5, what's the difference? - Hardware & Software

i7 has hyperthreading, what exactly is it? So far I know that it has 8 virtual cores and 4 real ones, but how does it change performance? Like if I render with i5 or if I render with i7, why is i7 faster? i7 is triple channel cpu, does that mean motherboards have 3 or 6 ram slots?

I am also curious on this myself. I have seen some benchmark tests, and the 750 seems to outperform low end i7. I would love to hear an answer.

Hyperthreading overclocks one core and reduces the hertz on the others.

[QUOTE=imadaman;19727718]Hyperthreading overclocks one core and reduces the hertz on the others.[/QUOTE] And what exactly is the point of that?

[QUOTE=imadaman;19727718]Hyperthreading overclocks one core and reduces the hertz on the others.[/QUOTE] what [quote]For each processor core that is physically present, the operating system addresses two virtual processors, and shares the workload between them when possible.[/quote] it'll only help in programs that will use it, usually for very intensive tasks e.g rendering the difference between i5 750 and i7s is really only worth it if your building a system designed entirely around the task it's needed for, if it's going to be for general use/gaming/etc with a little rendering or whatever on the side, it's just not worth the difference

So how does this increase rendering speed? If there is 1 real or 2 virtual cores, how does it change things?

[QUOTE=imadaman;19727718]Hyperthreading overclocks one core and reduces the hertz on the others.[/QUOTE] uh. I'd say that's turbo boost, but that's not even what turbo boost does. (no)

FFFFFFFF I apologise.

[QUOTE=johanz;19728143]So how does this increase rendering speed? If there is 1 real or 2 virtual cores, how does it change things?[/QUOTE] The virtual cores, while both running on single physical one, use it more efficiently and can pump out some extra useful work out of it. The core is a complex thing, and it's rarely used as whole all the time. When you put 2 separated virtual cores on it, one can use one part of the processor while the other one uses the rest, which would otherwise be, for the moment, completely unused. It's like you gave somebody task to either first eat a sandwich, and then to check mail, or, to use the free hand and eat the sandwich while reading the mail. Of course some parts of the tasks can't be done completely independently, but total efficiency still increases. This is how I got it. I am not certain, but I think it could be kinda close to reality.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;19728545]The virtual cores, while both running on single physical one, use it more efficiently and can pump out some extra useful work out of it. The core is a complex thing, and it's rarely used as whole all the time. When you put 2 separated virtual cores on it, one can use one part of the processor while the other one uses the rest, which would otherwise be, for the moment, completely unused. It's like you gave somebody task to either first eat a sandwich, and then to check mail, or, to use the free hand and eat the sandwich while reading the mail. Of course some parts of the tasks can't be done completely independently, but total efficiency still increases. This is how I got it. I am not certain, but I think it could be kinda close to reality.[/QUOTE] If it's true, then it makes sense. Thanks for info.

This is an example. Like in a 3D Model rendering program, like 3D Max, the program makes 1 core of your CPU process 1 small square area in the whole thing. So your CPU isn't being used all the way since it doesn't take all of that single core. So say, 3D Max has squares that show's what being rendered, you'll only see 4 because of that four cores. But with the i7 hyperthreading, then it splits the that single core in half, 4 = 8. When you render with the i7, 8 squares will pop up at one time instead of just 4, which makes it faster.

The i5 has 4 physical cores(quad core) while the i7 also has 4 physical cores, but they are hyper threaded to 8. There is a big difference when you use a program that supports hyper threading with an i7 as opposed to an i5, but for casual gaming you can't go wrong with either. Unless I am completely wrong.

[QUOTE=Hikaru;19729864]The i5 has 4 physical cores(quad core) while the i7 also has 4 physical cores, but they are hyper threaded to 8. There is a big difference when you use a program that supports hyper threading with an i7 as opposed to an i5, but for casual gaming you can't go wrong with either. Unless I am completely wrong.[/QUOTE] They're both good for gaming. But for i5 then it's a better Price:Performence.

[QUOTE=n00bEmpty;19730356]They're both good for gaming. But for i5 then it's a better Price:Performence.[/QUOTE]Only because games don't use hyperthreading, right?

[QUOTE=n00bEmpty;19730356]They're both good for gaming. But for i5 then it's a better Price:Performence.[/QUOTE] I keep reading posts saying this but from what I've found, quite steadily the difference in the i7-920 and i5-750 in terms of price is fairly negligible considering they're both fairly cheap to begin with as far as (newish and new) CPUs go. Aside for a few instances in where a game isn't set up to take advantage of hyper-threading a la OB engine, the i7 performs higher enough for it to be worth the measly $30-50 more. Which, again, as far as CPUs are concerned, isn't really a huge price difference. If the i7-920 was $350, and the i5-750 $250, then, yes, "better performance for price" would be a valid argument. But since you can get the i5 anywhere between $190 and $230, and the i7 between $230 and $290, it's really not that big of a difference in price. That said the price difference [I]DOES[/I] come full circle seeing as most LGA1366 boards (i7) are pricier than LGA1156 (i5) boards, but one socket's newer than the other so that's something which should come expected. [editline]02:39PM[/editline] [QUOTE=johanz;19730416]Only because games don't use hyperthreading, right?[/QUOTE] not all games don't

Facepunch, knowing nothing about computers, yet giving so much advice.

[QUOTE=Xaphania;19730688]Facepunch, knowing nothing about computers, yet giving so much advice.[/QUOTE] Enlighten us, O wise one.

The i7 is nearly 290 dollars. [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026[/URL] The i5 is nearly 200 dollars. [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215[/URL] That's the cheapest retail site. You could look it up on a site like eBay or Amazon but yeah. (If there was a i7 920 or above at 230 dollars then I would get it in a heartbeat.) They'll perform nearly the same except the i7 has hyperthreading and if you're just gaming then the 90 dollar difference isn't worth it. If you render a lot then the i7 would be a good investment.

good morning starshine, the earth says hello [url]http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0302727[/url]

I had a hyperthreaded pentium 4 once. It was still slow as fuck and sucked on games. Doesn't help for much as posted above.

[QUOTE=M_B;19733300]good morning starshine, the earth says hello [URL]http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0302727[/URL][/QUOTE] Damn. Wish I found that earlier.

it's actually a real fucking bitch to find on the website. you have to find the advertisement [which do change] on the site, and it has to be the correct one. [editline]04:52PM[/editline] actually not hard to find anymore, but it was for the past week or two

i7 is old-ish technology. i5 is still worse, but you can overclock it to just as fast as the i7. Lots of speedcharts show the i5 ahead by a little amount, but in real world, they're both fucking win.

[QUOTE=Xaphania;19735643]i7 is old-ish technology. i5 is still worse, but you can overclock it to just as fast as the i7. Lots of speedcharts show the i5 ahead by a little amount, but in real world, they're both fucking win.[/QUOTE] This is completely unrelated to hyperthreading. You are obviously the one who doesn't know shit.

i5 is a more mainstream cpu without HT, but unless you are making a workstation you won't use HT

[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;19738741]i5 is a more mainstream cpu without HT, but unless you are making a workstation you won't use HT[/QUOTE] Or if you use emulators.

[QUOTE=Xaphania;19735643]i7 is old-ish technology. i5 is still worse, but you can overclock it to just as fast as the i7. Lots of speedcharts show the i5 ahead by a little amount, but in real world, they're both fucking win.[/QUOTE] :downs: and to the guy who mentioned the Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading, that was a single core which ran 2 logical cores. The i7 has 4 cores, each of them running 2 logical cores. They actually decided to not use Hyperthreading for a while with the C2D and C2Q lines, but they re-introduced it in their new i7 line, meaning that you can run 8 logical cores for programs that support them, like 3d modelers (3ds max, maya, blender, etc.) and video editing software. They are completely useless in programs that don't support it, like most games.

Time for my contribution. It all depends for what you're going to use it if for Photoshop,3D modeling/rendering and other things that need lot of processing power you should get the i7.If your going to simply play games the core i5 would be better since you won't relay see much of a increase in FPS. i7: pros: -8 threads -great overclocking potential -on board memory controller -8 MB of L3 cache -hyper threading cons: -EXPENSIVE -no big increase in FPS when playing games i5: pros: -best when it comes to bang for the buck(pair it up with a 5850 and you're good for some years) -on board memory controller -8 MB of L3 cache -4 cores cons: -4 threads -(do not READ)Stock cooler that it comes with sux Benchmarks: [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/L/B/222383/original/3DMark%20Vantage%20CPU.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/M/6/222414/original/PCMark%20Vantage%20TV%20and%20Movies.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/M/5/222413/original/PCMark%20Vantage%20Productivity.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/6/0/221832/original/Crysis%202560%204xAA.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/6/7/221839/original/FS%20x%202560%20AAAF.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://media.bestofmicro.com/6/4/221836/original/Far%20Cry%202%202560%204xAA.png[/IMG] I used copy and paste for this like 10 times now

it's kind of hard to not use the hyperthreading, actually, as really most software will use it. also, anything but "no games" use it. not a load of games do, but some do, and more and more are starting to.

Another benefit of the i7 platform are features such as triple channel memory and more common support for triple-SLI/Crossfire.