New iMac or a i7 920 Quad Core System??

[Yamcha]

Im in a real dilemma now, I was thinking about buying an iMac, but for the same price I could get an amazing PC machine..

Should I get the New iMac Or :

ASUS P6T X58 ATX LGA1366 DDR3
Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-3GBNQ 3GB DDR3
EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT 512MB
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX
Antec Earthwatts 650W Power Supply
Samsung 2053BW 20IN Widescreen LCD Monitor Black 1680X1050
Logitech Internet 350 USB Keyboard Black
Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse OEM USB/PS2 Black
Western Digital SE16 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache 8.9MS
$1550CAD ($1,242.34USD)

 

[neiltc13]

The system you mentioned is light years ahead of the iMac. You'll get better performance all around with it and won't have to think "hey, what if?" in future, because you'll know you bought the best machine you could at the time.

 

[Eidorian]

I'd go with the i7 based system.

 

[kastenbrust]

The iMac is on a comparabile level with the machine you mentioned, the only thing the Asus has which is better is the processor, which may i add is only slightly better as its a 1st gen i7 (12% faster) but then you've got to put up with Windows.

 

[Eidorian]

The iMac is on a comparabile level with the machine you mentioned, the only thing the Asus has which is better is the processor, which may i add is only slightly better as its a 1st gen i7 (12% faster) but then you've got to put up with Windows.

Don't forget the video card...

Where did you get 12% from?

 

[kastenbrust]

Don't forget the video card...

Where did you get 12% from?

I replaced the Core 2 Duo in my WINDOWS server at work temporarily with an i7 (both 2.6GHz) to see the actual speed increase, i used geekbench and ran a few other tests to find the actual speed benefits and found the i7 was about 12% faster. According to Wikipedia and Intel it should be 17% faster but actually with latency, a smaller cache, and increased heat issues it really wasnt.

 

[Eidorian]

I replaced the Core 2 Duo in my WINDOWS server at work temporarily with an i7 (both 2.6GHz) to see the actual speed increase, i used geekbench and ran a few other tests to find the actual speed benefits and found the i7 was about 12% faster. According to Wikipedia and Intel it should be 17% faster but actually with latency, a smaller cache, and increased heat issues it really wasnt.

Don't forget to mention you changed sockets and boards as well...

At least you have something to backup your claims, unlike other users.

 

[neiltc13]

I replaced the Core 2 Duo in my WINDOWS server at work temporarily with an i7 (both 2.6GHz) to see the actual speed increase, i used geekbench and ran a few other tests to find the actual speed benefits and found the i7 was about 12% faster. According to Wikipedia and Intel it should be 17% faster but actually with latency, a smaller cache, and increased heat issues it really wasnt.

Your Windows server at work had the same laptop Core 2 Duo chip as the current iMac?

 

[kastenbrust]

Your Windows server at work had the same laptop Core 2 Duo chip as the current iMac?

obviously not but thats not the point, the i7 is a complete waste of money because its so new, its well overpriced for the actual speed benefits that you really get, especially with Open CL and Hybrid SLI around the corner for Mac OS X, when they come out in Snow Leopard the Core 2 Duo iMac will be faster than the i7 PC he described for day to day tasks.

 

[neiltc13]

obviously not but thats not the point, the i7 is a complete waste of money because its so new, its well overpriced for the actual speed benefits that you really get, especially with Open CL and Hybrid SLI around the corner for Mac OS X, when they come out in Snow Leopard the Core 2 Duo iMac will be faster than the i7 PC he described for day to day tasks.

Again, total nonsense. I checked Futuremark:

My 2.4GHz iMac gets a CPU score of 2125 in 3D Mark 06. A system with the same Core i7 CPU as Yamcha mentioned gets a score of 5024. That's more than double the performance.

Red line is the Core i7, green line is my iMac. I think this chart speaks for itself.

Further checking of two benchmarks of similar machines shows:

CPU Image manipulation test
Core 2 Duo: 2.44MB/s
Core i7: 5.59MB/s

CPU gaming test
Core 2 Duo: 4889.85 Operations/s
Core i7: 34267.13 Operations/s

 

[Eidorian]

obviously not but thats not the point, the i7 is a complete waste of money because its so new, its well overpriced for the actual speed benefits that you really get

Maybe if you're gaming or using single thread and instance applications. Are you comparing the whole package + DDR3 as well?

especially with Open CL and Hybrid SLI around the corner for Mac OS X, when they come out in Snow Leopard the Core 2 Duo iMac will be faster than the i7 PC he described for day to day tasks.

I'll give you OpenCL but please don't going around saying you can't do that on Windows.

 

[kastenbrust]

Maybe if you're gaming or using single thread and instance applications. Are you comparing the whole package + DDR3 as well?

I'll give you OpenCL but please don't going around saying you can't do that on Windows.

i didnt say you cant do it on Windows. You can not easily mind.

 

[kastenbrust]

Again, total nonsense. I checked Futuremark:

My 2.4GHz iMac gets a CPU score of 2125 in 3D Mark 06. A system with the same Core i7 CPU as Yamcha mentioned gets a score of 5024. That's more than double the performance.

Red line is the Core i7, green line is my iMac. I think this chart speaks for itself.

Further checking of two benchmarks of similar machines shows:

CPU Image manipulation test
Core 2 Duo: 2.44MB/s
Core i7: 5.59MB/s

CPU gaming test
Core 2 Duo: 4889.85 Operations/s
Core i7: 34267.13 Operations/s

so your telling me an i7 is 7x better at gaming? bull.
i think you need to check your 'tests'.

 

[Eidorian]

i didnt say you cant do it on Windows. You can not easily mind.

Now if Apple only supported GPU decoding hardware on OS X like they did in OS 9.

so your telling me an i7 is 7x better at gaming? bull.
i think you need to check your 'tests'.

If you're just using the CPU I can understand it.

 

[hajime]

It depends on your applications. If you need to run stuffs under Mac OS, get an iMac. Otherwise, get the i7 system.

 

[Yamcha]

I checked some benchmarks, it is quite fast, faster then any other Core 2 Duo obviously, Im an advanced pc users, so I know this thing is way better then any iMac that's going to come out in the coming months, I can be quite sure of that. but the reason Im having second thoughts is I've wanted an iMac since i was like 12 lol. So it's def a hard choice for me... I will have to think about it. For me the smart choice is clearly go for PC...

Anyway I will think about it I suppose.

 

[neiltc13]

I checked some benchmarks, it is quite fast, faster then any other Core 2 Duo obviously, Im an advanced pc users, so I know this thing is way better then any iMac that's going to come out in the coming months, I can be quite sure of that. but the reason Im having second thoughts is I've wanted an iMac since i was like 12 lol. So it's def a hard choice for me... I will have to think about it. For me the smart choice is clearly go for PC...

Anyway I will think about it I suppose.

If you wait long enough then iMac will get a much, much improved processor (possibly from the Core i7 line).

 

[Eidorian]

If you wait long enough then iMac will get a much, much improved processor (possibly from the Core i7 line).

Next year...

 

[Yamcha]

oh i forgot to add dvd drive +28CAD on the price.. added a Poll :], it'll help me decide.

 

[kastenbrust]

I'd wait 5 months then buy an iMac, or get a cheap PC for now and iAtkos, Kalyway it.

 

[Yamcha]

Btw the price on the poll is in $1500-1600CAD so about $1200-1250USD

 

[vendettabass]

voted the i7 and add an EFIX for OSX

 

[chaosbunny]

I say it depends on what you want to do with the machine. If your primary needs are gaming, rendering, encoding video or similar hardware intensive stuff get the i7. If not you won't notice much difference and you might as well get the iMac.

 

[timestoby]

the quad core sounds good,but its pc. ither you want mac or you dont. and id wait for a imac refresh to get one tho.

 

[Yamcha]

Well I'd like to do some minor gaming, but its mainly for Web/Graphic Design. I think i might just get an iMac, I already have a pc and its decent. But am gonna wait for the new ones to come in to see what the specs are, Im def gonna go for the cheapest one because they are far too overpriced, I can get cheaper ram and add it myself :]...