Processor Help!

[DJ Tucker]

I've recently found out that the i7 run as 8 cores due to hyperthreading. The question i will be asking will be based on the i7 920 that i want to get.
What i want to know is, will having 8 cores running in hyperthreading not split each core to 8 1.33Ghz cores and if so will that not use more power and when running games that are not optimised for 8 cores will that not downgrade the performance of that game, i mean 1.33ghz will not be enough to run any of the latest games out as they run only run 4 cores at least 2.4Ghz?

[x.clay]

In general (based on reviews and personal experience) the i7s are excellent for gaming and typically beat out the high end Phenom II x4s and the high end C2Q processors. There are exceptions that I have seen in benchmarks like Far Cry 2 but I have played FC2 on a i7-870 and it plays great. I think you would be very happy with the performance of a i7-920.

[DeusEx]

i have seen benchmarks where Phenom II x4 965 is nearly identical to the i7 920 for gaming. but it loses out to encoding and other tasks by 50%. Although the AMD is like 65$ cheaper.

[skier]

its frequency is its frequency is its frequency, all cores/threads ALWAYS run at the advertised frequency except with thermal throttling and core i7 is just a tank as far as performance, so no worries!

[DJ Tucker]

well i guess the i7 is the way to go but maybe a lil while before i get one lol however, by then new stuff will be out like 6 cores or something i guess. anyway thx for the help guys