[remis]

Originally Posted by hammerransom

Thanks Remis!

So what is the advantage of the i7 950 over the 920 or 960? I know the 980x is the holy grail, but if I can get a 920 for $250 or whatever... is there a noticeable difference?

Honestly where I am right now is - I have a 2006 Dell XPS 400 - I just put a FW card in to be able to use my new Avid Mbox Pro (3rd gen) and I have a PT 9 crossgrade waiting on me, but I don't have Win 7 yet, so im just waiting until i get everything where I want it. I should have $1600 in hand in Feb/March to do a build. But I will also need video monitors. I'd like to do dual monitors at some point... but at least would like to get one 27" screen if I cant do a dual set up right away. Im also running the latet Melodyne Editor (wish I had not upgraded from the plug in), so I need to make sure I am compatible with that for optimal performance. I dont have a lot of plugins yet, but will likely be going heavy on the VI's as finances permit.

Well basically the only difference between the 920 and 950 is the multiplier. The 920 uses a 21x multiplier, giving a 2.835Ghz speed (21x135BCLK) whereas the 950 uses a 23x multiplier, giving a 3.06Ghz speed. If you don't plan on overclocking then, given they are now pretty much the same price, i'd go with the 950. I also like the idea of the 950 for Overclocking anyway, as you can still select a 21x multiplier, so gives you more options. And yes, the 980x is 6cores of legendary goodness

$1600 should get you a nice build. Mine only cost me more as i added things I didn't necessarily need, like hot swap bays, a fan controller, 4 case fans, 12Gb of RAM, a higher end graphics card and a monster CPU cooler.

One of these builds will definitely be compatible for the use you're talking about