i5 or i7?

new2net

Hey guys... was hoping to get some input...

I need to buy a new computer for everyday use. I am also planning to use it for GNS3. I am deciding between an i5 machine or an i7 for $200 more. Ideally I would like to save that $250, but I am willing to spend it if I am going to notice a major difference when using GNS3. I am planning to use it for CCNP/CCIE level stuff. I found a thread which states that they i7 should be better since Dynamips is a multicore application. Is this correct?

I don't have enough hardware to simulate some of the labs that I would like to work on, so GNS3 is the best option for me right now. Any thoughts on whether I should go with the i5 or i7?

Thank you...!

martell1000

i have got one of the older i5s (i5 750) and this is more then enough to work with gns3

if you dont plan to do stuff like that:

GNS3 / Dynamips 100+ Routers - YouTube

go for an i5 and invest in some more RAM or an SSD ...

PC509

martell1000 wrote: »

i have got one of the older i5s (i5 750) and this is more then enough to work with gns3

if you dont plan to do stuff like that:

GNS3 / Dynamips 100+ Routers - YouTube

go for an i5 and invest in some more RAM or an SSD ...

An i5 will do GNS3 perfect for most things, other than running 100+ routers! I used an older Core2Duo and it worked flawlessly for a decent sized network with GNS3. Now, I'm running a 5GHz 2600K which doesn't run it any better or worse. But, I'm sure I could scale it a lot higher. The SSD helped out a LOT more than upgrading the processor (upgraded CPU first then a month later the SSD).

alan2308

Agreed, an i5 will be more than enough and you can get away with less than that. Having enough memory is more of a concern than what CPU you're going to go with.

new2net

Ohh, so I'll probably notice better [GNS] performance when using an SSD rather than taking the i7?

Regardless of which machine I choose, it will have 4GB ram...which ill upgrade later

DPG

I can run 20 routers with an i3 2100 and it only uses 15% cpu.

ZachB

SSD's make a huge difference. I would pay more for one of those over a higher end processor.

Although I don't know how you get 15% CPU on GNS3. I have a Dell Latitude 6520 with a 2.2 quad core i7 (sandy bridge) with 8GB ram and 256 SSD, and I end up using about 35-40% with 4 routers in Win 7. I think something is wrong with my GNS3 though as it ends up crapping out and crashing after a while. My MacBook Pro with 2.0 quad core i7 sandy bridge / 240GB SSD / 8GB hits about 15-20% in OS X with 4 routers in GNS3 but has also since stopped functioning as it does not let me create connections between routers anymore without giving an error. I need to troubleshoot both installs but I'm mildly irritated with GNS3.

martell1000

ZachB wrote: »

SSD's make a huge difference. I would pay more for one of those over a higher end processor.

Although I don't know how you get 15% CPU on GNS3. I have a Dell Latitude 6520 with a 2.2 quad core i7 (sandy bridge) with 8GB ram and 256 SSD, and I end up using about 35-40% with 4 routers in Win 7. I think something is wrong with my GNS3 though as it ends up crapping out and crashing after a while. My MacBook Pro with 2.0 quad core i7 sandy bridge / 240GB SSD / 8GB hits about 15-20% in OS X with 4 routers in GNS3 but has also since stopped functioning as it does not let me create connections between routers anymore without giving an error. I need to troubleshoot both installs but I'm mildly irritated with GNS3.

did you use the idle pc function? an i7 shouldnt barely notice 4 routers...

ZachB

martell1000 wrote: »

did you use the idle pc function? an i7 shouldnt barely notice 4 routers...

I'll have to check that. I was rather surprised at the CPU usage as I can hit a 3GB MySQL database and run huge queries in seconds with the CPU barely noticing that it happened.

Edit. Thanks for that man. Now the CPU is about 1%

mochaaddict

martell1000 wrote: »

did you use the idle pc function?

Heh. I never knew what that was for. Just set it and its running
noticeably better. Thanks.

alxx

gsn3 runs fine even on a old 2GHz mac mini
(for a couple of routers)