Core i7 870 Tested

[flopper]

People still comparing 3ghz cpu?
who runs a 3ghz cpu here?

4ghz+ and anything else is for the sister forum averagejoe.com

we get a dimishing return on cpu upgrade, that isnt new.
and p5 is kinda 2008.

[Kingcarcas]

People still comparing 3ghz cpu?
who runs a 3ghz cpu here?

4ghz+ and anything else is for the sister forum averagejoe.com

we get a dimishing return on cpu upgrade, that isnt new.
and p5 is kinda 2008.

So anyone who doesn't have a watercooled i7 920 should leave, lol whut?

[zalbard]

So anyone who doesn't have a watercooled i7 920 should leave, lol whut?

Don't need to watercool i7 to get to 4 Ghz.

[SubZero.it]

Don't need to watercool i7 to get to 4 Ghz.

+1

[initialised]

I got my hands on one of these today:


Not a bad little CPU, but the mounting holes are a pain, almost half way between 775 and 1366 holes so the only cooler I could get to fit was an OEM 5-pipe core contact HPC. I should be able to get a bracket from XSPC for their Delta V3 block fairly quickly. The HPC cooler did a decent job, keeping it to 52C (32 idle) while running Prime95, i7 920 on the same cooler runs at 65-70C on P6T-SE so it is either underutilised by not having HT or it is a more efficient architecture. The board is on a pre-release BIOS (version 9999!) and there are none posted on ASUS site yet (anyone got a different BIOS?). I couldn't get it to OC yet and I had stability problems at stock settings. I'll be shooting for 3.6GHz to compare it to Ph2, C2Q & i7. Results to follow NDA dependent.

The voltage section of the BIOS is laid out like the CrosshairIII with voltage readings under each voltage setting and the rest of it looks very similar to the P6T series and OC Profile has been revamped to be like the MxA series and CrosshairIII with a number of slots for different profiles. I like this board already!

[sholvaco]

^
Which SKU is that? Only the i5 750 lacks HT. The drop in temps could also result from the lack of QPI and dual vs triple channel IMC.

[initialised]

^
Which SKU is that? Only the i5 750 lacks HT. The drop in temps could also result from the lack of QPI and dual vs triple channel IMC.

True, it's an i5 750

[saaya]

^
Which SKU is that? Only the i5 750 lacks HT. The drop in temps could also result from the lack of QPI and dual vs triple channel IMC.

there is still qpi actually
its connecting the pciE block with the uncore block... weird huh?

[initialised]

I got the clock up to 3.6GHz without much hassle and only gained ~9C on the hottest core (peaked at 61C). With that I'm thinking this could be the ideal CPU for a powerful media centre or modest quad core gaming rig.

[doompc]

there is still qpi actually
its connecting the pciE block with the uncore block... weird huh?

Intra-core QPI? Why?

[Hornet331]

The HPC cooler did a decent job, keeping it to 52C (32 idle) while running Prime95, i7 920 on the same cooler runs at 65-70C on P6T-SE so it is either underutilised by not having HT or it is a more efficient architecture.

It's the first one. Thats the main purpose of HT, to increase the utilisation of the execution untis. Disable HT and see how temps drop, usually around 10°C.