Intel Lynnfield i5-750 & i7-870 Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by Bojamijams

One thing I'm confused about in this review is the speeds of the processors.. for example, in the game reviews, are they all at stock frequency? It just lists their CPU name so I assume its all stock.

Please explain what you mean by "stock speed". For these processors stock speed is fluid as Turbo mode allows for increased speeds in certain situations.

[bojangles]

Of course they are base speeds (aka what they are rated for), but Turbo mode will kick in under certain loads. Is that what you're asking, Bojamijams?

This is pretty much why the 920 gets beat in those benches, wouldn't you say?

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by bojangles

This is pretty much why the 920 gets beat in those benches, wouldn't you say?

Yes, Turbo Mode is the ace up Lynnfield's sleeve.

[Bojamijams]

No what I meant was, compare a i7 920, i5 750 and i7 870 side by side at same memory rating and speed, and same CPU speed

so meaning.. overclock them them all to say 3.6ghz at 4gb (6gb for the x58 platform) at 1600 DDR and say 8-8-8?

Just to see if there is a difference with HT, triple channel vs dual channel, QPI vs DMI, etc.

In games though not really synthetic benchmarks... to help gamers who overclock decide on their platform from S775 :D

[Eldonko]

Wouldnt it be more useful for "gamers that OC" to max out the three and then compare? IMO overclocking potential and performance at top end is the most important factor not what they do running at the same speeds.

[enaberif]

There is only so much a cpu can do before it can't do anymore in a game.

I remember when I had my e6600 and tried bioshock then got my e8400 it made a big difference.

But once I hit 4ghz on my 8400 I found it pretty much gave all it could in regards to fps before other factors came into play.

I would have to say that with i5 and i7 it would allow you to play games on a much higher quality on a larger screen without sacrificing frames but at the same just how much of a difference is that really going to make between the 3?

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by kuddles

Holy crap, better performance (at least in some areas), cheaper, and with lower power consumption and heat to boot. I knew I was being irrational when I got impatient and built my i7 setup this past weekend, didn't realize how completely foolish I would look, though.

Rough times ahead for AMD unless they have something up their sleeves, though. Assuming these kind of results carry on into the i3 lineup, they won't even be able to compete on price anymore.

Huh? Don't get me wrong P55 looks to be a nice platform, and at an ass kicking price, but it does have a brick wall thats easy to hit. X58 is still the superior platform, absolutely no reason to feel foolish as you are not, you got the better platform, and without the bottlenecks inherent to the LGA1156/P55 platform.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Huh? Don't get me wrong P55 looks to be a nice platform, and at an ass kicking price, but it does have a brick wall thats easy to hit. X58 is still the superior platform, absolutely no reason to feel foolish as you are not, you got the better platform, and without the bottlenecks inherent to the LGA1156/P55 platform.

i5 JUST hit the market whose say what'll happen in a few months down the road ;)

[SKYMTL]

The law of overclocking is one of diminishing returns.

The issue with overclocking the processors is the fact that not all processors will reach the levels attained by our samples. Indeed, I can tell you that quite a few 750 chips out there may have issues clocking all four cores to 3.6Ghz (pre Turbo).

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by enaberif

i5 JUST hit the market whose say what'll happen in a few months down the road ;)

Look at Intel's roadmap, other than the P57 which will bring some nice improvements in certain areas(6gbp/s sata for example), the i7 870 with its x16 PCIe 2.0 lanes is the best thats coming on LGA1156 for the next little while...

Doesn't mean that Intel can't pull some neat pricing tricks in the future and create even more kick ass bang for the buck platforms., and for 80% of power users such as ourselves, even P55 is PLENTY.