Intel Core i7 "Nehalem" 920, 940 & 965 XE Processor Review

Feature Test: The Return of Hyper-Threading

After the less-than-successful implementation of Hyper-Threading that we experienced with the Pentium 4, we were not particularly excited to this feature make a comeback. However, Intel assured everyone that the numerous architectural advancements they had made to Nehalem were specifically designed to eliminate any of the bottlenecks that Hyper-Threading can cause.


It doesn't matter how technologically jaded you are, opening the Windows Task Manager on a Core i7 system is a smile-inducing experience.

With it's shorter, faster, more efficient pipeline (ability to simultaneously process up to four instructions), can Nehalem truly make Hyper-Threading a worthwhile feature with real-world performance gains? Let's find out.

	Intel Core i7-965 - HT Enabled	Intel Core i7-965 - HT Disabled	Performance Difference
3DMark Vantage: CPU Score	19546	14644	+33%
Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark	153	133	+15%
Cinebench R10 Multi-CPU	18569	16067	+15%
x264 HD Benchmark	27.23 fps	21.55 fps	+26%
WinRAR 3.71 Compression	2:39	3:02	+15%

We think a "WOW" is called for. Intel have come through with the predicted 20-30% performance gains and then some. Nehalem was always touted as being a multi-threading monster, and this certainly proves it. Clearly, if you run heavily multi-threaded applications, the Core i7 series is a very attractive proposition.