Intel Lynnfield Core i5-750 & Core i7-870 Processor Review

System Benchmarks: SuperPI 32M / Cinebench R10

SuperPi Mod v1.5

When running the SuperPI 32MB benchmark, we are calculating Pi to 32 million digits and timing the process. Obviously more CPU power helps in this intense calculation, but the memory sub-system also plays an important role, as does the operating system. We are running one instance of SuperPi via the HyperPi 0.99b interface. This is therefore a single-thread workload.


Do we have a new challenger to the stock clock SPi 32M crown? Almost, but not quite. Both the i7-975 and i7-870 Turbo Boost up to 3.59Ghz during this workload, and perform within 8 seconds of each other (1.8% difference). The i5-750 puts up a very respectable performance as well, landing smack in middle between the i7-920 and i7-950. With their raw computing throughput and integrated memory controller, the Nehalem-based chips really put a waste to the rest of field. As always, AMD's Phenom II processors embarass themselves in this popular benchmark...

Cinebench R10

Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score

Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders


The Cinebench results are as expected, and it really comes down to Turbo Boost. In the single-threaded test, the i7-975 leads the way since it was crunching at 3.59Ghz. On the other hand, the i7-870 wouldn't stick to its highest speed bin, instead running at 3.46Ghz most of the time. The i7-950 which runs at 3.33Ghz in single-threaded scenarios just managed to squeak by the i5-750, itself running at 3.2Ghz. Not too shabby for a $199 chip. In the multi-threaded test, the i7-975 established its dominance by running at 3.46Ghz, while the Core i7-950 and Core i7-870 were both running at 3.2Ghz. With its lack of Hyper-Threading, the i5-750 falls behind the other Nehalem-based models in this benchmark, but it still dominates its rival Phenom II X4 945 and Core 2 Quad Q9550.