Intel Core i7 920 Processor [Performance tests.]

We publish our first test results of the new Intel Core i7 processor -- the cheapest Core i7 920 model. This processor differs from the top Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 by a lower clock rate (2.66 GHz versus 3.20 GHz) and lower QPI bus bandwidth (4.8 GT/s versus 6.4 GT/s). As we already wrote, the latter fact theoretically shouldn't affect execution speed of most tasks (and almost certainly those tasks that we use in our tests). Thus, we were not too upset, when we failed to get the top processor from this series, as it's not very difficult to estimate performance of a processor, which differs from the tested sample in frequency only (accuracy of such estimation is usually very high). If you want to do it on your own, just multiply the result of Core i7 920 by 1.2, and you'll get an approximate performance level of Core i7 EE 965 even before a chance to test it.

We'd like to draw your attention to the testbed with Core i7 920, which was equipped with three DDR3-1333 Kingston KHX11000D3LLK3/3GX modules (operating in DDR3-1066 mode, as it's the maximum nominal frequency for Core i7) with the total volume of 3 GB instead of 4 GB in our standard testbed. We are going to expand this volume in the Core i7 testbed to 6 GB (3 x 2 GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D). But such modules were not available at the time of these tests yet. However, results we obtained suggest that the RAM volume reduced by 1 GB had little effect on the overall system performance.

What concerns the choice of competing products, for our first series of Core i7 tests we decided to pick them up by speed: five processors to accompany Core i7 920 in the following charts share one common property: their total performance score exceeds 100. The same concerns Core i7 920.

Now what concerns conditions of our Core i7 tests: as it's our first series of tests, we decided against experiments again (they will be included into another detailed review). So we tested our Core i7 920 in the purely nominal mode: Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost enabled. That's how they will work in most computers after all.

Hardware and software

LGA775-based testbed

• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Extreme
• Graphics card: GeForce 8800 GTX
• Memory: 4 GB (4 x Corsair CM3X1024-1800C7DIN)
• HDD: Samsung HD401LJ (SATA-2)
• Cooler: Thermaltake TMG i1
• PSU: Cooler Master RS-A00-EMBA

LGA1366-based testbed

• Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe
• Graphics card: GeForce 8800 GTX
• Memory: 3 GB (3 x Kingston KHX11000D3LLK3/3GX)
• HDD: Samsung HD401LJ (SATA-2)
• Cooler: ASUS Triton 81
• PSU: Cooler Master RS-A00-EMBA

Processor	Core 2 Duo E6850	Core 2 Duo E8200	Core 2 Duo E8500	Core 2 Quad Q9300	Core 2 Extreme QX9770	Core i7 920
Core	Conroe	Wolfdale	Wolfdale	Yorkfield	Yorkfield	Bloomfield
Process technology, nm	65	45	45	45	45	45
Core clock, GHz	3.0	2.66	3.16	2.5	3.2	2.66
Number of cores	2	2	2	4	4	4
Hyper-Threading	-	-	-	-	-	+
L1 cache, I/D, KB	32/32	32/32	32/32	32/32	32/32	32/32
L2 cache, KB	4096	6144	6144	6144	12288	4 x 256
L3 cache, KB	-	-	-	-	-	8192
FSB clock, MHz	333 (1333)	333 (1333)	333 (1333)	333 (1333)	400 (1600)	133*
Multiplier	9	8	9.5	7.5	8	20
Socket	LGA775	LGA775	LGA775	LGA775	LGA775	LGA1366
TDP, W	65	65	65	95	136	130

* - In case of Core i7 we specify the so-called "reference frequency". CPU/memory/QPI frequencies are obtained by applying various multipliers to this frequency.

Software

Benchmark	64-bit application	Multi-threaded*
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2	+	+
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1	+	+
Autodesk 3ds max 9 SP2	+	+
V-Ray 1.5 SP1	+	+
Autodesk Maya 2008 Ultimate	+	+
NewTek Lightwave 3D 9.2	+	+
SolidWorks 2007SP0.0	+	+
PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0M120	+	-
UGS NX55.0.0.25	+	+
Wolfram Research Mathematica 6	+	+
MapleSoft Maple 11	-	+
MathWorks MATLAB 2007	+	+
Adobe Photoshop CS3 10.0	-	+
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008	+	+
Apache HTTP Server 2.2.8	-	+
PHP 5.2.5	-	+
MySQL Community Server 5.0.51a	-	+
ACDSee 10 Photo Manager	-	+
xat.com Image Optimizer 5.10	-	-
IrfanView 4.10	-	-
XnView 1.93.4	-	-
Paint.NET 3.30	+	+
7-Zip4.57	+	+
WinRAR 3.71	-	+
UltimateZip 3.2	-	-
FLAC 1.2.1	-	-
LAME-MT3.97	+	+
Musepack MPC Encoder 1.16	-	-
Nero Digital Audio Encoder 1.1.34.2	-	+
Ogg Encoder 2.83 (Lancer)	-	+
Canopus ProCoder 3.0	-	+
DivX Codec 6.8.2	-	+
XviD Codec 1.1.3 Final	-	-
x264 Codec rev 807	-	+
VirtualDub 1.8.0	-	+
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Patch 1.5)	-	+
Call of Juarez (Patch 1.1.0.0) + DX10 Enhancements Pack	-	-
Crysis (Patch 1.2)	+	+
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Patch 1.006)	-	+
Unreal Tournament 3 (Patch 1.2)	-	+
Company of Heroes (Patch 1.71)	-	+
World in Conflict (Patch 1.007)	-	+

* Means that two or more simultaneously active threads are actually present during tests; not just the fact that a process generates several threads.

Intel Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Extreme Edition review

Today marks the release of Intel's latest and greatest processor architecture to date.

For the past two years Intel has dominated the CPU market with their Core 2 processors, reaping havoc on AMD's Athlon and Phenom products. Yet despite of this significant dominance, Intel will be pushing the Core 2 aside and make room for the new Core i7 processor series.

When you consider that the Pentium 4 lived on for roughly four years, it'd seem almost criminal to be axing the Core 2’s lead so early, especially considering the success that the Core 2 has been. While the Pentium 4 often played second best to AMD's Athlon64 range, today AMD is finding itself in hot water, and we can't even begin to imagine what will happen now with the Core i7 introduction taking place today.

It's becoming quite evident that Intel is enjoying being on top of their game, and the Core i7 should ensure that they stay this way for some time to come.

Today we will be introducing you to three new Core i7 processors based on the new Intel Nehalem microarchitecture, each featuring 4-cores and operating in the 2.66 to 3.20GHz range. Like the Core 2 family, these new processors feature model numbers, designed to keep things simple.

Initially Intel is releasing just three processors, one of which is an Extreme Edition version.

The Core i7 965 Extreme Edition runs at 3.20GHz and features a QPI (QuickPath Interface) throughput of 6.4GT/s, which is the key difference here. The mainstream versions of the processor include the Core i7 920 and 940, clocked at 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz, respectively. These more affordable processors feature a QPI throughput of just 4.8GT/s, so it will be interesting to discover what kind of impact this has on performance.

As we move along, we will detail some interesting new concepts introduced on the Core i7's Nehalem architecture, talk about the future of this platform, how it performs today (a.k.a. the benchmark galore), only to close up with some preliminary overclocking findings and initial pricing.

Intel Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Processor Review

The Core i7 Series Arrives

Intel has finally lifted the embargo on the yet-to-be-launched Intel Core i7 processors and the Intel X58 Express chipset. Intel strongly believes that this new platform will be the must have work horse for digital media & gaming enthusiasts for many months to come. With so much to talk about this new platform we made the decision to focus just on processor performance for this article and then take a deeper dive at other features in the weeks to come. This should work out nicely as the processors won't be available to purchase until later this month and many companies are just now getting us production grade triple channel memory kits and video card drivers for this new platform.

The Intel Core i7 Processor (known as Nehalem internally) has some very big architecture changes as you can tell from the picture above. The new Core i7 processor has 1366 pins and as a result the size of the processor, socket and heat sink mounting brackets are all larger than LGA 775 based processors that have been out now for a couple of years. The die size of Core i7 processors is 263 mm² and the transistor count is 731 Million.

Taking a look at the die of the Core i7 processor we see a first for Intel processors -- the integrated memory controller. This on-die, triple channel, DDR3 memory controller is unique in the fact that it allows consumers to run three memory modules together for optimal performance. By moving to an integrated memory controller and triple channel memory the platform has over 25GB/s of throughput between the processor and DDR3 memory modules!

For those that follow processor architecture you will notice a brand new cache structure on the Core i7 diagram shown above. All Intel Core i7 processors feature L1, L2, and shared L3 caches. Before, Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors had just an L1 and L2 cache. The break down on the cache is as follows: there is a 64K L1 cache (32K Instruction, 32K Data) per core, 1MB of total L2 cache, and an impressive 8MB chunk of L3 cache that is shared across all the cores. That means that all Intel Core i7 processors have over 9MB of memory right there on the 45nm processor!

Can it get any better than this?

Of course it can! The new Core i7 processor has a huge list of improvements that have been made to it.

• New SSE4.2 Instructions
• Improved Lock Support
• Additional Caching Hierarchy
• Deeper Buffers
• Improved Loop Streaming
• Simultaneous Multi-Threading
• Faster Virtualization
• Better Branch Prediction