Intel Core i7-975 Extreme And i7-950 Reviewed

[cangelini]

Today Intel launches two high-end processors that take the place of its i7-965 and i7-940 CPUs. More speed? Same price points? We’ll take it! But are the new chips compelling enough to warrant spending more than you would on an i7-920?

Intel Core i7-975 Extreme And i7-950 Reviewed : Read more

 

[smithereen]

I've never seen anyone saying that the Phenom II is faster than any Core i7...

 

[cruiseoveride]

Doesn't make any difference with games

 

[cangelini]

The i7's disadvantage in Far Cry 2 is well-known. That it gets beat in HAWX is something we only discovered this time around. In everything else, it's the faster CPU.

 

[Tindytim]

Are we going to see a price reduction in the 940 or the 965 that gives me any reason to purchase them over the 920?

 

[cangelini]

Not enough to warrant spending an extra $200 or more, in my opinion.

 

[burnley14]

Good thing I didn't shell out for the 965 yesterday.

Oh wait, I don't have unlimited cash, so I won't be shelling out for the 975 any time soon either . . .

 

[Dustpuppy]

Those game results look like you ran into serious GPU limits. As a result I think you may have been showing a difference in motherboards rather than processors on some of those tests. That does make it an interesting result in other ways though. It looks like the i7 boards have room to mature a little bit more relative to the older tech.

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

Who said that AMD holds the crown in performance? I think any half witted enthusiast who hasn't been hiding underneath a rock for the past year knows that the i7 (and even the core 2 duo in some test) is king. I would hope that people who visit tomshardware or rather any tech website knows that in terms of highend power, AMD doesn't come close to Intel at all.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]Dustpuppy[/nom]Those game results look like you ran into serious GPU limits. As a result I think you may have been showing a difference in motherboards rather than processors on some of those tests. That does make it an interesting result in other ways though. It looks like the i7 boards have room to mature a little bit more relative to the older tech.[/citation]

Likely, yes. If you look back to this doozy of a benchmark-fest, you'll see it isn't under you add a second or third GTX 280 that i7 starts putting on some distance. Up until then, though, it's worth noting that the other two platforms (Core 2 and Phenom) are actually faster!

 

[doomtomb]

Really, any of the i7 processors besides the 920 seems like a waste because of the marginal performance increases for exponential price hikes. I was especially alarmed by the DDR3 memory results. There is the synthetic benchmark advantage of higher bandwidth at higher speeds but absolutely no difference across the board ranging from 1066 to 2133 in real world encoding or what not.

Pretty absurd, I think I'd just stick with the 920 @ 3.8GHz and some affordable DDR3 1600MHz memory.

 

[cadder]

Do these higher end chips have higher overclock ability than the 920?

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]Summer Leigh Castle[/nom]Who said that AMD holds the crown in performance? I think any half witted enthusiast who hasn't been hiding underneath a rock for the past year knows that the i7 (and even the core 2 duo in some test) is king. I would hope that people who visit tomshardware or rather any tech website knows that in terms of highend power, AMD doesn't come close to Intel at all.[/citation]
king to what ? a few nutcases that for 1 more fps will go and pay 700+ more $ ? even in the Video editing business let`s say .. nobody will go and buy those CPUs they don`t add to the $ and given the current crysis situation there won`t bee to many studios willing to throw out the window the price of a fully working station just to get a new CPU. For me now the Kings still are Intel`s i7 920 and AMD`s PII 955.

 

[ravenware]

If you spend enough time in our comments section, then you’re probably under the impression that AMD currently holds the performance crown and can do no wrong. I get it; AMD is the underdog and it’s hip to applaud competition. I'm certainly in favor of faster hardware, lower prices, and fair capitalism; those things benefit us all.

WTF?

I have yet to see anyone make such a claim and definitely not in mass.

I have seen AMD Phenom II x3 720 dubbed the price to performance champion.

 

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]cadder[/nom]Do these higher end chips have higher overclock ability than the 920?[/citation]
The 965 and 975 have an unlocked multiplier, so yes. By how much? I'm not sure.

Is it going to be worth the $1000 price tag.

 

[Sinj]

Lol, this 975 only clocks 120mhz fast than my 920 D0 with no volts and it is much cooler at 60degrees at load

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]Tindytim[/nom]The 965 and 975 have an unlocked multiplier, so yes. By how much? I'm not sure.Is it going to be worth the $1000 price tag.[/citation]
that`s what i was trying to point out in my previous comment but somebody out there instead of getting 3 x i7 920 they rather spend it all on only 1 cpu so i put the question again king to what ? i rather have 3 computers powered by i7 920 than having only one i7 975, for an editing studio that means 3 ppl working at the same time doing 3 times much more work than 1 guy These CPUs are not only for show an marketing to throw at ppl that they can realy crush AMD(but not in the games section where`s no logical reason to buy those) but very few ... too few will actualy buy those in the near future, and btw encoding is done with the guy afk from the pc you don`t sit at the PC ... i rather spend 700$ less and enjoy 2 more beers till my encoding is done ... at least this is how i see it.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]ravenware[/nom]WTF?I have yet to see anyone make such a claim and definitely not in mass.I have seen AMD Phenom II x3 720 dubbed the price to performance champion.[/citation]

I'm being facetious about the performance. But look at the comments in the most recent SBM. Three separate authors independently pick Intel platforms and suddenly there's a conspiracy going on ;-)

 

[apache_lives]

its stupid comparing this to a Phenom II when the Phenom II isnt priced anywhere near the same as the Intel part - the Core i5's will address this whole area and "compete" with with the Phenom II's etc as a mainstream part and as the Core 2 replacement.

 

[anamaniac]

It would be nice to know what Toms can crank the i7 875 up to with a decent water cooling setup. I just read an article on another site were a guy reached 2200+ ddr3 successfully and 4.6GHZ on a D0 i7 920.
Some of us like to see what the limits are.

If the possible overclock gains are ignorable, if at all existent, I think the 920 will hopefully be my next baby if not a i5. The money saved on getting a 920 D0 over a 975 would pay for a sweet liquid cooling setup. Or maybe I should get a job again...

 

[SpadeM]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]I'm being facetious about the performance. But look at the comments in the most recent SBM. Three separate authors independently pick Intel platforms and suddenly there's a conspiracy going on ;-)[/citation]

I know that by now I sound like a broken record but u guys make the conspiracy possible. I mean look at the gaming benchmarks between Phenom 2 and i7 and Core... at first glance one would think "damn didn't know AMD was that fast" but that is a false impression. You guys made an article a couple of weeks ago stating that the i7+X58 doesn't play nice with Nvidia graphics, and you proved it. But despite that you keep on using a geforce 260 knowing it will perform lower when pair with the i7 (that is why on the LGA quad and Phenom 2 things look much better)
And so you fuel the AMD vs Intel flame war that's going on. Please, make it clear once and for all, do a special article or something, write it with BIG LETTERS: 2 systems, i7 + nvidia and then a ati offering and a phenom system + nvidia and a ati offering.

 

[ohim]

It`s funny seeing how AMD + Intel work better than nvidia + intel )an IT paradox i might say ^^

 

[jah_33]

Regarding pricing, we will start buying i5 or shelling out 500$/1000$ once Intell discontinue the 920 at launch of i5.

 

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]jah_33[/nom]Regarding pricing, we will start buying i5 or shelling out 500$/1000$ once Intell discontinue the 920 at launch of i5.[/citation]
I doubt they will end the 920 when the i5's come out, they aren't being marketed to the same people.

The i5's aren't for us, they have integrated graphics on die, and are limited to 16 PCI-e lanes due to the PCI controller also being on die (so I doubt any motherboard makers will even put a 16x lane on i5 motherboards).

The i5's aren't going to be replacing the 920.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]SpadeM[/nom] But despite that you keep on using a geforce 260 knowing it will perform lower when pair with the i7 (that is why on the LGA quad and Phenom 2 things look much better)And so you fuel the AMD vs Intel flame war that's going on. Please, make it clear once and for all, do a special article or something, write it with BIG LETTERS: 2 systems, i7 + nvidia and then a ati offering and a phenom system + nvidia and a ati offering.[/citation]

Thanks for the feedback, Spade.

The GTX 260 is part of our reference platform. Switched it up yesterday on the AMD CPU reviews so the folks who've been asking for AMD/AMD testing would have that. However, I think we'd all just rather see the performance issues between i7/NV fixed in the couple of games affected. Other than that, performance is as expected!

Best,
Chris