System setup and notes
| System | AMD Phenom AM2+ system | AMD Phenom AM3 system | Intel Core 2 system | Intel Core i7 system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processors | AMD Phenom II X4 940 (3.0GHz, 2MB L2, 6MB L3, AM2+, quad-core, 45nm) £148 | AMD
Phenom II X4
955 BE (3.20GHz, 2MB L2, 6MB L3, AM3, quad-core, 45nm) £187 |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz, 12MB L2 cache,
quad-core, 45nm)
£199 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.0GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core, 45nm) £250 |
Intel Core i7 920
(2.67GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3, quad-core,
45nm) £225 Intel Core i7 965 (3.20GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3, quad-core, 45nm) £775 Intel Core i7 975 (3.33GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3, quad-core, 45nm) £899 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H (790GX + SB750) | ASUS M4A79T Deluxe (790FX + SB750) | Foxconn P45A-S (Intel P45 + ICH10R) | Foxconn Bloodrage X58 (X58 + ICH10R) |
| BIOS revision | F3 (13/01/2009) | 0037 beta (04/02/2009) | P05 (27/08/2008) | P08 (13/04/09) |
| Memory | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR 8500 DDR2 (£49) | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair XMS3 DHX PC-10,666 DDR3 | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR 8500 DDR2 (£49) | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Crucial DDR3-1,333 CL9 DDR3 |
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 1,069MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,337.6MHz | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 1,066.6MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,333MHz |
| Graphics card(s) | Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB | |||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB SATAII (ST3500320AS) | |||
| Optical drive(s) | Sony DW-Q30A | |||
| Mainboard software | Standard Vista SP1 drivers + AHCI 3.1.1540.64 | Standard Vista SP1 drivers + AHCI 3.1.1540.64 | Intel Inf 9.1.0.1008 | Intel Inf 9.1.1.1012 + IMSM 8.7.0.1007 |
| Graphics driver | ATI Catalyst 8.12 | |||
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business, SP1 64-bit | |||
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 2405FPW | |||
Software
| Benchmarks | ScienceMark memory latency Sandra 2009 SP2 (15.72), float buffered HEXUS.PiFast calculation to 10m places HEXUS DivX 6.8.3 + Lame encoding enhanced multithreading on + SSE4 search off CINEBENCH R10 multi-CPU render 64-bit POV-Ray 3.7.0 beta 25a 64-bit Company of Heroes: OF v2.103, DX9, 1,024x768 - low and high quality ET: QW, v1.5, 1,024x768 and 1,680x1,050 - high-detail settings. DivX 6.8.3 + Lame + QuickTime 7.5.5 (multitasking) DivX 6.8.3 + Lame + ET: QW, v1.5, 1,680x1,050 smp off (multitasking) Power-draw at idle and load, as a platform |
|---|
Notes
Take a look at four non-Core i7 CPUs and you'll see they're priced at between £148 and £250, with two from AMD - 955 BE and 940 BE - and two Intel Core 2 Quads: Q9550 and Q9650. The cheapest Core i7 also mixes it up at this price point, coming in at £225, However, Intel charges a wholly exorbitant premium for, ostensibly, the same chip rated to a higher speed, as the Core i7 965 EE etails for £775 and the 975 EE is likely to appear for £899.
The rationale behind such pricing is simple; Intel knows it won't sell many EE chips so it might as well make them hideously expensive. Those who want the absolute best will lay down the necessary cash, no matter how much, and Intel has this market all to itself.Bear in mind that the Core i7 chips were run with the Turbo Boost enabled in the motherboard's BIOS, pushing up results in single- and dual-threaded tests.
