INTEL CORE I7 920 REVIEW BENCHMARK AND OVERCLOCKING

The announced in 2006, core architecture , marked the beginning of new high performance desktop and mobile systems. Processors on base Of core combined the superiority on performance over NetBurst architecture , low energy consumption ( low heat emission ) and overclocking potential. The architecture core helped Intel company to avoid the economic problems, connected with relative unpopularity of NetBurst processors . During the last two years Intel consecutively enlarged the possibilities of core architecture , released new revisions, and recently transferred the release of processors to the 45nm technical process. In 2007 Intel stated about the announcement of nehalem architecture ( processors core i7), built on base Of core with a number of cardinal update :

• The memory controller was transferred from the north bridge (motherboard) directly in the processor itself
• support 3- X (triple) channel operation mode
• in contrast to Kentsfield/yorkfield, which consist on two crystals with 2 core each, all 4 core Bloomfield are located on one crystal

• At the given moment, the presented core i7 consists on three 4- core processors: 920, 940 and 965 Extreme edition.

  	Core i7 965 Extreme edition	Core i7 940	Core i7 920
  Socket	LGA 1366
  Technical process	45 nm
  Quantity of core/threads	4/8
  Frequency	3.20 GHz	2.93 GHz	2.66 GHz
  Multiplier	x 24.0	x 22.0	x 20.0
  QPI	1 x 6.4 GT/s	1 x 4.8 GT/s	1 x 4.8 GT/s
  Cache	4 x 256 KB L2/8Mb L3
  Supported memory type	DDR 3-800/1066/ 1333/1600	DDR 3-800/1066	DDR 3-800/1066
  TDP, in watt	130
  Price in parties from 1000 pieces	$999	$562	$284

Core I7 920 operating temperature :

According to the utility CoreTemp version 0.99, the processor temperature with the regular box Intel cooler , varies in the region 35-40 degrees . Under load (using OCCT utility version 2.0.0 ) the temperature rose to 55-60 degrees .

Core I7 920 overclocking :

The default voltage for this processor is 1.2V (1.16 with full load) , in this case the processor was stable at the frequency 3000 MHz (@ default voltage), but @3100Mhz it immediately crashed under OCCT test. After raising the core voltage to 1.3V it was possible to pass OCCT test at the frequency 3200 MHz . In this case 1.4V gave a stable 3400Mhz. The tendency is clear. We decided to give this processor 1.5V ( :-) , note it is not recommended to use 1.5v ), but @ 3600 MHz the system could not even POST. As it was explained later, the reason for the observed limitation is due to the QPI bus , in other words, The max stable QPI bus is 175 MHz (motherboard limitation ); therefore the processor overclock was limited to 3500MHz.

Core I7 920 vs Core architecture :

For comparison we used some popular four core processor : Intel Q6600 and Q9450, based on 65nm and 45nm technical processes.

Here is the list of used computer hardware:

Socket 1366:

• Intel core i7 920 (Engineering sample) Bloomfield C0
• Intel DX58SO (Engineering sample, Bios 2260 )

Socket 775:

• Intel core2 quad q6600, Kentsfield G0
• Intel core2 quad q9450, Yorkfield E0
• ASUS P5W64-WS evo (Intel x48, Bios 0601)

• 2x1Gb Kingston KHX14400D3/K2 (DDR 3-1800 CL8, micron D9GTR chips )
• 1x1Gb OCZ3P16002GK platinum (DDR 3-1600 CL7, micron D9GTR chips )
• XFX 8600GT XXX edition
• Intel SSDSA2MH080G1GN (80Gb SSD)
• Chieftec CFT-750-14CS (750W)
• No case :-)

Software:

• Microsoft Windows XP service pack 2
• Intel INF drivers version 9.1.0.1007
• nVidia forceWare version 169.21
  
• Futuremark 3DMark06 version 1.1.0
• CineBench r10 version
• CPUmark99
• Everest version 4.60.1500
• Fritz chess benchmark
• NucleaRUS version 2.0.0
• ScienceMark version 2.0.0
• SuperPi version 1.5
• TechArp x264 HD version 0.59.819M
• WinRAR version 3.71
• wPrime version 1.55

Core i7 does not love excessively high memory capacity . We can reach the frequencies 920-930Mhz with 6-6-5-15, but, absolutely all tests showed a performance loss relative to the same frequency with 7-7-7-16 or 8-7-6-18.

Now let us say a few words about the Intel memory voltage limit equal to : 1.65 v . In practice a constant use of memory with 2.2-2.3V have not influenced at all the overclocking potential/stability (Note we deal here with few days test , the time required to write this review , So some defect may appear for longer operation , but in our case 2.2-2.3 v was pretty safe).

Since the memory controller is build in the processor, the memory overclock depends now also on the processor temperature .

As conclusion, I can say only that core i7 is a new step in the development of desktop processors. Yes, the overclocking potential is low currently , but this may be fixed with time or luck . The use of HT technology and built-in memory controller considerably improved the performance in comparison with previous families processors.

Now this is a question of price since user have to pay not only for the processors. and motherboard Socket 1366 but also for the DDR3 memory ..