Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition review
Multigraphics agnosticAnother significant change with the Core i7/X58 landscape had to do with graphics cards. Intel's Skulltrail platform of last year supported both standards as well, but the specialized CPUs that made the board worthwhile were prohibitively expensive. With the X58 chipset, yes, it comes on an expensive motherboard, but you can purchase a Core i7 chip to go with it for less than US$300. The Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Skulltrail CPU started at US$1,500. Gamers who stay current with graphics cards should be especially happy with this flexibility, as changing 3D card vendors will no longer require a wholesale system rebuild.We tested both SLI and CrossFire setups on our Core i7 test bed and found both worked without trouble, requiring nothing more than installing the hardware and appropriate graphics driver software as you would normally. As for their performance, AMD has issued a series of so-called "hot-fix" drivers to improve compatibility and frame rates of its cards with various PC games, which suggests that its software still needs to work out a few kinks on X58. Nvidia has not been shy to point out this fact (its beta drivers have worked fine), but we also find it telling that all three of the high-priced Core i7 gaming desktops we're currently reviewing come with multicard AMD configurations. A quicker pathFinally, the last major change with Core i7 is the introduction of what Intel's calling the QuickPath Interconnect (QPI). Essentially this is the Intel version of AMD's HyperTransport interface between the CPU and the chipset. The major impact of the QPI for consumers is that Intel uses different QPI ratings to distinguish the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition from the non-Extreme Core i7 chips. Rated by Gigatransfers per second (Gigatransfers, or GT, refers to a million transfers of data), the Extreme Edition comes in at 6.4GT/sec, where the non-Extreme versions handle only 4.8GT/sec. In addition to that speed advantage, Intel also ships the Extreme version with an unlocked clock multiplier, which means it can be overclocked. The standard Core i7's will have to remain at their shipping speeds.
Tags: Motherboard, chipset, Chip, processor, Intel Corp. |
- Talkback
-
sevenich says...
Intel's Nehalem CPU architecture, now commercially branded as i7 Core, will outperform even their very own extreme Quad Core. In a way, the comparison is not apple-to-apple because Nehalem is a very different architecture, a much better one... it is the first time that Intel is using memory controller and its QuickPath interconnect technology, features that will undoubtedly become permanent in the years ahead. If you want a PC that you don't need to upgrade for 2-3 years, will take in possible software releases overr the period, will run native 64-bit applications flawlessly... this is the product you're waiting for.
Nov 12, 2008 10:15
Intel's Nehalem CPU architecture, now commercially branded as i7 Core, will outperform even their very own extreme Quad Core. In a way, the comparison is not apple-to-apple because Nehalem is a very different architecture, a much better one... it is the first time that Intel is using memory controller and its QuickPath interconnect technology, features that will undoubtedly become permanent in the years ahead. If you want a PC that you don't need to upgrade for 2-3 years, will take in possible software releases overr the period, will run native 64-bit applications flawlessly... this is the product you're waiting for.
Nov 12, 2008 10:15
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
