Intel Core i7 benchmarks make Core 2 Extreme look like a washed-up has-been

Presumably in an (utterly futile) attempt to bring down the power grid all around the Mediterranean, print magazine PC World Greece benchmarked three powerful Nehalem desktop processors -- the Core i7 Extreme Edition 965, and the apparently non-extreme Core i7 920 and 940. Names aside, performance from all three was extreme compared to most stuff currently on the market. The data for number nerds: in 3DMark06 the 920 finished ever-so-slightly behind the Core 2 Extreme QX9770's 4,922 marks with 4,818 while the 940 and the 965 both opened a can of you-know-what at 5,282 and 5,716 respectively. More titillating figures await enthusiasts through the read link, but for you normal folk only concerned that Nehalem wouldn't be fast enough to justify an upgrade (and you weren't), rest assured that it triumphed in this no-holds-barred CPU cage match.

[Via techPowerUp! Forums, thanks sk]

[LonnieDVD Posted Nov 1st 2008 9:45AM]

I have not read much about Nehalem, but I sure hope it runs cooler than the current Quad Cores.

[spin cycle Posted Nov 1st 2008 11:20AM]

With 130W TDP, it doesn't seem it will, at least at peak usage. We can still hope the standby power is better.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 1st 2008 10:44AM]

I want this CPU alongwith the new Intel SSD.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 1st 2008 3:46PM]

Engadget, 3DMark (regardless of year) is completely useless in terms of performance. I want to see the time it takes to render a multi-layered, 3D sequence ive made in After Effects (oh btw, the new UI in CS4 is soo much better, no new features though, nothing they could really do to make it better really, thought i'd add that), not some stupid, synthetic benchmark. The hard work tasks on my PC are probably a 50/50 split between gaming and video editing.

So im more interested in shear computational power which these things clearly have. Im not planning to shift from my E2140 (clocked at 3.1GHz) for some time, not till at least march but i want to see what else they can pull out. I wants me whatever overclocks the most. Simply as thats best value for money. If a 4GHz Q9550 is still best value for money in march, i'll likely go for that.

[FZeroWing Posted Nov 2nd 2008 7:51PM]

@Michael
If you call most people here Intel Fanboys...then you yourself are proving that your an AMD fanboy, which probably explains the garbage comments of yours trying to compare a non-existant AMD processor, which has no guarantee that it will live up to its words, to the Core i7 which is there now and is able to live up to most of its expectations.


Anyways, I read on www.core-i7.com that official release date is tomorrow. I don't know if that source is plausible or not.
Can't wait till it comes out though i am 6years overdue for an upgrade...I have an EXTREME Pentium III(3) at 663MHz

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2008 9:46PM]

As you said before. It is not a chip for gammers at this time till the times catch up, but if AMD falls on it's face, Intel will take over market again (which everyone knows is the plan) and prices of their processors will sky rocket again. So, for our sake we better hope that Amd comes out fighting and has something to back it up. Or we are all in for a price hike and wishing we had more money again to get what we want. Go AMD and good luck. We need the compitition. As far as the new Intel chip, They all have their ups and downs. So do some back ground work and see if it is really what you need and want. Chipsets and proccesors change yearly so keep looking ahead.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2008 11:16AM]

Ok I have the i7 965 (Only because it costed me 545 dollars) and it was so fast, I decided to give my old E8400 computer away. The specs themselfs make you want to stab your eyes out.
i7 965 desktop -
1333 Mhz Ram 6Gb
80GB Intel SSD
Gtx 280

E8400 Desktop -
800 Mhz Ram 2Gb
500GB HDD
8400 512mb.

And the i7 I don't even see it not being able to max out crysis (AA and everything) with 2 GTX 280's

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 20th 2008 1:03PM]

I find it very interesting how the price of this new CPU is under 1k... does this CPU even outperforms the QX9775 X2 (X2 IS FOR THE NUMBER OF PROCESSORS IN A SKULLTRAIL MOBO)... i mean price seem really fair and combination of DDR3 support.... it should do amazing but i still dont believe it will do better then 2 QX9775 X2 on a skulltrail MOBO

you will need to replace most important components with this CPU... such as the mobo and ram and only those get up to be about 1k