Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Components > CPU > Intel Core i5 And Core i7: Intel’s Mainstream Magnum Opus

Test Setup And Benchmarks

05:11 - Tuesday 8 September 2009 by Chris Angelini

Test Hardware
Processors	Intel Core i7-920 Extreme (Bloomfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled
	Intel Core i7-870 (Lynnfield) 2.93 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled
	Intel Core i5-750 (Lynnfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled
	Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (Yorkfield) 3.2 GHz, LGA 775, 1,600 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2, Power-savings enabled
	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S (Yorkfield) 2.83 GHz, LGA 775, 1,333 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2, Power-savings enabled
	AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (Deneb) 3.4 GHz, Socket AM3, 4 GT/s HyperTransport, 6 MB L3, Power-savings enabled
Motherboards	Asus P6T (LGA 1366) X58/ICH10R, BIOS 0707
	Gigabyte P55-UD6 (LGA 1156) P55, BIOS F3
	Intel DX48BT2 (LGA 775) X48/ICH10R, BIOS 1902
	Asus M4A79T Deluxe (AM3) 790FX/SB750, BIOS 1103
Memory	Corsair 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20 @ DDR3-1333
	Corsair 6 GB (3 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20 @ DDR3-1333
Hard Drive	Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC 160 GB SATA 3 Gb/s
	Intel SSDSA2MH080G1GN 80 GB SATA 3 Gb/s
Graphics	Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB
Power Supply	Cooler Master UCP 1100W
Heatsink	Vigor Gaming Monsoon III LT
System Software And Drivers
Operating System	Windows 7 x64 RTM
DirectX	DirectX 11
Platform Driver	Intel INF Chipset Update Utility 9.1.1.1015
Graphics Driver	Catalyst 9.8

Although we tested the Core i7 and Core i5 configurations on Gigabyte's P55-UD6, our Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, memory performance, and Windows 7 versus Vista power measurements were all taken on Intel's DP55KG motherboard.

Remember that we ran all of our gaming analysis separately in order to fit in single- and dual-card CrossFire and SLI configurations across two resolutions and seven different titles. That story can be found right here.

Benchmarks and Settings
Audio Encoding
iTunes	Version: 8.2.1.6 (64-bit), Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Default format AAC
Lame MP3	Version: 3.98.2 (32-bit), Audio CD ""Terminator II" SE, 53 min, wave to MP3, 160 Kb/s
Video Encoding
TMPEG 4.7	Version: 4.7, Import File: "Terminator II" SE DVD (5 Minutes), Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9
DivX 6.8.5	Encoding mode: Insane Quality, Enhanced Multi-Threading, Enabled using SSE4, Quarter-pixel search
XviD 1.2.2	Display encoding status=off
Mainconcept Reference 1.6.1	MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2), Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 KHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS), Profile: Tom’s Hardware Settings for Qct-Core
Applications
Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 (64-bit)	Version: 2009 Service Pack 1, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV)
WinRAR 3.90	Version 3.90 (64-bit), Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB)
WinZip 12.1	Version 12.1, Compression=Best, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB)
Adobe Photoshop CS4	Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates filters
AVG Anti-Virus 8.5	Virus scan of 334MB of compressed files
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark Vantage	Version: 1.02, GPU and CPU scores
PCMark Vantage	Version: 1.00, System, Memories, TV and Movies, and Productivity benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646
SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4	CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/MultiMedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark