New six-core goliath
Once a machine that could cut through benchmarks like a hot knife through the yummiest of butter, you look at the four-year-old system underneath the desk and pine for a day that fortune smiles enough to enable you to discard the old warrior and replace it with a lovely, new PC.Asking enthusiasts to author a kit wishlist is akin to discussing the best way from Dawlish to Falmouth with a bunch of middle-aged men - you'll get fervent, energetic debate and a myriad of suggestions from everyone who believes they know best.
What you cannot do without in any modern system is a CPU, however, and Intel and AMD have the consumer market pretty much sewn-up. Hoping that fortune shows largesse you'll look toward a six-core chip from either company.
The current king-of-the-hill is the Intel Core i7 980X EE - an £800 chip that possesses six cores and is able to provide a 12-thread computing punch. Up until last week it was Intel's only entry in the hexa-core ranks and remains severely undercut in price by AMD's Phenom II X6 range of chips that retail from £150-£225.
Intel has now brought a second six-core, 12-thread chip out to play for the well-heeled enthusiast. Known as Core i7 970, let's trot out the spec table and give it the once-over. Each colour represents a different family of processors, by the way.
Specifications
| Model number | Cores / threads | GHz clock | Turbo Boost (max) | Process | Die size | Cache | Interface | Memory
controller |
Official
memory support |
TDP |
Socket | Price (as of today) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenom II X4 965 BE | 4/4 | 3.40 | N/A | 45nm (Deneb) | 258mm² | 2MB
L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333+ | 95W | AM3 | £145 |
| Phenom II X6 1055T | 6/6 | 2.80 | 3.30 | 45nm (Thuban) | 346mm² | 3MB
L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,600+ | 125W 95W |
AM3 | £150 |
| Phenom II X6 1090T | 6/6 | 3.20 | 3.60 | 45nm (Thuban) | 346mm² | 3MB
L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,600+ | 125W | AM3 | £225 |
| Core i5 661 (IGP) | 2/4 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 32nm (Clarkdale) | 81mm² | 512KB
L2 4MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 87W | LGA1156 | £160 |
| Core i5 750 | 4/4 | 2.67 | 3.20 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £150 |
| Core i7 860 | 4/8 | 2.80 | 3.46 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £220 |
| Core i7 870 |
4/8 | 2.93 | 3.60 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £230 |
| Core i7 920 | 4/8 | 2.67 | 2.93 | 45nm (Bloomfield) | 263mm² | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £190 |
| Core i7 975 EE | 4/8 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 45nm (Bloomfield) | 263mm² | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £700 |
| Core i7 970 | 6/12 | 3.20 | 3.46 | 32nm (Westmere) | 248mm² | 1.5MB
L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £680 |
| Core i7 980X EE | 6/12 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 32nm (Westmere) | 248mm² | 1.5MB
L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £795 |
Examination
The newest performance chip from manufacturing giant Intel is based on exactly the same technology as the 980X EE. The only meaningful difference is that the new CPU's multiplier is dropped from 25x to 24x, which results in a final clock-speed that's 133MHx slower than its bigger brother. Consequently, the maximum Turbo Boost speed also drops by one multiplier, as well. Intel also reduces the QPI speed - the link between the CPU and the chipset - from 6.4GT/s to 4.8GT/s.
Value expunged from the Intel high-end dictionary?
Intel six-core chips and value remain oxymoronic terms. The confusingly-named Core i7 970 - for there are four-core versions with similar nomenclature - postures with a £680 price-tag in tow. That is more than an Intel Core i7 920, AMD Phenom II X6 1055T and 1090T combined, with enough change left over to buy a half-decent graphics card.
The obvious downside for the consumer is that Intel is under no pressure to reduce the price of its flagship chips, because while AMD has made significant performance gains with its hexa-core CPUs, Intel's 12-thread duo guzzle through benchmarks faster than Mark 'Manx Missile' Cavendish sprints on the Champs-Élysées.
