Final thoughts and rating

We looked at the Core i7 980X back in March this year and surmised that "the 3.33GHz-clocked Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition is, by a long, long way, the fastest desktop CPU ever released. It has wish-list status stamped all over it." Fast forward five months and those words still ring true.

Intel clearly wants to keep its six-core consumer chips tagged with premium prices and the recent introduction of the also-hexa-core Core i7 970 does little to change that. Clocked in at 3.20GHz - 133MHz slower than 980X - the newest chip misses out on unlocked multiplier support and ships with a slightly slower QPI link. The pragmatic upshot is that it benchmarks at 95-plus per cent of its bigger brother and it rips through our benchmark suite at a rate that makes all other CPUs seem anaemic in comparison.

The Intel Core i7 970's retail price of £680 means that the only people who will really consider purchasing it are those who look upon the Core i7 980X EE with covetous eyes. So which is the better overall proposition? Based on a sample of one from each model, we reckon that it's worth paying the extra £100 premium and going for the big-dog 980X EE. Why? Because it overclocks better and gives benchmarking aficionados - the kind of people who will drop £700 on a chip - an unlocked multiplier to play with.

Core i7 970 makes entry into the exclusive Intel six-core, 12-thread club that little bit more palatable. As good as it is, and boy is it fast, we really wish Intel would launch a sub-3GHz model at £350. Sadly for us, Intel is under absolutely no pressure to do so this year. Much like most things in life, if you want the best you simply have to pay for it.

The Good

Benchmark, knife, butter spring to mind
Slightly cheaper entry into Intel six-core club

The Bad

£680 is an awful lot of money for a second-rung chip
Doesn't overclock particularly well
Hard to justify when compared to 980X EE

HEXUS Rating

Intel Core i7 970 CPU

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Intel Core i7 970 CPU can be purchased from Scan.co.uk at a cost of £680.50.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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Excellent review Hexus. Style, content, all there :D

Though some of us have older warriors than just four year old machines ;)

Intel do need some competition in this market - I can't imagine it's costing them a huge amount over the 45nm chips so as you say, they've got nice margins simply because they can more or less charge what they like. Yet if you need 6 cores then it's far better economics to go with AMD, and if you need clock speed then it's far better to go with a different Intel chip.

I think Bulldozer will challenge this kind of level, but 8 cores for less money will be far more attractive, the question is what Intel will do at the time - it's so far away they could either drop the prices on this part or maybe 2011 sandy bridge will be making an appearance.

Hmmm…. It's very fast and shiny and all, but at this price it's surely pointless? If you can afford this then you can afford the 980X, which is fundamentally a faster chip - so why would you buy this one?? I think even 3 out of 5 is a bit generous frankly.

Plus the naming policy is almost NVidia-grade stupid ;)

Is Hexus still going to review the 95W version of the Phenom II X6 1055T??

I was thinking of making an Intel machine but thank you for this review.. you have totally sold me on the Phenom II X6 1090T, its the third best processor and right behind i7 970 but costs only a fraction of the price, just £225! Here comes another AMD machines! :rockon:

It does look to me that AMD is the way to go right now, but my Q9550 isn't really holding me back yet.