Intel's 875k - laughing at 4GHz on air!

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First, let me say thank you to both Intel and Digital Storm for giving me the chance to review this killer piece of hardware, the new i7 875k was a pleasure to use from unbox to the final benchmark, quite a product.           

I'm calling this the budget enthusiast review, here to show you that you don't need liquid to laugh at 4.0 GHz. Those of you who have a real thirst for power, but the budget for air cooling need to look no further.
You have to love that new box smell

The 875k Bio:
Of course we have the 1156 Lynnfield base, this chip features the same features as its early brothers. 4 cores, 8 logical with Hyperthreading, a stock speed of 2.93 GHz, which is enhanced by Turbo Boost.
Hyperthreading can be explained by picturing each core as an engine modded to push 1 gear with the option to route power to a 2nd gear, your operating system treats each single core as 2 cores when possible, this handles workloads more efficiently. Instead of having a huge chunk of your power sitting around watching, it is now put to work, enhancing the processor's ability to multitask.

I like to explain Turbo Boost as "Green" overclocking, if your processor doesnt feel its nessessary to max out, it only uses the power it needs to. IE not opening up to 4GHz to open a few browser windows. But then, when you are surrounded and things start getting out of hand, instead of you wishing you had taken the time to overclock, your Lynnfield picks up your slack by injecting a stimpak (raising your multiplier) to handle the extra load smoothly.
Major plus here is that cpu cooling gets easier and quieter, and your overall computer use becomes much more efficient. An important thing to note is that you do NOT need to disable this to overclock. If you are careful to leave a little headroom, you can overclock AND have turbo ready to jump out and give you the juice when you need it.

The "Unlocked" multiplier:
In a nutshell, as I am sure plenty of you have seen by now: this means overclocking made easy. You dont need to spend time reading and tweaking to get extra power out of your chip. Just open the bios, change your 22x multiplier to a 25, and boom, you have a 3.3GHz processor, no muss no fuss.
Now, my personal assessment of this is that it is a great feature, very cool very easy, very customizable. However, with my specific chip, I was able to get higher by sticking with the trusty 22x.

Food for thought: overclocking this and similar processors is a give and take of base clock x multiplier, ( 875k comes with 22x133 = 2.9GHz ) Usually, the more you raise the base clock, the more you need to push the voltage, where raising the multiplier usually requires less. Thats why this chip is so easy to overclock, you change one setting and you don't really have to do anything else. In my case, I'm a power monger, its all about that last benchmark to me. And as I said, in this case, the 22x gave me the highest results. 

*************************
Ok enough talking, lets hit the gas!
Benchmarks will be seperated into 3 categories

Stock - 22x133, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost OFF
Turbo - 22x133, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost ON
Overclocked - 22x191, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost OFF

I will leave temps out for the most part to talk about the results, you will find temps at the end
Torture Rack:
Intel i7 875k
2x2GB Patriot Viper II Sector 5 Ram 2400MHz 
Gigabyte P55USB3 Board
MSI GTX 470
Noctua cooler (with 2x Scythe Slipstreams)
Chip and Ram installed:

Massive Noctua U12P heatsink

Added on my own Slipstream fans, and dropped it all in a custom painted HAF932 

(you can find more pictures on my worklog, -link coming soon-)
Heres a taste:

The mixed test was definitely exciting, PCmark seems to be getting a little dated. These tests show an average 40ish% gain with a 15-20% temp gain. I felt that adding all the bench numbers here would be guilding the lily, all I look for on a bench chart is relative results, and seeing roughly 40% gains across the board speaks volumes.

Everest Results:

Stock
CPU CPU Clock Motherboard  Chipset  Memory   CL-RCD-RP-RAS
Core i7 2933MHz    Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55   Dual DDR3-1066  7-7-7-20 CR1   
Memory Read 12615 MB/s 
Memory Write 10709 MB/s  
Memory Copy  14947 MB/s  
Memory Latency  54.3 ns  
CPU Queen 33437 
CPU PhotoWorxx  31749 
CPU ZLib  93049 KB/s  
CPU AES  23303 
FPU Julia 12268 
FPU Mandel  6636 
FPU SinJulia  5473 
----------------------------

Turbo
CPU CPU Clock Motherboard  Chipset  Memory   CL-RCD-RP-RAS
Core i7 3300 MHz     Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55   Dual DDR3-1053  7-7-7-20 CR1   
Memory Read 14367 MB/s 
Memory Write 13454 MB/s  
Memory Copy  15237 MB/s  
Memory Latency  53.4 ns  
CPU Queen 36500 
CPU PhotoWorxx  32810 
CPU ZLib  101238 KB/s  
CPU AES  25401 
FPU Julia 13381 
FPU Mandel  7274 
FPU SinJulia  5970 
----------------------------

Overclock
CPU CPU Clock Motherboard  Chipset  Memory   CL-RCD-RP-RAS
Core i7 4200MHz    Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55   Dual DDR3-2292  9-11-9-27 CR1 
Memory Read 20044 MB/s 
Memory Write 15380 MB/s  
Memory Copy  20926 MB/s  
Memory Latency  36.0 ns  
CPU Queen 48101 
CPU PhotoWorxx  50160 
CPU ZLib  133798 KB/s  
CPU AES  33437 
FPU Julia 17592 
FPU Mandel  9514 
FPU SinJulia  7864 

Some of the gains in Everest got close to 60%, of course we have to credit Patriots screaming ram for a good portion of this gain.

*********************** 

Now what I found the most exciting about this test setup is the temps... with my overclocked config, I'm rarely bumping 75 with pcmark, 3dmark, Everest, an hour of Crysis, and an hour of MW2. Usually averaged in the 65 range with constant load. This equates to an average of 2:1 performance to temp ratio!! incredible!!! This did get axed by Prime95, which only after 10 minutes had me creeping up on 85. I feel strongly that it would have stayed stable, but I am not willing to risk going over 85 just to prove its stable for the 20th time. It ran every bench and stability test wonderfully, and real world testing with games showed WAY lower temps. This final OC set up was obtained with a Vcore of 1.4, not too shabby.

For right now, I will leave this saying that i booted into windows at 4.5GHz using a 25x multi, but not stable.. there could be more to come 

**updates should include more intense air cooling analysis and hopefully some higher clocks!

There isnt too much more to say, the chip's power speaks for itself. Amazing gains with very amazing cooling potential. You don't need liquid cooling to laugh in the face of 4.0 GHz, 4.2 with an average load temp of upper 60s is something to stop and stare at! Pick it up, max it out, and enjoy the benching!

Edited by !ender_ - 25 Jun 2010 at 8:55am

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!ender_ Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219	Quote Reply Topic: Intel's 875k - laughing at 4GHz on air! Posted: 25 Jun 2010 at 12:43am
	First, let me say thank you to both Intel and Digital Storm for giving me the chance to review this killer piece of hardware, the new i7 875k was a pleasure to use from unbox to the final benchmark, quite a product. I'm calling this the budget enthusiast review, here to show you that you don't need liquid to laugh at 4.0 GHz. Those of you who have a real thirst for power, but the budget for air cooling need to look no further. You have to love that new box smell The 875k Bio: Of course we have the 1156 Lynnfield base, this chip features the same features as its early brothers. 4 cores, 8 logical with Hyperthreading, a stock speed of 2.93 GHz, which is enhanced by Turbo Boost. Hyperthreading can be explained by picturing each core as an engine modded to push 1 gear with the option to route power to a 2nd gear, your operating system treats each single core as 2 cores when possible, this handles workloads more efficiently. Instead of having a huge chunk of your power sitting around watching, it is now put to work, enhancing the processor's ability to multitask. I like to explain Turbo Boost as "Green" overclocking, if your processor doesnt feel its nessessary to max out, it only uses the power it needs to. IE not opening up to 4GHz to open a few browser windows. But then, when you are surrounded and things start getting out of hand, instead of you wishing you had taken the time to overclock, your Lynnfield picks up your slack by injecting a stimpak (raising your multiplier) to handle the extra load smoothly. Major plus here is that cpu cooling gets easier and quieter, and your overall computer use becomes much more efficient. An important thing to note is that you do NOT need to disable this to overclock. If you are careful to leave a little headroom, you can overclock AND have turbo ready to jump out and give you the juice when you need it. The "Unlocked" multiplier: In a nutshell, as I am sure plenty of you have seen by now: this means overclocking made easy. You dont need to spend time reading and tweaking to get extra power out of your chip. Just open the bios, change your 22x multiplier to a 25, and boom, you have a 3.3GHz processor, no muss no fuss. Now, my personal assessment of this is that it is a great feature, very cool very easy, very customizable. However, with my specific chip, I was able to get higher by sticking with the trusty 22x. Food for thought: overclocking this and similar processors is a give and take of base clock x multiplier, ( 875k comes with 22x133 = 2.9GHz ) Usually, the more you raise the base clock, the more you need to push the voltage, where raising the multiplier usually requires less. Thats why this chip is so easy to overclock, you change one setting and you don't really have to do anything else. In my case, I'm a power monger, its all about that last benchmark to me. And as I said, in this case, the 22x gave me the highest results. ************************* Ok enough talking, lets hit the gas! Benchmarks will be seperated into 3 categories Stock - 22x133, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost OFF Turbo - 22x133, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost ON Overclocked - 22x191, Hyperthreading ON, Turbo Boost OFF I will leave temps out for the most part to talk about the results, you will find temps at the end Torture Rack: Intel i7 875k 2x2GB Patriot Viper II Sector 5 Ram 2400MHz Gigabyte P55USB3 Board MSI GTX 470 Noctua cooler (with 2x Scythe Slipstreams) Chip and Ram installed: Massive Noctua U12P heatsink Added on my own Slipstream fans, and dropped it all in a custom painted HAF932 (you can find more pictures on my worklog, -link coming soon-) Heres a taste: The mixed test was definitely exciting, PCmark seems to be getting a little dated. These tests show an average 40ish% gain with a 15-20% temp gain. I felt that adding all the bench numbers here would be guilding the lily, all I look for on a bench chart is relative results, and seeing roughly 40% gains across the board speaks volumes. Everest Results: Stock CPU CPU Clock Motherboard Chipset Memory CL-RCD-RP-RAS Core i7 2933MHz Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55 Dual DDR3-1066 7-7-7-20 CR1 Memory Read 12615 MB/s Memory Write 10709 MB/s Memory Copy 14947 MB/s Memory Latency 54.3 ns CPU Queen 33437 CPU PhotoWorxx 31749 CPU ZLib 93049 KB/s CPU AES 23303 FPU Julia 12268 FPU Mandel 6636 FPU SinJulia 5473 ---------------------------- Turbo CPU CPU Clock Motherboard Chipset Memory CL-RCD-RP-RAS Core i7 3300 MHz Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55 Dual DDR3-1053 7-7-7-20 CR1 Memory Read 14367 MB/s Memory Write 13454 MB/s Memory Copy 15237 MB/s Memory Latency 53.4 ns CPU Queen 36500 CPU PhotoWorxx 32810 CPU ZLib 101238 KB/s CPU AES 25401 FPU Julia 13381 FPU Mandel 7274 FPU SinJulia 5970 ---------------------------- Overclock CPU CPU Clock Motherboard Chipset Memory CL-RCD-RP-RAS Core i7 4200MHz Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 P55 Dual DDR3-2292 9-11-9-27 CR1 Memory Read 20044 MB/s Memory Write 15380 MB/s Memory Copy 20926 MB/s Memory Latency 36.0 ns CPU Queen 48101 CPU PhotoWorxx 50160 CPU ZLib 133798 KB/s CPU AES 33437 FPU Julia 17592 FPU Mandel 9514 FPU SinJulia 7864 Some of the gains in Everest got close to 60%, of course we have to credit Patriots screaming ram for a good portion of this gain. ********************* Now what I found the most exciting about this test setup is the temps... with my overclocked config, I'm rarely bumping 75 with pcmark, 3dmark, Everest, an hour of Crysis, and an hour of MW2. Usually averaged in the 65 range with constant load. This equates to an average of 2:1 performance to temp ratio!! incredible!!! This did get axed by Prime95, which only after 10 minutes had me creeping up on 85. I feel strongly that it would have stayed stable, but I am not willing to risk going over 85 just to prove its stable for the 20th time. It ran every bench and stability test wonderfully, and real world testing with games showed WAY lower temps. This final OC set up was obtained with a Vcore of 1.4, not too shabby. For right now, I will leave this saying that i booted into windows at 4.5GHz using a 25x multi, but not stable.. there could be more to come updates should include more intense air cooling analysis and hopefully some higher clocks! There isnt too much more to say, the chip's power speaks for itself. Amazing gains with very amazing cooling potential. You don't need liquid cooling to laugh in the face of 4.0 GHz, 4.2 with an average load temp of upper 60s is something to stop and stare at! Pick it up, max it out, and enjoy the benching! Edited by !ender_ - 25 Jun 2010 at 8:55am

justin.kerr Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 06 May 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5084	Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jun 2010 at 8:29am
	nice job !ender !! now get us some Prime95 runs!!


!ender_ Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219	Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jun 2010 at 8:35am
	haha i knew that would be the first thing you said! just had a chance to check yours out, really nice results i think im going to have to drop to 187 to run prime for any longer than 10-15 min without going over 82-83 =/ im going to get on that after i finish my work log, probably coming tonight! Edited by !ender_ - 25 Jun 2010 at 8:36am

Cretae Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 22 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 7331	Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jun 2010 at 8:40pm
	Just...wow.
	Coolermaster Storm Sniper Intel Core i7 930 3.8GHz OC EVGA X58 LE 6GB DDR3 1600Mhz Ram 750W Corsair 1TB HDD 1x ATI RadeonHD 5870 1GB Noctua Dual 120mm I can make my mind think... anything....

ablahblah Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2312	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 2010 at 12:08pm
	dang, NICE...!
	R4D4RPR00F Core i7 920 @ 3.9Ghz Asus Sabertooth X58 EVGA GTX 570 Mushkin 6GB 1414Mhz

rholyrag Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 841	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jul 2010 at 4:59am
	Nice review !ender! How's the worklog coming along?
	"What we do in life echoes in eternity" - Maximus from Gladiator

!ender_ Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jul 2010 at 8:37am
	its already posted in the general forum http://digitalstormonline.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=11259 :)

rholyrag Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 841	Quote Reply Posted: 03 Jul 2010 at 5:23am
	Thank you !ender. I missed it in the general forum.
	"What we do in life echoes in eternity" - Maximus from Gladiator

Intel's 875k - laughing at 4GHz on air!

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