OC3D Review: Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield Processor

[JN]

"i7 for socket 1156? How can this be? More importantly, how does it perform? With the NDA now lifted we can reveal Intels new 8 series range topper. Find out how it gets on in our latest review..." - by w3bbo

Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield Processor

 

[MeltedDuron]

wow Jimbo thats obscenely fast! It's a shame about the dual channel but I guess they had to cut costs somewhere.. You gonna be playing with some i5's any time soon?

 

[JN]

wow Jimbo thats obscenely fast! It's a shame about the dual channel but I guess they had to cut costs somewhere.. You gonna be playing with some i5's any time soon?

The ASUS review launched today is on the i5 platform if ya wanna have a butchers at those benches

 

[Rastalovich]

It's all very impressive stuff, looking from the aspect of purchasing a batch of components for a new build.

Personally I'm very unimpressed. Perhaps even to the extent of missing out on the i-series of components altogether.

Perhaps it's the aftermath of purchasing a x9650, and that it's costing is proving itself (even tho I got it cheap), but I look at this review alongside a review some time ago that included x9650 figures, and I draw my conclusions.

(I would have liked to see the best of the 775 figures run alongside this to show more clearly what I'm thinking)

More than the crop of components Intel are coming out with, it would be the upgrade of tech for i/o that I think will govern my next thought of buying a new stuff.

For sure, if there is a need or a question posed by some1 "what do I get", I have to say these or AMD's offering - but this would be more for the fact that they're the new kids on the block and cos the sockets have changed.

Personally I'm gonna skip this generation. Bring on the cheap 775 stuff imo. The benefits just aren't there. Put all ur cash into the best GPU and whatever with the rest of ur money.

Great review tho.

 

[VonBlade]

As I'm sure you'll be reviewing a load of the new architecture in future days/weeks, is there any chance we could have a clockspeed like-for-like? It's fine to see the 920 nearly holding on, but really the pricepoint comparison should be a 950. Or at least bump the 920 to the 870 speed. Then we could really see if the 1156 is worthwhile for those not on the i7 bandwagon already.

Personally, looking at the price and performance I can't see who'd buy 1156 based kit. The 920 is only 30 or so more than the 860, a good P55 motherboard isn't far off a P6TD and the memory is cheaper, but the price per stick is about the same so that's moot.

The only benefit I can see is the 95w TDP instead of 130w. Hmmmm. Hugely disappointing really. If they could have brought it in at AMD price points then maybe. Unless people buy a P55 UD3 and the i5 750. But then you lose hyperthreading which is a boon for those of us who use certain apps. Curses.

I was really hoping this would be the bang-for-buck bargain to beat them all. I'll stick with dreaming of a 920 and a P6TD.

Although I can't fault the quality of the review as per usual W3bbo

 

[Bungral]

No games to compare how much the memory really alters things? I mean we know it's going to make a big difference on the memory intensive benchmarks and not so much on the cpu intensive benchmarks, but gaming is what I wanna see.

I want to know how much the dual over the triple controller with lose compared to the gains from the increased clock speed.

I'm not sure about this flagship Lynnfield with dual controller costing more than the lower end 920 with tripple channel. Surely with each model up the price and performance should increase. Hmmmm

Nice first touch on the platform though Rich.. Looking forward to more

 

[Zoot]

Great Review.

Looking at the reviews of Lynnfield around the place now, I'm sort of glad I went the AMD route with the Phenom II. I'd be pretty annoyed if I rushed out to buy an i7 about now. Plus I hate what Intel has done now with 3 different sockets on the market.

Plus there's still no tangible difference really with gaming which if i'm honest is all I really do on my rig, so my current rig should do me for hopefully another couple of years. I'd still be on a 1.5 year old Yorkfield platform if that stupid Rampage Formula didn't give up a few months ago. I think my next upgrade will be 32nm processors.

 

[Mul.]

These processors are certainly holding their own. I do genuinely feel however that the P55 motherboards are simply priced too high. I also don't particularly understand the point of the i7 870 and with retail prices above £400 across the web, one would have to be a fool to buy one. The bang per buck lies with the Core i5 750 and this will be the processor that most will buy. Without Hyperthreading it doesn't push too far ahead of the Phenom II's and it's main redeeming factor is that it definitely overclocks better than the X4 955 and 965. In the long term I'd like to see the i5 750 settle towards £135 with a reasonable choice of motherboards from £80-100 as this is where LGA1156 could kick Socket AM3 where it hurts.

 

[w3bbo]

The top 8 series CPU that we tested is always going to attract a premium, as do all the flagship CPU's. Whether you deem this worth it or not will depend on your budget and the amount of value you place on such premium products. Before we dismiss such products I think it would be wise to see if lesser CPU's from the range can attract the same clockspeeds. Hopefully they can but if not I think the price may well be justified.

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

[chritonnun]

I really hope you like this new challenge! Best of luck, everyone!