{"id":21343,"date":"2010-10-16T08:54:44","date_gmt":"2010-10-16T07:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=21343"},"modified":"2010-10-17T14:49:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-17T13:49:44","slug":"intel-i7-870-performance-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/intel-i7-870-performance-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel i7 870 Performance Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--pagetitle:Introduction & Setup--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Introduction<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Today I\u2019ll be testing the performance of an i7 870 processor to see how it compares to an i5 750 in 22 different games, at the settings I play them at. This is literally a drop-in upgrade; the processor is swapped while everything else stays the same.<\/p>\n<p>As the base turbo frequency of the i5 750 is <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">2.8 GHz<\/span> and it\u2019s <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">3.2 GHz<\/span> for the i7 870, that represents a best-case frequency increase of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">14%<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll also be using my current primary gaming card, which is a <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">GTX480<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Hardware<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel Core i5 750 (2.8 GHz, turbo on), Intel Core i7 870 (3.2 GHz, turbo on, HT off).<\/li>\n<li>4 GB DDR3-1333 RAM (2\u00d72 GB, dual-channel).<\/li>\n<li>Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 (Intel P55 chipset, F6 BIOS).<\/li>\n<li>nVidia GeForce GTX480 (1.5 GB, reference clocks).<\/li>\n<li>Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic.<\/li>\n<li>30\u201d HP LP3065.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Software<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Windows 7 (64 bit).<\/li>\n<li>nVidia driver 258.96, high quality filtering, all optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled.<\/li>\n<li>DirectX June 2010.<\/li>\n<li>All games patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Settings<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>16xAF forced in the driver, vsync forced off in the driver.<\/li>\n<li>AA forced either through the driver or enabled in-game, whichever works better.<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>All results show an average framerate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:1920x1200--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">1920&#215;1200<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21350\" title=\"Text 1920\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-1920.png?resize=292%2C254\" alt=\"Text 1920\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21346\" title=\"Graph 1920\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-1920.png?resize=450%2C419\" alt=\"Graph 1920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-1920.png 450w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-1920-300x279.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The differences here fall within the bounds of benchmarking noise. The 14% clock gain from the CPU makes no difference given the GTX480 completely bottlenecks performance at the settings being utilized.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:2560x1600 (TrMS)--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2560&#215;1600 (Transparency Multi-Sampling)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ms.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21351\" title=\"Text 2560ms\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ms.png?resize=307%2C186\" alt=\"Text 2560ms\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ms.png 307w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ms-300x181.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 307px) 100vw, 307px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21347\" title=\"Graph 2560ms\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ms.png?resize=451%2C306\" alt=\"Graph 2560ms\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ms.png 451w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ms-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This page mimics the previous page in that the GTX480 is completely bottlenecking performance, so the i7 870 is really no faster than the i5 750.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:2560x1600 (TrSS)--><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2560&#215;1600 (Transparency Super-Sampling<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ss.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21352\" title=\"Text 2560ss\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ss.png?resize=291%2C321\" alt=\"Text 2560ss\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ss.png 291w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-2560ss-271x300.png 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 291px) 100vw, 291px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21348\" title=\"Graph 2560ss\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ss.png?resize=451%2C544\" alt=\"Graph 2560ss\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ss.png 451w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-2560ss-248x300.png 248w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, <em>Stalker Call of Pripyat<\/em> sees a slight performance gain of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">3.78%<\/span>, but the rest of the games show no real performance change.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:16xS--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">16xS<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21349\" title=\"Text 16xS\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-16xS.png?resize=306%2C185\" alt=\"Text 16xS\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-16xS.png 306w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Text-16xS-300x181.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 306px) 100vw, 306px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21345\" title=\"Graph 16xS\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-16xS.png?resize=452%2C322\" alt=\"Graph 16xS\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-16xS.png 452w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Graph-16xS-300x213.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 452px) 100vw, 452px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I decided to include these benchmarks for a bit of fun, and also because some of you have questioned whether I\u2019m CPU limited in the older games I test.<\/p>\n<p>Based on these results, the GTX480 can be made to completely bottleneck even 11 year old games like <em>Unreal Tournament 99<\/em> and <em>Quake 3<\/em>. The scores are quite playable for such twitch shooters of yester-year.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Conclusion--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once again we see that when games are configured to run at their highest playable settings, the graphics card determines the performance level, often to the point of completely bottlenecking the system. An i5 750 at stock speed is absolutely overkill for the 22 games I tested today.<\/p>\n<p>The settings I used aren\u2019t theoretical or random either; I actually use them when I play these games, in many cases having played them from start to finish. In fact, I recently finished <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> for the second time and I logged 60 hours into the game, making sure to explore thoroughly. Getting a GTX480 has given me a huge benefit in that game while the benefit from an i5 750\/i7 870 has been slight at best.<\/p>\n<p>A gaming rig should have the fastest graphics card and the biggest monitor with the highest resolution you can afford. Then you should configure your games to their highest playable settings. Every game is different, but it\u2019s definitely worth spending the time tinkering to get things just right.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304 <\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705 <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=21343\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: BFG10K\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Article-Image.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,7],"tags":[4029,3171,2244,2271,106],"class_list":["post-21343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-technology","tag-258-96","tag-gtx480","tag-i5-750","tag-i7-870","tag-windows-7"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}