Another 860 vs 920

[vinshon]

Im so tempting in getting the core i860 seeing as its cost less to run(which means cooler), has better turbo and beating 920 in most benchmarks, i know that clock for clock 920 will win 860 with turbo off.

But... what if i overclock the 860 & 920 to like 3.33ghz and both still have turbo on, wouldnt the 860 smash the 920 because of the better turbo?

I know that 920 is better for video editing etc etc, but all i do is play games(with single GPU, not planning to get 2nd) so 860 has really caught my eyes.

 

[Maziar]

Here is a good review:
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634

 

[vinshon]

from what ive read on that article,
Bloomfields turbo only gives about 5% increase in performance, while..
Lynnfields turbo gives 17% increase in performance.

Overclocking the lynfield to 3.2ghz with turbo on single core it can be boost to 4ghz wtf gg.

Also in that article the Lynnfield does what better then 920 in terms of single card gaming.

Im gonna try sell my 920 and get the 860.

 

[djcoolmasterx]

That would be silly vinshon, just overclock the 920.

 

[Maziar]

hmm i would do that because u can easily OC a 920 to 4.0GHZ also future 6-8 32nm CPUs will work in 1366 motherboards,i would keep the 920 if i were u its a solid CPU and OCs very well,don't just upgrade because a new tech has come out

 

[surda]

i go with what maziar said, future cpu's are going to be on the 1366 socket, such as core i9 i dont know if its true or just a rumor but its gonna come out in 2010

 

[bn_hot]

Just because a new CPU comes out on that socket, that does NOT mean that your mobo/bios/chipset/etc. will support that new CPU, right?

Every time I've ever wanted to upgrade, the "new CPU" translates into new mobo/memory/cpu.

So, unless there is something I'm missing, the "cpu socket" you get should not be a factor beyond your CPU cooler needs.

Right?

 

[ComputerNovice]

Honestly from the reviews I've read the 860 beats the 920 in most benchmarks. But even though the 860 beats the 920 on most benchmarks I would still personally chose to use the Intel Core i7 920 simply because it uses the 1366 socket. So seeing as Intel is going to be using the 1366 socket for their upcoming performance CPU'S I think that if you want the system you build to be upgradable in the future then you should go with the i7 920 but if your wanting to just make a fast system NOW then I would go with the 860. It honestly just comes down to what you want. So in my opinion neither of them is really better than the other.

 

[ComputerNovice]

WHAT? Why would you downgrade? overclock it to 4Ghz

I think he must just want performance now man otherwise downgrading like that doesn't make since. Because the 1366 socket type is a much better socket type seeing as intel is going to make all their new badass CPU'S for the 1366

 

[ComputerNovice]

I pray that he understands what I was trying to tell him about how the i7 920 1366 socket would leave room for upgrading later on down the road.

 

[vinshon]

mmm maybe i shouldnt =/ i cant really afford it lol

what does the watt TDP mean? 920 has 130tdp where as 860 has 90tdp

does that mean 920 can overclock higher while still keeping turbo mode on?
iv'e read somewhere 920 can be overclock to about 3.6ghz with stock voltages AND still have turbo on.

Can the 860 do that? or because of the lower tdp i cant use turbo @ higher overclocks

 

[Maziar]

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=19

Unfortunately the PCIe controller on Lynnfield is tied to the BCLK. Increase the BCLK to overclock your CPU and you're also increasing the PCIe controller frequency. This doesn't play well with most PCIe cards, so the first rule of thumb is to try and stay at 133MHz multiples when increasing your BCLK.

The second issue is the bigger one. As you increase the BCLK you increase the frequency of the transistors that communicate to the GPU(s) on the PCIe bus. Those transistors have to send data very far (relatively speaking) and very quickly. When you overclock, you're asking even more of them.

We know that Bloomfield can easily hit higher frequencies without increasing the core voltage, so there's no reason to assume that Lynnfield's core cannot (in fact, we know it can). The issue is the PCIe controller; at higher frequencies those "outside facing" transistors need more juice to operate. Unfortunately on Lynnfield rev 1 there doesn't appear to be a way to selectively give the PCIe transistors more voltage, instead you have to up the voltage to the entire processor.

Intel knows the solution to Lynnfield's voltage requirement for overclocking, unfortunately it's not something that can be applied retroactively. Intel could decouple the PCIe controller from BCLK by introducing more PLLs into the chip or, alternatively, tweak the transistors used for the PCIe interface. Either way we can expect this to change in some later rev of the processor. Whether that means we'll see it in the 45nm generation or we'll have to wait until 32nm remains to be seen.

The good news is that Lynnfield can still overclock well. The bad news is that unlike Bloomfield (and Phenom II) you can't just leave the Vcore untouched to get serious increases in frequency.

 

[Beitzel15]

I just oredered a 920....

I dont know how to OC... I want to OC mine though... would it run safe, for years at 4ghz?

 

[ComputerNovice]

I just oredered a 920....

I dont know how to OC... I want to OC mine though... would it run safe, for years at 4ghz?

It would somewhat depend on what type of MOBO you have, along with what stepping your CPU ends up being, the D0 is pretty much the best stepping out of the i7 920's. If you have a case with good air flow and a good MOBO to go along with that you can OC a i7 920 up to about 3.6-3.8Ghz using a STOCK heatsink and run it for hours without anything going bad. I have done it using my i7 920 a few times although I'll admit I always turn it back down after a couple hours of gaming just because I'm scared it'll break my CPU or overheat my MOBO but honestly my CPU hasn't ever even ran hot so I doubt it would break from running in the 3.8Ghz range. My i7 920 is the D0 stepping and I am using a ASrock Extreme MOBO which is a very cheap MOBO that happens to run hot but even in spite of that my i7 920 OC's GREAT it probably has to do with the fact that I have the Coolermaster RC 932 case which is freakin huge and has really big Fan's.