Intel core i7 930. true?

[RedMonarch]

Hey everyone, i was just about to buy an intel core i7 930 on newegg when i came across this review:

Latest BIOS Required

Pros: Cost slightly more than an i7 920 but it has 22X Multiplier and 23X with Turbo ON, so it overclocks better than a i7 920.

Cons: Latest BIOS update needed for this CPU work on any motherboard, and the BIOS can't be updated unless you have a bootable system, so you would need to buy both a i7 920 and a i7 930, use the 920 to boot up the system, update the bios to the latest version, then you can put in the 930. Why spend bother doing that when you can just use the 920 or save money and buy a Lynnfield i5 or AMD Phenom II X4 ???

45 nm, Intel clearly has the 32 nm technology ready, but chose not to use it.

D0 Stepping, the X58 i7 is almost 2 years old, you would have thought the latest i7 release would have evolved to something like a G0 stepping, like the Q6600 did.

Value for money, Lynnfield Core i5 and i7 is about the same as fast as a Bloomfield i7 but cost alot less for both CPU and motherboard.

130W TDP and that is with Turbo turned off, with Turbo turned on, the Bloomfield i7 is consuming 150W, as shown in HWMonitor.

Other Thoughts: The i7 930 is the last X58 Bloomfield i7 Intel will release, since new 32 nm 6 core Gulftown i7 will take over the the high performance Intel lineup, while Clarkdale and Lynnfield i3 and i5 is taking over the entry and mid range CPU lineup, so right now buying a Bloomfield i7 does not make any sense...

I wanted to know if i actually need the latest update on BIOS for it to work?? Thanks

 

[mi1ez]

Most new motherboard will support it "out-of-the-box" but it's always worth checking.

Also most retailers have 930 at more-or-less the same price as the 920 as it's the replacement product and the 920 is being phased out.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

My i7 930 worked fine with a DX58SO mobo and a BIOS from mid 2009.

The BIOS for the i7 930 was different for the BIOS for the i7 920, - for me, it had a different color layout (black and blue instead of gray and blue), and some of the options such as voltages were different.

Also, I notice that step-speed voltage drop (when in idle) was possible even if I had manually set the voltage for the i7 930. For the i7 920, the voltage did not drop and stayed constant if I had manually set the voltage.

So the i7 930 at least uses less energy due to better step-speed capabilities. From what I've read, it also overclocks better on much lower voltages.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

130W TDP and that is with Turbo turned off, with Turbo turned on, the Bloomfield i7 is consuming 150W, as shown in HWMonitor.

150W is not the TDP. 150W on HW monitor is the energy consumption. 130W TDP is the maximum amount of heat given off for stock speeds.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Hey everyone, i was just about to buy an intel core i7 930 on newegg when i came across this review:

Latest BIOS Required

Pros: Cost slightly more than an i7 920 but it has 22X Multiplier and 23X with Turbo ON, so it overclocks better than a i7 920.

Cons: Latest BIOS update needed for this CPU work on any motherboard, and the BIOS can't be updated unless you have a bootable system, so you would need to buy both a i7 920 and a i7 930, use the 920 to boot up the system, update the bios to the latest version, then you can put in the 930. Why spend bother doing that when you can just use the 920 or save money and buy a Lynnfield i5 or AMD Phenom II X4 ???

45 nm, Intel clearly has the 32 nm technology ready, but chose not to use it.

D0 Stepping, the X58 i7 is almost 2 years old, you would have thought the latest i7 release would have evolved to something like a G0 stepping, like the Q6600 did.

Value for money, Lynnfield Core i5 and i7 is about the same as fast as a Bloomfield i7 but cost alot less for both CPU and motherboard.

130W TDP and that is with Turbo turned off, with Turbo turned on, the Bloomfield i7 is consuming 150W, as shown in HWMonitor.

Other Thoughts: The i7 930 is the last X58 Bloomfield i7 Intel will release, since new 32 nm 6 core Gulftown i7 will take over the the high performance Intel lineup, while Clarkdale and Lynnfield i3 and i5 is taking over the entry and mid range CPU lineup, so right now buying a Bloomfield i7 does not make any sense...

I wanted to know if i actually need the latest update on BIOS for it to work?? Thanks

The cons, shown aren't really cons...

Latest BIOS update needed for this CPU work on any motherboard, and the BIOS can't be updated unless you have a bootable system, so you would need to buy both a i7 920 and a i7 930, use the 920 to boot up the system, update the bios to the latest version, then you can put in the 930. Why spend bother doing that when you can just use the 920 or save money and buy a Lynnfield i5 or AMD Phenom II X4 ???

^Thats false. If that were true, intel would be a in loads of trouble. I can buy a 930 right now along with a motherboard and it will be perfectly fine.

45 nm, Intel clearly has the 32 nm technology ready, but chose not to use it.

Huh?...the i7 930 was meant to be a replacement for the 920. It's supposed to be a little more powerful, refined, and be the same price about. If it were 32nm, do you really think it would be the same price? A 930 is just an update for the 920, not a completely new line of processor.

D0 Stepping, the X58 i7 is almost 2 years old, you would have thought the latest i7 release would have evolved to something like a G0 stepping, like the Q6600 did.

How is that a con?. It doesn't need to evolve, its already refined enough. What do you think Intel is going to keep working on this on forever while they already have new extreme hexacored editions out? It just means its already refined enough.

Value for money, Lynnfield Core i5 and i7 is about the same as fast as a Bloomfield i7 but cost alot less for both CPU and motherboard.

Really? The i7 860 right now is the exact same price as the 920, it used to be $20 more. The motherboards cost less because its a cheaper socket, doesn't have as much bandwidth into its PCI-E slots. It has dual channeled ram...etc.

Other Thoughts: The i7 930 is the last X58 Bloomfield i7 Intel will release, since new 32 nm 6 core Gulftown i7 will take over the the high performance Intel lineup, while Clarkdale and Lynnfield i3 and i5 is taking over the entry and mid range CPU lineup, so right now buying a Bloomfield i7 does not make any sense...

Why wouldn't it make any sense?

 

[Zinosys]

^^ I completely agree, Blackhawk.

To answer your question, the 930 should work out of the box with 99% of mobos on the market today. That review was either written a very long time ago, the person who wrote it was hopelessly misinformed, or he was an AMD fanboy (sorry).

Hehe, Cheers.