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CPU: Intel Core i7-975
Since the memory performance differences are smaller on slower processors, we decided to use the fastest Core i7 processor available: the new 3.33 GHz Core i7-975 Extreme Edition. It succeeds the 3.2 GHz Core i7-965, inheriting all technical characteristics, such as the 45 nm Nehalem core, 6.4 GT/s Quick Path Interconnect (QPI), 8 MB L3 cache, 256 KB L2 cache for each of the four cores and Hyper Threading. It also includes Turbo mode, which automatically overclocks the Extreme Edition Core i7 processor by one clock speed increment if possible within the 130 W thermal envelope (and two bins if only one core is active).
Besides the 133 MHz clock speed increase—which is rather insignificant—the main difference is the upgraded stepping. The Core i7-975 is a D0 model, while the i7-965 CPUs were manufactured using C0 silicon. We locked the Core i7 CPU clock speed to 3.46 GHz manually to avoid performance variances due to Turbo mode; 3.46 GHz equals the 3.33 GHz base speed plus the 133 MHz increment that Turbo would add when activated.
Platform: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
Since we are using several MSI motherboards on overclocking projects, and an Asus platform for our upcoming 2009 CPU charts, we looked around for a different platform vendor this time. The board we chose is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P, which is based on the X58 Express chipset. It is an upper mainstream version of the EX58 Extreme, which we reviewed here. The layout and base hardware, however, is the same on the Extreme, the UD5 and the UD4P—they share the same 12+2+2 phase voltage regulator, PCI Express configuration and so forth. They differ in features like the heat pipe construction, secondary Gigabit controller, and additional storage connectivity.
Gigabyte has done well in refining motherboard platforms by being quick to provide power saving features. Differences can typically be found only if you’re into heavy overclocking, but the overall hardware basis from Gigabyte appears more solid than ever these days. Finally, it’s good to know that the cheaper EX58-UD4P is almost identical, technically, to the enthusiast X58 Extreme.
Memory: Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D (3 x 2 GB)
Corsair is one of the top brands for enthusiast memory; we’ve been using DDR3-1600 Dominator memory as our reference RAM for many reviews in Tom’s Hardware labs worldwide. The intention of this review is to try many different memory speeds and both fast and slow timings, hence the TR3X6G1600C8D seemed to be a good choice. It can be overclocked to more than DDR3-1600 speeds, but can also be operated at a conservative DDR3-800 clock. Our timings covered CL6-6-6-18 up to CL11-11-11-30.
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I disagree.
You only used apps that the average user would. 12GB of RAM is more useful to professional applications.
And you didn't even turn paging off.
Great review...and for all those suckers who spent god only knows how much money on that over priced Corsair Dominator DDR3...ha ha ha ha...SUCKERS!
I disagree.You only used apps that the average user would. 12GB of RAM is more useful to professional applications.And you didn't even turn paging off.
I think everybody knows that more RAM would be useful for "professional applications" where there are endless possibilities to eat up your memory. Everything from virtualizing OSes to medical imaging.
I disagree.You only used apps that the average user would. 12GB of RAM is more useful to professional applications.And you didn't even turn paging off.
Also benchmarking one app at a time is utterly useless, same goes for processor benchmarks - thrash that memory subsystem and rattle that architecture to get a true result - that low latency memory may just pay off when multiple cores are thrashing the ram/fsb etc.
I think everybody knows that more RAM would be useful for "professional applications" where there are endless possibilities to eat up your memory. Everything from virtualizing OSes to medical imaging.
Of course it would be, but the question is by how much? I do 3D work with my Desktop, and I get some lag when working with large and/or complex scenes. It would have been nice if they had used a few applications that made used of that RAM, and would be used by Desktop users (Blender anyone?).
These results look very little different from the amd results. Guess it's as it always has been. Get the amount of memory you need, and the frequencies you need for whatever oc you aim at (if any).
Good stuff. I find these consumer focused articles a great read. Just like the AMD article, there appears to be minimal performance gains in real world applications with the faster (and usually more expensive) DDR3 RAM. Looks like DDR3-1333 and low latency is the sweet spot for price-performance conscious shoppers. Thanks!
DDR3-1600 is cheap.
I have no reason not to be interested in it.
I'm sure you're not going to upgrade your memory too soon, so might as well. It's not overly expensive, so I doubt you'll regret it.
Hell, at $10/gig for ddr2 800, and $15/gig for ddr3 1600... I think it's easy enough.
Nice article on the benefits of DDR3 at different clocks. Thanks.
good article. as with all computer components, most users just need to find the best price/performance parts and they'll have themselves a great running computer. there's no need even for enthusiast gamers to spend 3x the money necessary on some miracle ram. even if they gave 10 more frames on every game, you can easily buy another videocard for the extra amount.
Does the QPI link affect memory performance? If it does, then I would have liked to see the i7 920 (which has a lower QPI speed) results in this same benchmark suite.
Great article. This is the kind of shit people want to know.
This is probably the single most relevant article you could have written for me right now. Thanks Tom's!
Good article. Especially the day *after* I just got my i7 rig at newegg
I picked up 2x3 GB of OCZ Platinum 1600 7-7-7-24. From this article I could have saved a few bucks with cheaper memory but at $80 after MIR and free shipping it didn't break the bank. My primary application is astronomical image processing. Very memory and CPU intensive. Actually it's disk intensive as well. Intensive everything I guess! 
NocturnalOne, if your app is disk intensive aswell, try looking into picking up
an U320 RAID card and some 2nd-hand 15000rpm SCSI disks. You'd be amazed what's out
there. I managed to get an unused 300GB 15K Fujitsu drive for just under $120,
though it's easier to obtain 146GB 15Ks at good prices.
Access times of this type of drive knock the socks off SATA, and there's usually
lots of RAID cards on eBay; I use both PCIX and PCIe cards. For raw storage, I just
have two 1TB SATAs (Samsung HD103UJ) in different systems; this drive has a decent
sustained I/O, but an average access time 3X slower than 15K SCSI.
A SCSI setup should give your work a hefty speed boost if its I/O-bound. SCSI is
far too expensive new, but 2nd-hand it can be a real bargain.
My main experimental setup (Tezro) has 8 x 146GB 15K, which gives 540MB/sec random
write speed, 400MB/sec random read, 650MB/sec sequential write, 480MB/sec sequential
read. The cards I normally hunt for are the LSI 22320-R PCIX and the LSI 22320IE
PCIe, though the Tezro has several QLA12160s instead just now.
My PC has an LSI 22320-R with 12 x 146GB 15K Maxtor Atlas 15K II (external unit),
while the system disk (Seagate 146GB 15K ST3146855LC) is connected to an LSI 20320IE
PCIe card. I'm going to build an i7 system in Jul/Aug, for which I have an LSI
22320IE PCIe card ready & waiting.
Are you dealing with very large 2D images by any chance?
Ian.
PS. If your mbd doesn't have PCIX slots, then just hunt for PCIe cards instead;
they're slightly faster anyway.
Hey Ian,
thanks for your reply. I was actually considering getting an SSD but decided to hold of until prices drop a little. Then I'll decide if I'll add one as a data drive or move the OS to it.
The disk intensive part is what's called calibration and stacking. Dozens (sometimes hundreds) of images are averaged to increase the signal to noise ratio. This is also quite CPU intensive and makes full use of every core so there was no doubt I'd benefit from an i7. Each image is 11MB (3000x2000 points). Once I get the new system put together I'll figure out where the bottleneck is and then act appropriately. Getting a SCSI array is a good idea. I picked the MSI X58M motherboard as I wanted a small, relatively quiet package with the Antec mini P180 case.
Post processing of the images (which are now 3000x2000x3x32bit or about 60MB in TIFF format) is mostly CPU bound although writing and reading swapfiles takes some time too. It's already pretty quick on my current system so it'll probably be fine with the 1TB 7200.12 I picked. Again all cores are used to do complex transformations on the images so an i7 was the natural choice.
This stuff is just for my hobby/obsession otherwise I'd plop down even more cash
In real world apps you won't see a difference, but in gaming you will with higher CPU clocks and Memory OC...
If you have a board that has a QPI mulitplier of x44, 250 BCLK, CPU Muliplier 16 and Memory multiplier/divider of 8 or 15 that should hit DDR3-2000, with 4GHz OC. Your QPI should or would run anywhere between 9GT'z to 10GT's effective, depending on your voltages, and the core 920's only need 1.27v or so to maintain speed. The QPI voltage is the tricky part because your system becomes unstable as soon as you increase the QPI multiplier and voltage needs to go up on that to maintain stability.
Perhaps buying DDR3-1600 or less is better, but if you are gaming with intense graphic games, you need a good GPU and good RAM.
Just my 2 cents...
Why on earth would you need a 10GT/s QPI?
I got the fastest memory they listed at 6GB for 90 dollars, yea Why_Me I'm such a sucker. Idiots, gotta love them.
I got the fastest memory they listed at 6GB for 90 dollars, yea Why_Me I'm such a sucker. Idiots, gotta love them.
Yeah no joke, I paid $95 three months ago for 6 Gigs of DDR3, 8/8/8/21. I could have saved a whopping $15 at most by going with "slower" RAM. I'm glad to pay an extra $15 for even a CHANCE that I might get that 7% boost seen in LFD.
6 gigs of Dominator starts at $160 - $300+ at newegg. That's what I was referring to. Nobody has to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. I paid $90 for my G.SKILL 1600.