Though our main configurations are listed above, we also added AMD’s Phenom II X4 965 and Intel’s Core i7-870 to today’s charts to see how the above configurations compared to the CPU limits of our motherboards.
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With these processors initially installed at stock settings, we increased the data rate of our memory to DDR3-1600 at CAS 8-8-8-18 and 1.60V to represent the performance parity of higher-priced platforms. This should be fair for comparing the low-cost overclocks as well, since the speed-versus-timings equation is nearly identical.
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Campaign, Act III, Second Sun (45 sec. FRAPS) Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
Crysis
Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: Very High Details, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Details, 4x AA
Dirt 2 Demo
In-game benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Far Cry 2
Patch 1.03, DirectX 10, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Ultra High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra High Quality, 4x AA
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X
Patch 1.02, DirectX 10.1, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat Benchmark version Test Set 1: Ultra Preset, DX11 EFDL, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, DX11 EFDL, 4x MSAA
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark Vantage
Version: 1.0.1, GPU and CPU scores
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It should also take GTA IV (which is CPU intensive game and can utilize four cores) into consideration, although most games don't behave similar today. In addition, I would expect more and more to-be-released games to be able to utilize the full potential of quads.
all similar fps results usually means one of two things... either youre gpu limited or those results are accurate (meaning you didnt ever become cpu limited ... which I thought was the point of this review). Please redo the test with a 5970 to see if the rankings change. Plus if youre saving money on your cpu you can spend it on the gpu ;)
On the "Is Overclocking Needed" I think you forgot a few fours. A voltage of 1.72 would probably fry the processor quite quickly. You had it right later one with 1.472, but it shocked a me a bit at first to see such a high number, haha.
shin0bi272, correct me if I'm wrong, but the point of this article was to see how much the CPU really matters when paired with a reasonable single GPU. I think the result--that it doesn't much matter--is pretty good to know.
If a super high end GPU was used, it wouldn't be relevant to gamers looking at CPU performance.
For me personally though.... I'll stick with my i7. Beats any i3 at mental ray rendering any day.
I wonder who will buy such an exclusive separated Graphics card with the core-i3 processor. cause most of the core-i3 buyers don't want to waste money on a separated GPU.others will just keep their core-2(specially quad series) processor because they're better than core-i3 processors(According to 3D-Mark Result).