Six-Core Analysis, Part 2: Intel Core i7-980X Scaling
Intel's Turbo Boost technology provides a mechanism for improving system performance most significantly in lightly-threaded apps, even at peak loads. But what is the feature's impact on a Gulftown-based Core i7-980X processor with different core counts?
Benchmark Results: Synthetics
Raw CPU horsepower scales perfectly. Each core you switch on adds essentially the same computing power.
The encryption tests show top performance per core when using all six cores.
If you remember the Phenom II X6's results, you'll recall that at least three cores are required to saturate the 13+ GB/s memory bandwidth of dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory. Here, the Intel Core i7 six-core processor gets rather close to the 19 GB/s throughput maximum of triple-channel DDR3-1333 memory with only two cores.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Current page: Benchmark Results: Synthetics
Prev Page Test Setup And Benchmarks Next Page Benchmark Results: 3DMark And PCMark Vantage