Time To Upgrade: Should You Dump Your 2007 PC?

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Intel agressively promotes its Core i3/i5/i7 series, but we wonder: Does it make sense to replace a three-year old high-end PC? In the end, quad-core processors were already pretty powerful in 2007. We created a brand new system and a 2007 PC to compare.

Test Setup

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System I
Motherboard (LGA 775)MSI P35 Platinum (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel P35, BIOS: 1.C (30/12/2009)
CPUIntel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (65 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 cache, TDP 130 W)
RAM4 x 1 GB DDR2-800 (Corsair CM2C1024-6400C4 5-5-5-15)
GraphicsZotac GeForce 8800 GTS, GPU: G80 (570 MHz), Graphics Memory: 320 MB GDDR3 (900 MHz), Stream Processors: 96
Hard DriveWestern Digital Raptor, 150 GB (WD1500ADFD), 10 000 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 16 MB cache
Power SupplyPC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750 W
System II
Motherboard (LGA 1156)MSI P55A Fuzion (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel P55, BIOS: 1.0 (07/12/2010)
CPUIntel Core i7-870 (45 nm, 2.93 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 and 8 MB L3 cache, TDP 95 W, Rev. B1)
RAM2 x 2 GB DDR-1333 (OCZ3G2000LV4GK)
GraphicsMSI R5870 Lightning TwinFrozr II, GPU: Cypress (900 MHz), Graphics RAM: 1024 MB GDDR5 (2400 MHz), Stream Processors: 1600
Hard DriveG.Skill Phoenix 100 GB SSD (FM-25S2S-100GBP1), SandForce SF-1200 controller, SATA 3Gb/s
Power SupplyPC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750 W
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate x64 fully updated on 07/29/2010 using Windows Update
Drivers and Settings
ATI Radeon DriverATI Catalyst 10.7 for Windows 7
Nvidia Geforce DriverGeForce Driver Release 258.96
Intel Chipset DriversChipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1025
Intel Storage DriversMatrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.​9.​0.​1023

Benchmarks and Settings

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3D-Games Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
GTA IVVersion: 1.0.3 Video Mode: - 1680x1050 - Aspect Ratio: Auto - All options: Low - View Distance: 10 - Detail Distance: 100 - Vehicle Density: 100 - Shadow Density: 16 - Definition: On - Vsync: Off In-game Benchmark
Left 4 DeadVersion: 1.0.0.5 Video Mode: 1680x1050 Game Settings - Anti Aliasing none - Filtering Trilinear - Wait for vertical sync disabled - Shader Detail Medium - Effect Detail Medium - Model/Texture Detail Medium Demo: THG Demo 1
Audio Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
iTunesVersion: 9.0.3.15 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min. Convert to AAC audio format
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min. Convert WAV to MP3 audio format Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kbps)
Video Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
Handbrake CLIVersion: 0.94 Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 min. Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-channel Video: AVC1 Audio1: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept Reference v2Version: 2.0.0.1555 MPEG-2 to H.264 MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec. HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2) Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2-channel, 16-bit, 224 Kbps) Codec: H.264 Pro Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS) Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Application Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
7-ZipVersion 9.1 beta LZMA2 Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
WinRARVersion 3.92 RAR Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
WinZip 14Version 14.0 Pro (8652) WinZip Commandline Version 3 ZIPX Syntax "-a -ez -p -r" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
Autodesk 3ds Max 2010Version: 10 x64 Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9) Frame: 248 Resolution: 1440 x 1080
CineBench 11.5Version 11.5 Build CB25720DEMO CPU Test single- and multi-threaded
Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64-Bit)Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)
Adobe Acrobat 9 ProfessionalVersion: 9.0.0 (Extended) == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128-bit RC4)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF PowerPoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-Printer
FritzFritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.3.2
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
3DMark VantageVersion: 1.02 Patch 1901, Options: Performance, Graphics Test 1, Graphics Test 2, CPU Test 1, CPU Test 2
PCMark VantageVersion: 1.0.2.0 Patch 1901, PCMark Benchmark, Memories Benchmark
SiSoftware Sandra 2010Version: 2010.1.16.10, Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwith