Core i7 head-to-head: 1156 vs. 1366

Excellent comparison Ross, thanks!

I tossed up the 32M screen of the P55/860 with 1000MHz mem instead of 800 in post #2. I will try to get some more compares (3Ds) done maybe tomorrow. If not, during the week.

I spent all last night fighting it on LN2. It all handles cold just fine, but I think I am reaching the limits of the IMC/mobo (~240BCLK benchable). 245BCLK was about my max ever just for a screen, so 240 benchable isn't bad. There seems no way around the limit though unless I really start loosening things up (which defeats the purpose). More cold and more voltage isn't working, so I'll try some finesse today. If that doesn't work relatively quickly, I may give the 870 a give go on cold in the UD6 before I run out of LN2.

disk11 said:

I can't wait for the gaming tests.

I was curious about the costs of the varible components so I look 'em up:
860 setup: $539.98 (just newegg)
920 setup: $509.98 (newegg cpu, ewiz mobo)

Even using microcenter for processor prices, the 920 is still cheaper. Any word on when pricedrops will occur?

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Keep in mind 1156 is brand new. 1366 has been around a while at this point. I remember it wasn't long after Q6600s came out that you could find them on ridiculous sales for $199 at Egg, Frys, Microcenter, etc. Come to think of it, I've seen $199 sales for the 920 at the same places. Either way, check again in a few weeks, and the holiday shopping season is right around the corner so there's bound to be some deals

I hope I have a job to take advantage of said deals. My current system is getting long in the tooth.

massman suggests that you try a newer BIOS on the P55, and if possible, try a C0 in the X58 with an older bios.

And also, I ask that you make sure that the RTL's between the two were consistent in your testing if possible.

I don't have a C0 available. Have massman send me a PM so I can give him my shipping address I'm on the 870+UD4P now. BIOS F4m for that board, but I'll see if I can dig up anything newer. It's pretty much copy/paste scores of the 860+UD6 at the same settings.

I'll take screens with RTL showing all future benches just for you , but I don't recall seeing anything different than 54 on channel A (56 on B IIRC). As I am not making any changes to the BIOS, h/w or mem tweaks on the desktop during these benches, it stands to reason RTL isn't fluctuating

So far, the only thing I've really seen in my normal benching (ie. not for this thread) that makes them change is CAS (and/or primaries in general) and *possibly* the 2:12 ratio. I'll take a note anytime I see something change it from now on and will try the 2x1GB and 2x2GB to see what impact that has on them too...I don't *think* it makes a diff, but it's not like I haven't been wrong before

I did 3Ds (except 01 and AM3) on the 870+UD4P in single and SLI to see scaling. I'll post them in the next day or two, but it's about what you'd expect: decent(?) gains in 3D03 (50%+ IIRC), not so much in 3D05 or 3D06. If I get some time this week, I want to bench both setups at default system settings too. Same OCs as above, just run the X58 the way it supposed to be (tri-channel, 19x default QPI, etc.).

I don't recall seeing anything different than 54 on channel A (56 on B IIRC)

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Screenies not needed, that's good enough for me. Just wanted to make sure.

massman thinks maybe newer BIOSes might be optimized better (and likewise a C0 on an older BIOS would perform poorer)

I think what you've found is consistent with what everyone else is getting on P55...it's just not clear why.

Great thread, I was just thinking about the intel line-up today and with the price drops, their performance to price ratio is much more inline with AMD. Its hard to pick AMD now, since the system components are much the same, but perform better.

Gautam said:

Screenies not needed, that's good enough for me. Just wanted to make sure.

massman thinks maybe newer BIOSes might be optimized better (and likewise a C0 on an older BIOS would perform poorer)

I think what you've found is consistent with what everyone else is getting on P55...it's just not clear why.

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OK, I will at least verify those are the RTLs being used and if anything changes, I'll make a note and try to find out why.

They probably still want to sell 1366?

LOL, unlike if you put an E8600 on an older BIOS

P55-UD4P, F4r beta is a bit better than the F4m I was using. ~1.5s faster in 32M and +100 on 3D06 (at least it cracked 22K). Mem AUTO secondaries are visibly different (tighter). I'm not sure of anything internal with F4r, but it's a small step in the right direction.

More info on the front page

Top quality as usual Ross

Gautam said:

Excellent test Ross. Pretty surprising actually. It's enough to matter for benchmark nuts like ourselves. 7 secs in 32M, 600 pts in 06...and that's with the uncore held constant and dual channel for the X58 as well. Don't know why the Lynnfield is lagging so much, but it's clearly noticeably behind...that 06 CPU score hit...damn.

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Brolloks said:

Nice data Ross, can you put another GTX 260 in their to see how the SLI scaling is between the two boards?

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These two questions were the first to pop into my head after reading your post Ross

Thanks Miah

I did the SLI scaling, they are the same (on 260s at least). I wanted to do tri-SLI just cuz and went to rig up a 3-way SLI bridge out of single bridges, but the slots are spaced as such on the UD6 that the longest SLI bridge won't reach from slot 3 to slot 1 to make the crossover I'm not sure it would enable in 3-way SLI anyway because of the low PCIe lanes, but wanted to try it anyway. Oh well

im kinda late in this thread. lol probably read though the beginning later tonight.

if you have yet to do a test, can you to a conparison for the 285gtx in sli and/or a test with a single 295gtx? really would like to see the 285gtx sli comparison though if you have yet to do so.

im fighting with my self on what to do. want to upgrade my current cpu (need cpu ram and mobo). i build a 1366 17 with a 920. evge sli mobo and 3 gigs of ram for 680 something. can get it down to 630 but would only have 2 year warranty with the motherboard.

for the 1156 build, ill get the 860 i7, 4 gigs of 2000mhz ddr3 gskill ram, and evga P55 sli mobo for 585.

idk. I really want a 1366 cause of Gulftown but i dont know how much that will be. if they will make a gulftown (6 cores 12 threads) for 350 or less then ill just wait to upgrade if not. i guess ill be going with the P55 set up.

Very professional quality article Ross, you have set a very high standard for us all who are working on articles. Excellent results and very insightful observations made by you throughout the writeup. Well Done !!

Hope you copyright it

atm743 said:

im kinda late in this thread. lol probably read though the beginning later tonight.

if you have yet to do a test, can you to a conparison for the 285gtx in sli and/or a test with a single 295gtx? really would like to see the 285gtx sli comparison though if you have yet to do so.

im fighting with my self on what to do. want to upgrade my current cpu (need cpu ram and mobo). i build a 1366 17 with a 920. evge sli mobo and 3 gigs of ram for 680 something. can get it down to 630 but would only have 2 year warranty with the motherboard.

for the 1156 build, ill get the 860 i7, 4 gigs of 2000mhz ddr3 gskill ram, and evga P55 sli mobo for 585.

idk. I really want a 1366 cause of Gulftown but i dont know how much that will be. if they will make a gulftown (6 cores 12 threads) for 350 or less then ill just wait to upgrade if not. i guess ill be going with the P55 set up.

Click to expand...

Maybe this will answer your question or help you decide

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=6256239&postcount=129

pretty nice test they perform very close thx

Brolloks said:

Maybe this will answer your question or help you decide

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=6256239&postcount=129

Click to expand...

wow, pretty good sli performance. guess the 8x 8x sli lane cap for the P55 is not doing bad the 285's in sli.

well being how im cheap and how the evga P55 motherboards allow 775 heatsinks i think ill just go with P55. all i do is game and rip blu rays to MKV files so ill be fine.

do you know what the guess on the prices for the gulftown would be around and how much

Ross said:

More info on the front page

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Just quoting this so it'll be on this page of the thread too

Great post! +1!!!

atm743 said:

im kinda late in this thread. lol probably read though the beginning later tonight.

if you have yet to do a test, can you to a conparison for the 285gtx in sli and/or a test with a single 295gtx? really would like to see the 285gtx sli comparison though if you have yet to do so.

im fighting with my self on what to do. want to upgrade my current cpu (need cpu ram and mobo). i build a 1366 17 with a 920. evge sli mobo and 3 gigs of ram for 680 something. can get it down to 630 but would only have 2 year warranty with the motherboard.

for the 1156 build, ill get the 860 i7, 4 gigs of 2000mhz ddr3 gskill ram, and evga P55 sli mobo for 585.

idk. I really want a 1366 cause of Gulftown but i dont know how much that will be. if they will make a gulftown (6 cores 12 threads) for 350 or less then ill just wait to upgrade if not. i guess ill be going with the P55 set up.

Click to expand...

The P55 is a very nice set up. I could have went x58 Core i7 920.

I just wanted to something mainstream. Not killing me in the pocket book so that's why I went for the i5 750. I hear the i7 860 is a beast. I'm really happy with my i5 BTW!

Just my .02 cents.

Brolloks said:

Very professional quality article Ross, you have set a very high standard for us all who are working on articles. Excellent results and very insightful observations made by you throughout the writeup. Well Done !!

Hope you copyright it



Maybe this will answer your question or help you decide

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=6256239&postcount=129

Click to expand...

Thanks Ed, just trying to keep up with all you guys that provide excellent info/posts/articles on a daily basis around here

Thanks for stepping in with the GTX285/5870 tests because I have neither of those cards to test with ATM

atm743 said:

wow, pretty good sli performance. guess the 8x 8x sli lane cap for the P55 is not doing bad the 285's in sli.

well being how im cheap and how the evga P55 motherboards allow 775 heatsinks i think ill just go with P55. all i do is game and rip blu rays to MKV files so ill be fine.

do you know what the guess on the prices for the gulftown would be around and how much

Click to expand...

Yeah, they are really close for SLI scaling. Not all P55 boards support 775 mounting holes. Most actually don't AFAIK, but there are ones that have both 1156 and 775.

1366 will run Gulftown with a BIOS update, but $350 will probably only get you 2 cores