I was a bit bored last night and decided that since I hadn't fired up the 920 in while, I'd do a short water-cooled bench session with identical speeds between the P55-UD6 + Core i7 860 (1156) and the X58-UD4P + Core i7 920 (1366).
There's nothing very scientific here, just comparative test on a whim. What it's not, is a comparison of newly released h/w against some tests in the bank from many months ago when the X58s and 920s were new. These were all done back-to-back on the same cooling, HDD, OS, vid card, memory, etc. The only things that changed were the mobo and CPU.
1156 setup
Core i7 860 ES
Gigayte P55-UD6 (F3 BIOS)
1366 setup
Core i7 920 retail (D0)
Gigayte X58-UD4P (F7 BIOS)
Same hardware/software used in both setups:
2x2GB from a Kingston KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX kit (dual-channel)
Gigabyte 260 GTX SP 216 (stock cooling)
VelociRaptor HDD
Odin 1200W PSU
Win XP SP3
Forceware 190.62
NexXxos XP water block
2x BIPII rads in series with 1x Panaflo 120 H1A on each
MCP-355 pump
Both systems were setup as:
- 21x200 boot & bench (920 = 20x + Turbo, 860 = 21x w/o Turbo)**;
- All cores + HT were kept on for all benches;
- Uncore set 18x on both. This is the highest setting for P55/860 and lowest setting for X58/920;
- QPI set 18x on both. This is fixed on P55/860 and an underclock from the default 19x on X58/920 (and adjustable higher);
- Memory had manually set primaries/tRFC, everything else was left on AUTO.
- All EIST, speed step, C6/C7, etc. was disabled;
- ALL voltages (including Vcore, Vdimm, Vtt, IOH, PCH, CPU PLL, etc.) were left on AUTO;
- PCIe freqs were left on AUTO;
- Vid card clocks were the same saved profile and clocks kept purposely low (700/1509 (linked)/1200) to avoid heat causing inconsistencies;
** I am not aware of anything changing (ie. internal timings, etc.) with "Turbo" being enabled to get the 21x multi on the 920, however, there is always that possibility and I didn't think of it until today. At some point, I may do a 20x run with both setups just to check.
I just did a couple benches each since it was impromtu. I only used a single vid card so PCIe lane divisions didn't come into play...the card was getting the full 16x on both boards.
These were the settings used for the benches. All mem subtimings are AUTO settings.
P55-UD6 + Core i7 860
X58-UD4P + Core i7 920
3D06 - P55
3D06 - X58
SPi 32M - P55
SPi 32M - X58
wPrimes - P55
wPrimes - X58
Everest bandwidth - P55 (note: "not optimized" for Lynnfield yet)
Everest bandwidth - X58
There is definitely a hint in the Everest screens that there is more going on than meets the eye between the two (if the bench results didn't already say so). Even though the CPU, mem, QPI and Uncore are all at the same speed, the X58 still has a faster latency and slightly more bandwidth. I always take Everest results with a grain of salt because they can move around a bit, but SPi 32M is wholly dependant on CPU and mem. Given the CPU and mem are the same speeds (with slight differences in a few subtimings), the difference in 32M is very noticeable.
So even an X58/920 "crippled" to P55/860 specs and in dual-channel mode, it still out-performs 1156, if just by a bit. It would not take much for the P55/860 to match the X58/920 at P55 settings. With identical settings as tested above, but with 1000MHz 7-8-7-88 mem timings on P55 instead, wPrime is nearly identical and 32M is less than 1s difference (3Ds don't improve as much however).
On that note, between these two boards, it is much more difficult for me to run 1000MHz+ mem on the X58/920. On the other hand, the P55 board does just silly things with the same memory (>DDR3-2500 9-9-9-24). Suffice it to say, if it just takes a bit more memory clocks or a few timing tweaks to nearly equal X58/920 at the same setup, the P55 should be able to do it pretty easily if your mem is up to it.
Long story short, Core i7 1156 is honestly not that far off of Core i7 1366 performance when set up evenly (and I know some game tests have 1156 beating 1366). Either way, as far as "mainstream" goes, P55/1156 is pretty damn good!
There's nothing very scientific here, just comparative test on a whim. What it's not, is a comparison of newly released h/w against some tests in the bank from many months ago when the X58s and 920s were new. These were all done back-to-back on the same cooling, HDD, OS, vid card, memory, etc. The only things that changed were the mobo and CPU.
1156 setup
Core i7 860 ES
Gigayte P55-UD6 (F3 BIOS)
1366 setup
Core i7 920 retail (D0)
Gigayte X58-UD4P (F7 BIOS)
Same hardware/software used in both setups:
2x2GB from a Kingston KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX kit (dual-channel)
Gigabyte 260 GTX SP 216 (stock cooling)
VelociRaptor HDD
Odin 1200W PSU
Win XP SP3
Forceware 190.62
NexXxos XP water block
2x BIPII rads in series with 1x Panaflo 120 H1A on each
MCP-355 pump
Both systems were setup as:
- 21x200 boot & bench (920 = 20x + Turbo, 860 = 21x w/o Turbo)**;
- All cores + HT were kept on for all benches;
- Uncore set 18x on both. This is the highest setting for P55/860 and lowest setting for X58/920;
- QPI set 18x on both. This is fixed on P55/860 and an underclock from the default 19x on X58/920 (and adjustable higher);
- Memory had manually set primaries/tRFC, everything else was left on AUTO.
- All EIST, speed step, C6/C7, etc. was disabled;
- ALL voltages (including Vcore, Vdimm, Vtt, IOH, PCH, CPU PLL, etc.) were left on AUTO;
- PCIe freqs were left on AUTO;
- Vid card clocks were the same saved profile and clocks kept purposely low (700/1509 (linked)/1200) to avoid heat causing inconsistencies;
** I am not aware of anything changing (ie. internal timings, etc.) with "Turbo" being enabled to get the 21x multi on the 920, however, there is always that possibility and I didn't think of it until today. At some point, I may do a 20x run with both setups just to check.
I just did a couple benches each since it was impromtu. I only used a single vid card so PCIe lane divisions didn't come into play...the card was getting the full 16x on both boards.
These were the settings used for the benches. All mem subtimings are AUTO settings.
P55-UD6 + Core i7 860
X58-UD4P + Core i7 920
3D06 - P55
3D06 - X58
SPi 32M - P55
SPi 32M - X58
wPrimes - P55
wPrimes - X58
Everest bandwidth - P55 (note: "not optimized" for Lynnfield yet)
Everest bandwidth - X58
There is definitely a hint in the Everest screens that there is more going on than meets the eye between the two (if the bench results didn't already say so). Even though the CPU, mem, QPI and Uncore are all at the same speed, the X58 still has a faster latency and slightly more bandwidth. I always take Everest results with a grain of salt because they can move around a bit, but SPi 32M is wholly dependant on CPU and mem. Given the CPU and mem are the same speeds (with slight differences in a few subtimings), the difference in 32M is very noticeable.
So even an X58/920 "crippled" to P55/860 specs and in dual-channel mode, it still out-performs 1156, if just by a bit. It would not take much for the P55/860 to match the X58/920 at P55 settings. With identical settings as tested above, but with 1000MHz 7-8-7-88 mem timings on P55 instead, wPrime is nearly identical and 32M is less than 1s difference (3Ds don't improve as much however).
On that note, between these two boards, it is much more difficult for me to run 1000MHz+ mem on the X58/920. On the other hand, the P55 board does just silly things with the same memory (>DDR3-2500 9-9-9-24). Suffice it to say, if it just takes a bit more memory clocks or a few timing tweaks to nearly equal X58/920 at the same setup, the P55 should be able to do it pretty easily if your mem is up to it.
Long story short, Core i7 1156 is honestly not that far off of Core i7 1366 performance when set up evenly (and I know some game tests have 1156 beating 1366). Either way, as far as "mainstream" goes, P55/1156 is pretty damn good!