Core i7 860 and Radeon R9 290X in 3D Benchmarks - "he will not surrender!"

[YanWest]

Core i7 860 and Radeon R9 290X in 3D Benchmarks - "he will not surrender!"

So, as I promised here is my new video with 3D-tests.



My system config:

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D PRO
CPU: Core i7 860@ 3.7 Ghz
Cooler: Noctua D14 + 140mm+120mm
RAM: 2x4 Gb DDR3 1333 Hynix
Video: Radeon XFX 290X 4Gb
HDD: SDD Crusial M4 256gb + WD Black 1 Tb + WD Black 500 Gb + WD Black 500 Gb
Power supply: FSP Aurum 1000w
Case: Antec P193
Monitor: Iiyama E2403WS

The list of testing software:

3DMark06
3DMark Vantage
3Dmark11
3DMark
Heaven Benchmark
Valley Benchmark

3DMarks are on Default settings, Heaven and Valley setup is in the video.

This video dedicated to performance of Intel Core i7 860 and AMD Radeon R9 290X in gaming 3D Benchmarks.
Take a look at this video and try to tell me that Core i7 860 isn't good for gaming purpose in the end of 2014.)))
5 years old CPU still rocks and able to lunch and run any modern games on max settings. Amazing. Actually the gaming performance is better than AMD FX CPU series launched in 2013-2014. And this fact makes all this situation even more hilarious.

 

[EarthDog]

Thanks for the testing! As we mentioned in your other thread, its not that it can't be used, it is just that it will hold that GPU back a bit. For example, look at my 290x review and look at my scores versus yours...

A better test would have been to use actual games instead of synthetic benchmarks that take into account the CPU (though in case, we kind of want that). But yeah, to see how it performs in games, you would have wanted to benchmark actual games.

EDIT: Damn, 12 min vid going through all the benchmarks... aint got no time for that ! Can you please post the scores in the thread?

 

[YanWest]

EDIT: Damn, 12 min vid going through all the benchmarks... aint got no time for that ! Can you please post the scores in the thread?

The results just in the end - move the slider to the end of the video.

 

[EarthDog]

Its not working for me... Again, it would be helpful to also post them in the thread too for those that may not want to watch the entire video to see the results.

Anyway, here are the scores with 4770K @ 4Ghz in those benchmarks starting with vantage...Not sure which 3DMark test you ran, we run Firestrike here (not extreme or ultra).

Vantage - 42,104
11 - 14,497
3DMark (Fire Strike) - 9,852
Heaven - 3,213.3

I'd imagine that the benchmark that is closest here would be Heaven since it is not CPU dependent.

 

[YanWest]

The results:

3DMark06 - 23 969
3DMark Vantage - 32 597
3DMark11 - 11 940
3DMark(FireStrike) - 9153
Heaven Bechmark - 1611
Valley Benchmark - 2695

 

[EarthDog]

Look at Vantage, 11, and Fire Strike compared to my results. I am not sure why Heaven is so low though unless you did not use the Hwbot version of Unigine heaven? That is what we all use to test for the most part.

Again, the real proof that the 860 is a viable option (and it is, that was never a point of contention, just that it will not allow that card to stretch its legs at 1080p) is with actual benchmarking of games and not the synthetic benchmarks.

 

[manu2b]

I [email protected], it should not bottleneck the 290X anymore.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Wow, that's bottlenecked on the order of 25%... time for a CPU upgrade

 

[EarthDog]

I [email protected], it should not bottleneck the 290X anymore.

Maybe, its already overclocked quite a bit at 3.7Ghz and losing badly in the synthetics. 500MHz wont make up for things in that respect. But as I said, its the games we need to see to really have something to hang our hats on (in order to prove his point).

 

[ATMINSIDE]

But as I said, its the games we need to see to really have something to hang our hats on (in order to prove his point).

Let's start with Batman Arkham titles, those hit pretty hard on a system

 

[manu2b]

So, I took a couple of CPU benchmarks, randomly picked on techspot.
The i7 920 (2.66GHz) does a pretty good job (better than any AMD CPU).

So I think, with a [email protected]/4GHz, if the only purpose of the PC is gaming (no benching, no prod, ok?), there is ZERO need for an upgrade...

http://www.techspot.com/review/655-bioshock-infinite-performance/page5.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/670-metro-last-light-performance/page6.html

Edit: you can check all the games benched there (I did some time ago), and the 920@stock is still doing well.

 

[EarthDog]

And the 860 is a bit slower clock for clock than the 920 (right?) but... the point is, that the i7 860 is a viable CPU for gaming, but it is limiting the 290x just a bit. One doesn't NEED to upgrade, but inorder to get the most out of the GPUs, a better processor is in order.

 

[manu2b]

Very similar per clock:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?235419-i7-920-vs-i7-860-direct-test-comparison

That's boinc [email protected] for both.

 

[EarthDog]

BOINC /= gaming and I'm not sure it translates directly, but I appreciate the link.

I believe they are clock for clock the same actually as both are Nehalem processors (Lynfield vs Bloomfield).

 

[manu2b]

I'd say so.

 

[EarthDog]

Anyhoo, the OP's point would be better proven in games, not in these benchmarks as we can see that they are not close to my results with the 290x Lightning and a much better clock for clock CPU than the i7 860.

 

[manu2b]

That's why I linked techspot benchmars, as said earlier, the i7 920 (2.66GHz) equals or do better than the 8350 in most (all?) benchmarks.

So, the 860@4GHz smokes any overcloked AMD CPU, and is still well placed in the today games race

 

[YanWest]

Let's form the list of the games and terms how to test, and see how much I'll lose on Core i7 860 against 4770k, with same graphic cards.

 

[manu2b]

http://www.techspot.com/reviews/graphics-cards/gaming-benchmarks/

Edit: save you (us?) the hassle...

 

[EarthDog]

http://www.techspot.com/reviews/graphics-cards/gaming-benchmarks/

Edit: save you (us?) the hassle...

Which was also my point in another thread... been there, tested that. But I suppose more information never hurts, especially if it isn't in 12 minute movie form and just data to chew on.

Let's form the list of the games and terms how to test, and see how much I'll lose on Core i7 860 against 4770k, with same graphic cards.

I would look at the games we test our reviews with... Some have canned benchmarks... Metro:Last Light, Bioshock:Infinite, Batman:Arkham Origins, Grid 2... those are some that we already have numbers to compare it with (which is a key factor in a comparison). You can also try to clock that 860 to 4Ghz so its a true apples to apples comparison as well.