Customer Reviews

Intel Core i7 Processor i7-920 2.66GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU BX80601920

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros:
It's my first build and coming from a Pentium 4 3.4 ghz in my Dell to this processor is simply amazing. I can now play Oblivion and L4D in the settings I want! Everything else it pretty much cuts through it like butter. It get a Windows 7 WEI of 7.6 3dmark Vantage CPU score P42500+ and I have it overclocked to 3.67 with blck of 184 vcore 1.225 with vdroop. Coupled with a Cooler Master V8 it's prime 95 stable (small ffts - 2 hours, large - 2 hours, blend - 9 hours) and LinX stable (max memory 10 runs) 75 degrees C max. Ambient 80 F

Cons:
None

Other thoughts:
If you are new to overclocking like I was here are some simple steps for a modest overclock:
WARNING: It is entirely possible to burn your CPU! Don't go crazy and set a high base clock from the start. Follow the steps!

1) download Realtemp.exe, cpu-z, prime 95, and LinX (google em)
2) go into your bios and increase the base clock by 5 (or 10 if impatient but remember my warning)
3) Load Windows and breath a sigh of relief if it does. But thats only 1/5 of the battle.
4) Run CPU-z to verify your overclock, close it then run realtemp.
5) Run LinX max memory, 3 runs. If it blue screens, restarts or errors then you've gone too far and you need to dial it down to keep your machine stable. Your last setting is your max overclock without adding vcore (cpu voltage).
6) If it passes with no errors and your max temps aren't above 85 C (some people use 80) then you're good, and you can add more base clock.
7) Go back to step 2 rinse and repeat.

8)Once you get to a speed you're happy with and it passes LinX, and is below 85 C, run prime 95 stress test for at least 6 hours of blend, 2 hours of small ffts, and 2 hours of large ffts. If it survives that then you're good for gaming and most everyday apps. If it survives p95 blend for 24 hours (no errors, < 85 C) then you're rock stable ready for mission critical or server work.

You can run Linx for more passes or folding@home SMP for further stability testing.

Finally don't expect much if you're using the heatsink that came with the processor.

Good luck. If I made a mistake somewhere please correct me in the comments.

BTW my motherboard is the EVGA X58 vanilla. The folks at the forums in their website are the most helpful and supportive folks you can find. Really thats the stuff that money can't buy, I strongly recommend their motherboards just for that. They have guides for more serious overclocks and guides explaining voltages, guides on optimizing Vista etc.

All the info about overclocking and stability testing comes from the stickied threads on the EVGA forums

I upgraded to the i7 from an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. The main reasons I made the upgrade were:

1. Low power consumption (significantly lower than a Q6600 which is about $100 cheaper than the i7)
2. 8 logical cores available (quad core + hyper threading)
3. The ability to play cutting edge games that take advantage of all 8 cores.
4. The potential ability to load share between CPU & GPU once Windows 7 is released.

The upgrade might have been a bit premature, as the primary reason to buy an I7 processor won't be possible until Windows 7 is released. Windows 7 will allow load sharing between GPU (graphics card) and CPU. This will enable some really nice performance gains in games, or other graphic intensive applications like video editing software. Allegedly, games like Crysis will get a 20-30 percent performance increase. However, I heard that before when Windows stated that Vista would provide significant performance gains for DirectX10 games, which has not proved to be the case.

Regardless, the i7 920 is truly an amazing CPU. I've yet to experiment with overclocking much, but I do have it running at 3.12ghz stable and with a core temperature of 41C at idle and around 60C under load. I'll likely push things further in the coming weeks, and I'll give updates on temperatures and performance when I do.

Combining this card with two 4870hd 512mb graphics cards in Crossfire mode produced a 3DMark06 score of just over 19,000! That is a 5,000 point gain from my previous rig, and is in about the top 4% of all systems out there. That is pretty phenomenal performance. In Crysis with all settings at very high and DX10, I average over 50 frames at 1980x1200. This CPU is a gaming beast.

If you plan to overclock this card even a little, invest in an aftermarket heat sink and some Arctic Silver thermal compound. The heatsink provided with the retail package is small and ineffective at cooling an overclocked card. I recommend this Zalman Cpu Cooler for moderate overclocking. It is a very quite and very effective fan.

If your in the market for a 'future-proof' processor, this is a great option at a reasonable price point. The ceiling speed of processors is growing increasingly unimportant as multi-thread programing become the norm in both games and applications. You could spend a lot more for a higher GHZ CPU, but you're not really gaining as much performance as the jump from 2 to 4 cores, and then quad core to octo core. This processor will eat anything you throw at it and come back for more. Just make sure your mother board supports i7 chips before you buy one.

Excellent performance; you will not be disappointed. The processor is highly overclockable - with a decent aftermarket cooling solution, it can easily be clocked over 4ghz. Even with the stock cooler, I was able to reach 3.3ghz with safe temperatures (fan at 100%) under normal usage (but prime95 stress test would push the temps a little too high at this speed). Even without overclocking, I noticed an improvement in speed and multitasking ability over my core 2 duo system. Highly recommended, particularly for those building a new rig. I use the core i7 primarily for gaming and general computing.

Cons - stock fan is somewhat loud to me even at low speeds, though I strive for silent computing. Invest in a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan (plus it will enable you to push performance well beyond the stock 940 at less expense).

I got my second Core i7 920 here on Amazon in early November, and received the D0 stepping. You can tell by looking for a sSpec number of SLBEJ on the box. (SLBCH was the C0 stepping.) You don't need to unseal the Intel box to know what you're getting, so you could just return it if you didn't get the D0. Not that that's likely anymore. I initially wasn't impressed by the D0, using the same overclock settings I'd zeroed in on for the C0. If anything, it seemed to run even hotter. Then I learned the secret. You can turn the core voltage WAY down, which is the key to heat. I was at 1.30 volts to run the C0 stable at 3.7ghz (air cooled with Coolermaster V10). I've been able to turn it down to just a hair over 1.20 volts with the D0. With the bclk at 194, multiplier at 21, I'm now running over 4.0 ghz. That's running Prime95 all night on all eight threads, with max core temps at 73 C or below. To summarize, the big improvement with the D0 stepping is being able to run with much lower voltages, which in turn allows higher overclocks with safe temps.

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz 8M L3 Cache 4.8GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Processor

I was contemplating about writing the review for this chip since there are so many people write about it already. But if you're still deciding what chip to get or if you're not sure if you're got the right chip then I'll give you my thought on this.

I know for most people, funding is a major part of their deciding factor, at least for me that is. Everyone wants the best performance for the best value that they can get for their spending, because of this reason, my review is totally base on performance and value. So, let's compare i7 920 with other Intel high end desktop level chips.

First, let's compare performance -

One of the quick and fast to test processing performace on the chip is using wPrime.
On [...], someone ran wPrime with SkullTrail and 2 x Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Quad-Core Processor got it down to 3sec 790ms with Liquid Nitrogen cooling.
With i7 975 Extreme they've got down to 4.2 Sec (Liquid Nitrogen cooling)
And with 920, 4.6 Sec (refrigeration cooling system, Over-clocked to 5.1 GHz)
Just so you know about wPrime - I remember way back then, I ran wPrime on my PIII 1.3 GHz, it took 3 min and the half for the test.

Now, on to pricing -

The Skulltrail motherboard costs $[...] and each Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor cost $[...] each, and 2 would cost $[...]. To build a complete system would probably cost $[...]. To build a complete i7 975 Extreme would probably somewhere around $[...]. And i7 920 would be around $[...]

So, 2 QX9770 @ 3.8 Sec. = $[...]
i7 975 @ 4.2 Sec. = $[...]
and i7 920 @ 4.6 Sec. = $[...]

I don't know about you, but for .8 second, I don't think it's worth it to spend $[...] this slide margin of performance increasement. I understand these numbers for the performance are base on the best of over-clocking, and even though is unpractical to use liquid nitrogen cooling, but at least you know what this chip is capable of. This is the main reason why I think is the best performance chip you can get for the price. This chip still has edge even compare to the up coming Socket 1156 i7 and i5 chips, because they cannot support triple channnel memory like this chip.

Just in case if you wonder - I got the chip over clock to 4.2 GHz stable (Air cool with cooler master V8) and wPrime to 6.7 seconds. For daily use, I am running at 3.6 GHz.

If do you decide to get this chip, be sure the S-spec on the box is labeled SLBEJ <- J not H, H is C-0 stepping; J is D-0 stepping. The D-0 stepping makes it better for over clocking. Any 920 chip made after April of this year should be D-0 Stepping.

Finally, I can't give this chip a 5 stars for 2 reasons - Power consumption and the expensive motherboard; it max out at 130 Watts (Ever heard someone say 'Go Green", well, this not the chip to get if you're thinking green, it uses too much power. Second, the system board cost too much, the least expensive one from MSI would cost around $[...], any decent motherboard would be around $[...] or more... I really like to give it a 4 1/2 stars, so 4 stars is what Amazon allows me.

Good luck with whatever chip you decide, and thank you for reading this review.

Yowei Liu, San Diego, CA

Awesome chip. Got my i7 920 overclocked to 3.8ghz in a breeze with Asus P6T motherboard, Scythe Mugen 2 cooler and a triple DDR3-1600 OCZ 6g kit. Minor bump up in voltage to 1.30625v to get system to post in Vista64. Vista32 didn't require extra voltage to remain stable in Prime95 torture test for 1/2hr. But I believe vcore will have to go up to 1.35v to be rock solid 24/7. I heard that the new "D0" stepping allows for overclocking to 4.3ghz with similar setup because the new design runs cooler. I have the old "C" stepping. If you don't mind amping up the vcore, I'm sure 4.0ghz+ can be made stable but I don't like the heat and the wear on my components at those temps. As other buyers have noted, this chip really is an overclocking MONSTER!

It's been 10 years since I built a computer. But this chip was quite easy to install. I used a Zalman 9700led cooler w/arctic silver 5 paste, and a p6t deluxe asus motherboard. At idle it is about 34-36 degrees. When all 4 cores are crunching away, it goes up to about 58-62 degrees celsius (no overclocking done yet) You will be quite happy choosing this processor.

The i7 920 is a fantastic processor. The reason for the 4 star rating is because the core i5 and i7 8xx series is now available. Before September '09, this would have been a 5 star review.

There are a few things that an i7 920 will do better than an i7 860. It overclocks better at stock voltage. It allows you to run a triple SLI or Crossfire setup. Clock for clock, it is slightly better performing, mainly due to its triple channel memory access.

The i7 860, however, has a few major advantages : cheaper motherboards, faster if not overclocked, faster turbo mode (where the CPU overclocks itself if fewer cores are in use), and lower power consumption (95W TDP compared to 130W TDP for i7 920).

If you intend to put together a triple SLI setup, or if you intend to overclock as much as possible, this is the CPU to get. Otherwise, do consider the i7 860 instead. Check out the reviews at other hardware sites.

Do you plan to OVERCLOCK your i7-920 now, or in the future?

If "YES" then here is what I wish someone would have told me before I purchased any CPU in the i7-9xx series for overclocking use:

After 1st pass manufacturing, CPU's have performance and thermal characteristics tested and then each CPU is "binned" based on key characteristics. In the i7-9xx series, one "bin" will be CPU's that get sold as i7 920's, some will be binned as i7-930's, etc, etc. However, even within EACH bin (each product tier), there are WIDE variations. Partly this has to do same bins (for the same product tiear) come out of different manufacturing lots.

In multiple overclocking forums, those with experience overclocking many different i7 920's have seen more than 10C variation from same product tier CPU to CPU performance on steady-state max core temperature reached under identical testing conditions in the same PC! That's a big variation!

So you may want to figure out immediately upon arrival if you got shafted by getting an i7-920 that has lame overclocking potential because it barely made it into the i7 920 "bin", or if instead you got lucky getting a CPU at the upper end of the bin distribution (on parameters that are related to overclocking).

You find that out by overclocking trials, keeping in mind THAT INTEL POLICY IS THAT YOUR WARRENTY IS VOID IF YOU'VE OVERCLOCKED YOUR CPU.

So what is a good rule of thumb? Let's assume you have decent air flow in your PC case, and ambient room temp is near the standard condition of 22C (72F), and you have one of the best forced air CPU coolers such as the Noctua DH-D14(or water cooling), and you have used a decent appropriate set of BIOS overclockings settings (go to overclocking forums for that), and you've not made any other mistake (such as improper application of thermal grease, or orienting your CPU cooler wrongly, etc).....

Then a good rule-of-thumb is that your i7 920 sits on the better side of the bin IF you can overclock it to 3.8MHz (or higher) and still have all your CPU core juntion temps BELOW 73C after reaching thermal steady state (after about 20 min or 30 min 100% CPU loading testing with Prime95 Small FFT's, or similar test program)...AND have you good CPU stability, and I suppose you should check your memory with something like Memtest95. Again, that's for ambient air of 22C (72F).

Now, if you can further overclock (under those conditions) to 4.0 MHz, then you are really golden, having gotten a choice i7 920 with better than average performance characteristics.

NOTE: If your testing environment doesn't match the 22C standard, then a rough thermal design rule-of-thumb is to linearly offset (if you test at room temp 20C, and get steady-state max load junction temps of 72C, then you must add about 2C to that, which puts you at 74C which is above the recommended 72C max)

But if you've done you PC and BIOS settings correctly, and still cannot get it to 3.6GHz with system stable and within above mentioned thermal limits (using above mentioned test procedure), then maybe you've got something of a thermally underperforming (low end of the distribution) CPU.

And why care about overclocking? My answer is VALUE!

Some would say there are two main categories of overclockers:

1) those who overclock for value, buying less costly CPU's below the top tier so they can overclock up to a much higher priced tier;
OR
2) those enthusiasts who make a hobby/obsession out of overclocking to the highest possible speed for that goal in itself. They typically start off buying a higher tier (expensive!) Intel CPU, such as i7-965, or i7-975, or similar. (It doesn't make practical financial sense to spend $300 on a CPU water cooling system just to squeak out a few more tenths of MHz of CPU speed, unless you do that simply out of love of the hobby.)

Some have observed the i7 9xx series "Overclocking System" favors the value side of those two overclocking approaches. The i7 920 has remarkable "headroom" ability to overclock way UP into higher priced tiers. Meanwhile, there is a high cost penatly for directly buying a CPU from a high CPU performance tier (intead of overclocking up into that tier). Go look at how much an i7-965 costs, yet it may "only" be rated out of the box for 3.2GHz. Yet you can just buy a 2.66GHz rated i7-920 and overclock it up ABOVE 3.2 GHz, saving hundreds of dollars (and being willing to take certain reliability risks for your overclocked CPU)

However, if you do NOT plan to overclock it doesn't seem wise to test your CPU's overclocking ability, because that would void your warranty.

If you haven't built your own PC in awhile, be warned: it's easier than ever and the engineers at Intel are part of the reason why.

The new mounting system is completely simply. No pins to line up into tiny holes. Alignment is fool-proof, as is the clamping.

Note that this kit comes with its own heat-sink. No need to buy another, unless you are really nervous about heat. I thought the included sink was great, and I've used it for 3 months now with no issues whatsoever.

Fast? Absolutely. Team this with an SSD and you will have the fastest computer you've ever owned.

No complaints whatsoever. I'm thrilled with it.