Hardware REVIEW: Review Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition

TODAY SPECIAL REVIEW FROM Techgage
by Rob Williams from techgage.com

Where has the time gone? It feels like (to me, at least), that Intel just dropped their Core i7 launch processors, but in reality, it happened a full seven months ago. That's a long time in CPU years, so what about a follow-up? Don't fret... Intel is delivering just that today, although exact availability is yet to be seen.

To quickly recap, in November of 2008, Intel kick-started their i7 line-up with the mainstream i7-920 ($284), the mid-range i7-940 ($562) and also the high-end i7-965 Extreme Edition. Since then, nothing else Core i7 has launched, although a few Core 2 Quad's have, such as the S series (power-efficient) and also some budget Quad-Core.

Intel today launches two models that are set to replace two already launched. The main focus from the company is the i7-975, an Extreme Edition, which boosts the i7-965's clock speed from 3.2GHz to 3.33GHz. It's a sure thing that the i7-975 will eventually replace the i7-965 wholly, but when that will happen is unknown.

Also new is the i7-950, a 3.06GHz part that bumps the clock speeds of the i7-940 from 2.93. Like the i7-975, this model is likely to entirely replace the i7-940. It's important to note that speculated pricing for these two new models put them a little more expensive than the previous parts, but it's highly doubtful that they will stay at such prices for long.

Closer Look at Intel's Brand-New i7's

The i7-950 and i7-975 are more evolutionary than revolutionary, or as many like to call them... "speed bumps", meaning that the architecture is the same, but the clocks experience a boost. Although Intel hasn't been entirely open about any other changes made, it's been rumored that minor changes have also been made to the chip to help improve overclocking, but we'll have to wait and see what overclockers can accomplish before we settle on that.

As you can see in the chart below, Intel currently has a huge line-up of CPUs (excluding Dual-Core), with five Core i7 total. Core i5 will soon be added to this list, but not until around late August/early September when the chips start to flow to the market. As it stands though, the top two models are the only to use a 6.4GT/s QPI, while the others use 4.8GT/s, although the real-world differences between the two are difficult to pinpoint.