Poll: I5 - Lets Get Clocking!!!

Who is Right?

  • Big.Wayne

    Votes: 90 41.3%
  • easyrider

    Votes: 128 58.7%

  • Total voters
    218
  • Poll closed .

rjk

rjk

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Posts
25,381
Here we go guys :D

As i did with the i7's, im going to see how far we can push things with i5 and how the performance relates to its bigger brother i7.

I have only been allowed a short period of time to familiarise myself with the new tech so my results are far from the max obtainable.

i5 clocks just like i7, there is a BCLK [Base Clock] which is the bus speed of the chip, also there seems to be similar multipliers [low to mid 20's].
The i5 750 has a multiplier of 21 just like an i7 920. this meant that i was in familiar territory. The 750 doesnt feature hyperthreading in the same way the nehalem chips for socket 1156 do.

The BIOS of all the boards has a similar layout to that of the X58 counterparts

there is little difference between the bios of an Asus P6T Deluxe X58 and an Asus P7P55D Deluxe P55

the notable difference is that all boards seem to like 1000mv being put through the cpu diff amplitude

voltage wise - the 750 seemed to need around 1.35v to get stable at 4ghz
this is slightly more than needed for an i7 920 but this is all relative of course

the memory controller has its own IMC [internal memory controller] voltage in the bios, be warned though - this does add to the heat dump of the chip considerably. The smallest changes seemed to increase temperatures drastically.

[PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT REALTEMP IS NOT READING THE CLOCK SPEEDS CORRECTLY YET]


Test Setup
  • Intel Core I5 750 Processor [this is a standard retail chip]
  • Asus P7P55D Deluxe Intel P55 Motherboard
  • Corsair Dominator GT 1866MHz DDR3 Memory
  • Nvidia 9600GT Graphics Card
  • Corsair 650w PSU
  • WD Velociraptor HDD with Vista 64SP2

I used watercooling to get my results
  • D5 Vario Pump
  • EK SUPREME Waterblock
  • Thermochill PA 120.4 Quad Radiator
  • 4X 120MM Delta Fans

the deltas meant the cpu was idling in windows at just below sub ambient temperatures :p

I started out with [what now] is a standardised clock target

200 BCLK X 20 @ 1.35V

4.0ghz
4ghz30mins.jpg


then i raised it up a bit

200 BCLK X 21 @ 1.40V

4.2GHz
42ghz30mins.jpg


notice the memory timings on this run, i managed to achieve great timings on the memory of CL7 8-7-20 1T @ 1600MHz
partly due to to the Elpida Hyper IC's on the fantastic Dominator GT but also due to the IMC on the chip which has performed far in excess of my expectations

Stability at 4.2Ghz with aggressive memory timings. All good so far!

These clocks were fairly easy to obtain stability on
I would imagine anyone could achieve similar using air cooling and minimal tweaking


so how far does it go...
well - i had to update the BIOS of the board to get above 200 BCLK

I managed to get into windows at 4.72Ghz. this was so unstable that opening any programs resulted in a rapid BSOD
i settled on 4.5Ghz, whilst this failed prime95 after a very promising 10 minutes, it still looked good for some CPU benchmarks :D
4507.jpg


SuperPi 1M is renowned for being a quick test of CPU speeds

for reference here is the best result from my I7 920 D0 @ 4.66Ghz
SuperPi - 8sec 830ms

and the best result from the I5 750 @ 4.5Ghz
SUPERPI1M4500mhz.jpg


all things considered - fairly level pegging!
a sub 10s superpi 1m result is nothing to be sniffed at - especially for a chip in this price range!

onto wPrime

here are a few of my recent results on the wPrime 32m Speed Test:

  1. 5sec 630ms - Core i7 950 @ 4500mhz
  2. 6sec 190ms - Core i7 860 @ 3976mhz - WOW:eek:
  3. 6sec 350ms - Core i7 920 @ 4200mhz
  4. 7sec 280ms - Core i5 750 @ 4485mhz
  5. 9sec 305ms - Core i5 750 @ 4006mhz
  6. 9sec 322ms - AMD 955 @ 4004mhz

here are a few of my recent results on the wPrime 1024m Stability Test:

  1. 2min 48sec 780ms - Core i7 920 @ 4500mhz
  2. 3min 3sec 110ms - Core i7 920 @ 4200mhz
  3. 3min 10sec 160ms - Core i7 920 @ 4011mhz
  4. 3min 10sec 340ms - Core i7 860 @ 3976mhz
  5. 3min 54sec 760ms - Core i5 750 @ 4424mhz
  6. 12min 26sec 650ms - Athlon II X2 245 @ 3132mhz



I am massivley impressed by the i5, it seems intel have refined their midmarket offerings and produced what appears to be a chip with good performance and value to compete in a section of the market where AMD had previously occupied alone.

the preformance seems to be right on the money in the few benchmarks i had time to run

I hope this gives a good indicator of whats to come

thanks for reading

rjk

-------------------------------------
Appendix 1

860 Clocking results

heres my findings today with an 860 processor on air
i used the following equipment
Test Setup
  • Intel Core I7 860 Processor [this is a standard retail chip]
  • Asus P7P55D EVO Intel P55 Motherboard
  • Corsair XMS3 1600MHz DDR3 Memory
  • Nvidia 9600GT Graphics Card
  • Corsair 650w PSU
  • WD Velociraptor HDD with Vista 64SP2

i didnt really have time to do a full report so grabbed benchies i could easily obtain
by no means are these max clocks like the testing of the 750 so take these as a guideline

initial impressions, this is essentially the exact same chip as the 750 but with hyperthreading capability
it clocks exactly the same as i mentioned previously with regards to the 750

however - it does dump around 10'c more heat into an air cooler than the 750 [both chips on same cooler running at 4ghz]

it was a little harder to gain stability on air at 4ghz with this chip - it required a lot more tweaking than the 750 which was at 4.2 after 5 bios changes on the asus p55 deluxe [which is a better board in all fairness]

i like the Evo board, it features many of the deluxe features and overclocks nearly as far

the Zalman CNPS10X was my cooler of choice for these tests as most of the major third party coolers dont have a bracket yet


here is 3.8 stable on air - pretty easy, not many tweaks required - more than acceptable temperatures
3800stable.jpg


i pushed for 4ghz and got that stable in time to do some benches before i had to carry on with other things

here is SuperPi at 3.8Ghz
PI3800.jpg


and SuperPi at 4GHz
PI4000.jpg



my main interest - and something that made me smile - is gaming
whilst i had no games to hand to compare, i was eager to see some 3d benchmarks from the new socket

i am putting this up against an i7 920 benchmark i have to hand

i7 920 @ 4ghz - biostar X58 - OCZ blade@ 1600Mhz CL7 7-7-20 1T - GTX280 SLI @ GTX285 speeds
VS
I& 860 @ 4ghz - Asus P55 Evo - Corsair XMS3@ 1600Mhz CL9 9-9-24 1T - GTX285 SLI @stock

the 920 rig got the following results
sss.jpg


the 860 got this...
Vantage38.jpg


right on the money - ESPECIALLY TAKE NOTE OF THE CPU SCORES

whilst a little slower than 1366 i7, this can be accounted to the dual/triple memory difference

if it were my money, i would still go for the 750 for gaming
but go for the 860 if you wish to get that bit extra without stepping up to x58 platform price brackets
 
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Nice results, any reason you decided on the Asus to do the OC??

Just ordered:

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1166)
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Have you played around with the Gigabyte's yet rjkoneill??. I'd be happy with 4.0GHZ out of that with my Corsair H50
 
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It's really nice to see the effort that's gone into this but I'm afraid I switched off as soon as I read what cooling you were using :(

Quad rad and 4 delta fans, seriously!? That's such a rare/odd/extreme/unrealistic setup that it gives me no way of trying to deduce how hot these things would run under any cooling I could give them :(

I appreciate you doing this for us Rich but it looks like I wont be clicking "go to checkout" just yet.

I'm going to have to wait for more pedestrian overclocking reviews.
 
Soldato
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It's really nice to see the effort that's gone into this but I'm afraid I switched off as soon as I read what cooling you were using :(

Quad rad and 4 delta fans, seriously!? That's such a rare/odd/extreme/unrealistic setup that it gives me no way of trying to deduce how hot these things would run under any cooling I could give them :(

I appreciate you doing this for us Rich but it looks like I wont be clicking "go to checkout" just yet.

I'm going to have to wait for more pedestrian overclocking reviews.

I have to admit you do have a fair point...Rich does overclock using water, but it's not to say you won't achieve almost similar results using air or water cooling on a dual or triple rad...but everyone has their own setup for cooling so will have fairly different temp readings...
 

rjk

rjk

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Posts
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Nice results, any reason you decided on the Asus to do the OC??

Just ordered:

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1166)
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Have you played around with the Gigabyte's yet rjkoneill??. I'd be happy with 4.0GHZ out of that with my Corsair H50

i chose the asus as that is what we are basing the first P55 systems on
once the playing field is set out - myself and Yewen will develop a bundle in the same way as the 4GHz i7 bundle

the gigabytes need a little work doing to the bioses, but the quality of the boards are excellent - i have seen the ud4 up close and it is a cracking piece of kit
also tested the ripjaw memory, you are in for a treat!


Them temperatures are brilliant, so excited :)

thats because the chip was running on a quad radiator with 4 delta fans strapped to it


More interested in seeing how the i7 860's clock since these lack Hyperthreading..
EXACTLY the same
just more heat dump
 
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I have to admit you do have a fair point...Rich does overclock using water, but it's not to say you won't achieve almost similar results using air or water cooling on a dual or triple rad...but everyone has their own setup for cooling so will have fairly different temp readings...

My CPU loop has a slim triple rad and 3 low RPM fans, not the most extreme loop ever but nice and quiet and better than an air cooler.

I'm just tyring to work out a rough idea of how hot this would run if it's hitting 60 load on a loop which keeps them sub ambient at idle.

I think my judgement is just clouded, for no real reason I just assumed these would run as cool as the 45nm core2s - idiocy I'm aware.
 

rjk

rjk

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OP
Joined
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Posts
25,381
It's really nice to see the effort that's gone into this but I'm afraid I switched off as soon as I read what cooling you were using :(

Quad rad and 4 delta fans, seriously!? That's such a rare/odd/extreme/unrealistic setup that it gives me no way of trying to deduce how hot these things would run under any cooling I could give them :(

I appreciate you doing this for us Rich but it looks like I wont be clicking "go to checkout" just yet.

I'm going to have to wait for more pedestrian overclocking reviews.


point taken - myself and Yewen do our very best to find the most unnecessary cooling solutions you can find
the reason we didnt do a run on air is simple
there are no high end air coolers available for the socket as yet and i mentioned that an EK supreme would fit

i ran the loop with one delta on 1/4 speed for an hour with no problems
temps hardly dropped

with something like a TRUE/Megahalems/Fenrir - i would imagine temps in the 70's for a 4.2ghz oc

my estimate
a h50 runs a 4ghz i7 at 75'c
so i would guess mid 60's max for this chip at 4.0Ghz - 4.2Ghz

when i have access to a hold down plate i will post results

in fact - i am such a nice guy - i will email corsair now!!!
 
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4.5 is very very impressive...what do you think it can do on air though? And am I right in thinking that you can get the Phenom 955 to hit 4.0 on air?
 
Soldato
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Any knowledge of the cheaper Gigabyte boards rjkoneill? Particularly looking at the UD3 myself - in my experience Gigabyte boards clock pretty nicely, but what are they like in the lower price bracket? From the pics it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of stuff to deal with heat; is this going to be a problem?

Or is the £115 Asus the best to go for in this price range?

EDIT: Cheers for the clocking info by the way, looks amazing! Think it's made up my mind to break my wallet and go Intel :D
 
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