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i7 960 vs 965
- Thread starter andicole0
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Apr 2009
- Posts
- 11,973
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- Cheshire
The i7 965 is an extreme edition CPU, so the multiplier is unlocked for easier overclocking.
However, you can overclock pretty much any Bloomfield Core as far as it will go using just the BCLK on a decent X58 motherboard - so an unlocked multiplier isn't really required. The i7 960 has a maximum multiplier of 24 - so with a board that will do 200MHz BLCK (most will do this without issue) you can theoretically hit 4.8GHz. However, realistically I don't imagine the chip can go that far, even with amazing cooling.
Also crucially important is that the i7 965 is an older chip - using the C0 stepping. While the i7 960 is newer using the D0 stepping which is generally easier to overclock and overclocks higher. However, at stock speeds of 3.2GHz the two chips will perform identically.
In conclusion, the i7 960 is the better chip - however if you are buying new I would go with a Sandy Bridge quad core. Even the £156 i5 2500K is a better, faster, higher overclocking chip than the i7 960. Here is a comparison between the i7 965 and i5 2500K at stock speed (as mentioned above the 960 and 965 perform the same at stock speeds).
However, you can overclock pretty much any Bloomfield Core as far as it will go using just the BCLK on a decent X58 motherboard - so an unlocked multiplier isn't really required. The i7 960 has a maximum multiplier of 24 - so with a board that will do 200MHz BLCK (most will do this without issue) you can theoretically hit 4.8GHz. However, realistically I don't imagine the chip can go that far, even with amazing cooling.
Also crucially important is that the i7 965 is an older chip - using the C0 stepping. While the i7 960 is newer using the D0 stepping which is generally easier to overclock and overclocks higher. However, at stock speeds of 3.2GHz the two chips will perform identically.
In conclusion, the i7 960 is the better chip - however if you are buying new I would go with a Sandy Bridge quad core. Even the £156 i5 2500K is a better, faster, higher overclocking chip than the i7 960. Here is a comparison between the i7 965 and i5 2500K at stock speed (as mentioned above the 960 and 965 perform the same at stock speeds).
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