Intel Core i7 940 performance overview

Posted on Monday, October 13 2008 @ 23:32 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
TPU found a Chinese preview of the Intel Core i7 940 processor. The site benchmarked the chip in many applications and compared it against the Core 2 Extreme QX9770. They also did tests with SMT (simultaneous multithreading) and triple channel memory.

The results are mixed, in some applications such as video encoding the Core i7 was significantly faster but in current-gen games it didn't really shine.
The evaluation found that the performance increments tri-channel offers over dual-channel memory, in real world applications and games, are just about insignificant. Super Pi Mod 1.4 shows only a fractional lead for tri-channel over dual-channel, and the trend continued with Everest Memory Benchmark. On the brighter side, the integrated memory controller does offer improvements over the previous generation setup, with the northbridge handling memory. Even in games such as Call of Duty 4 and Crysis, tri-channel memory did not shine.

As for the other architectural change, simultaneous multi-threading, that makes its comeback on the desktop scene with the Bloomfield processors offering as many as eight available logical processors for the operating system to talk to, it appears to be a mixed bag, in terms of performance. The architecture did provide massive boosts in WinRAR and Cinebench tests Across tests, enabling SMT brought in performance increments of roughly 10~20% with general benchmarks that included Cinebench, WinRAR, TMPGEnc, and Fritz Chess.
Here's a look at the amazing performance gains you can expect in apps like WinRAR. Looks like the new Hyper-Threading can also give a significant boost:



More at Techpowerup.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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