The Intel Core i7 860 Review

by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 18, 2009 12:00 AM EST

DivX 8.5.3 with Xmpeg 5.0.3

Our DivX test is the same DivX / XMpeg 5.03 test we've run for the past few years now, the 1080p source file is encoded using the unconstrained DivX profile, quality/performance is set balanced at 5 and enhanced multithreading is enabled:

DivX 6.8.5 w/ Xmpeg 5.0.3 - MPEG-2 to DivX Transcode

Lynnfield inches towards the crown with the 860; it's closer to the 870 than the Core i5 750, and that's to be expected. The biggest gains here are due to Hyper Threading, the clock speed is just icing on the cake.

x264 HD Video Encoding Performance

Graysky's x264 HD test uses the publicly available x264 codec (open source implementation of H.264) to encode a 4Mbps 720p MPEG-2 source. The focus here is on quality rather than speed, thus the benchmark uses a 2-pass encode and reports the average frame rate in each pass.

x264 HD Encode Benchmark - 720p MPEG-2 to x264 Transcode

The Core i7 860 continues to do better than the i7 920, even if by only a small margin. As expected, it's closer to the 870 than it is to the i5 750 thanks to Hyper Threading.

x264 HD Encode Benchmark - 720p MPEG-2 to x264 Transcode

 

Windows Media Encoder 9 x64 Advanced Profile

In order to be codec agnostic we've got a Windows Media Encoder benchmark looking at the same sort of thing we've been doing in the DivX and x264 tests, but using WME instead.

Windows Media Encoder 9 x64 - Advanced Profile Transcode

The race is close here, there's only a 2 second difference between the Core i7 870 and the Core i5 750. The 860 lands closer to the 750 this time.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Performance 3D Rendering Performance
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  • marsspirit123 - Monday, September 21, 2009 - link

    "Microcenter, for in-store purchase. I purchased an i7 860 last week for $229. The i5 750 is cheaper, $159 seems right."

    Yeah with 8.5 % tax that price is $250 + how much for gas?
  • afkrotch - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - link

    For online purchases, you may still have to factor in sales tax and shipping. There's also the cost of having to wait.

    Between your current computer and the upgrade, what is the performance gap? For that gap, how much time could have been saved in your work? Because you saved time at work, how much $$ was saved?

    Things can become complicated or we can just stick with the retail pricing at these stores and leave out the other factors.
  • marsspirit123 - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - link

    The I7 860 is $290 at newegg with free shiping and no fees of any kind.In microcenter you have $230 + $20 tax + gas .The point is the differance is less than $40 with microcenter .You should always compare final price for the purpose of being fair. How long have you been waiting for I7 860 cpu to come out ? How much have you lost for that time ?So if you have been waiting 8 months how is 3 days going to be bad?If that is so bad how come you din't get 920 before?
  • BlueBlazer - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    I think he's referring to this?

    http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....

    Core i5 750 = $159.99
  • BlueBlazer - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    As well as this...

    http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....

    Core i7 860 = $229.99


    My +/- 1 cents..
  • Ninevah - Monday, September 21, 2009 - link

    Or this, for that matter:

    http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....

    Core i7 920 = $199.99
  • vol7ron - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    This doesn't even factor in the savings on Watts used.
  • jordanclock - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    But how many LOCs per fortnight can they process? Could you please provide your metrics in more understandable formats. At the very least I would like to see how many TuxRacer compiles per hogshead of cider (the good stuff, not the end-of-season stuff) we can expect.
  • BlueBlazer - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Skewing the numbers? Try..

    Intel E5300
    142 / 69.99 = 2.02 SYSmarks per $
  • BlueBlazer - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Where in the review is the PII X4 620?

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