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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  • blyndy - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Intel Core i7 920
    214 / $284 = 0.75 SYSmarks per $

    Intel Core i7 870
    233 / $562 = 0.41 SYSmarks per $

    Intel Core i7 860
    223 / $284 = 0.79 SYSmarks per $

    Intel Core i5 750
    217 / 196 = 1.11 SYSmarks per $

    AMD Athlon II X4 620
    147 / 99 = 1.48 SYSmarks per $
  • yacoub - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Your prices are wrong. The 860 is $230, which makes it 0.97 SYSmarks per $.
    The 750 is $160, which means 1.36 SYSmarks per $ by your measurement.
  • johnsonx - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    I just love it when someone quotes some below cost, loss-leader sale price they heard about somewhere once to prove a value arguement.
  • yacoub - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    You mean "on-going, still valid sale prices that you can get today".
  • stanljl - Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - link

    Most of the US doesn't live reasonable close to the 21 cities that have microcenters. In cause you haven't looked there really aren't that many locations so "on-going, still valid sale prices you can get today", really doesn't apply to the vast majority of the people in the country.
  • strikeback03 - Monday, September 21, 2009 - link

    It is a valid price, but please add the disclaimer "If you have a microcenter nearby" instead of just pretending those are widely available prices. I plan on buying a processor when I help my parents move down near Philly next month, otherwise I (like most) don't have a Microcenter anywhere nearby.
  • formulav8 - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Yeah with only 2% of the people able to get one at near that price. Quoting an obvious loss leader as valid pricing for those looking it nutty. Newegg or ZZF is a much better gauge of price.
  • NA1NSXR - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Who cares, let him pay up. Nothing on P55 has made me regret getting that $200 D0 920. Nothing. Not even close. The OC, heat, and platform pricing advantages all failed to materialize.

    The 920 is not a 2.66Mhz bloomfield. It is a 3.8GHz chip supporting the fullest featured consumer platform at the moment.
  • kilkennycat - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link

    Where? Where? Where? From a reputable supplier and with in-stock delivery, of course.

    Newegg and ZipZoomFly: 860 $299
    850 $199
  • mgivler - 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.

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