Final Words
Perhaps this is a bit anticlimactic, but the Core i7 860 performs exactly where you'd expect it to. It's faster than a Core i5 750, faster than a Core i7 920 and slower than a Core i7 870. As I noted in The Lynnfield Follow Up, overclocking is much easier on Bloomfield (LGA-1366) thanks to the absence of an on-die PCIe controller. It's not impossible on Lynnfield, it's just effortless on Bloomfield.
My recommendations from the initial Lynnfield review still stand, you'll want to opt for Bloomfield processor if you care about:
1) High-end multi-GPU performance (or other uses of high bandwidth PCIe)
2) Stock Voltage Overclocking
3) Future support for 6-core Gulftown CPUs
In terms of cost effectiveness however - the Core i7 860 is the way to go. With cheaper motherboards and higher operating frequencies than a Core i7 920, for the majority of users the 860 will be the better pick. Here's where the discussion gets interesting however.
A year ago, $284 for a Core i7 920 didn't seem like a lot for what you were getting. But with AMD shipping $99 quad core CPUs, and the Phenom II line being very competitive in the $130 - $200 space - is Lynnfield too expensive?
Our sources are telling us that Lynnfield isn't selling as well as expected, it's not a flop, but definitely selling under expectations. The reason? Price. Apparently the vendors (and their customers) were hoping for a sub-$200 Core i5 750. Remember that the majority of quad-core sales happen under the $200 mark. Fortunately for AMD, there aren't any cheaper quad-core Lynnfields on the roadmaps for Intel through Q3 of next year; the Core i5 750 will be the cheapest quad-core Nehalem for the foreseeable future.
Instead, Intel will compete with 32nm Clarkdale CPUs in the sub-$200 space. These are dual core parts with Hyper Threading; it remains to be seen how well they'll stack up to AMD's quad-core CPUs in that space, since it doesn't look like we'll see Lynnfield down there anytime soon.
Assuming that Clarkdale isn't overly competitive, Phenom II could dominate the ~$150 quad-core price point throughout much of 2010. The biggest threat to Phenom II appears to be the Core i5 650. We'll see how that plays out early next year.
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Griswold - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link
Well, you didnt go away either...coolkev99 - Monday, September 21, 2009 - link
In the zorro's world, processors can only be a fixed speed. Since Intel's newest dynamically changes he thinks it's somehow cheating.I wonder if the zorro thinks mobile CPU power saving features are cheating when they throttle down to save energy?
Just because a CPU can now change thier speed based on needs does not mean it's cheating. Better get used to it as this is the future of multicore CPUs.
vol7ron - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link
You already made a similar comment in the other article. It's not overclocked, you're a moron. It's the same as saying that it underclocks as it uses more cores. That's the stock speed, which varies. Overclocking occurs when users modify the speeds beyond the specifications.Get over yourself AMD fanboi.
Nich0 - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link
I don't be too much of a PITA, but surely the 'real' overclocking frequencies for the 860 should be of the 21*BCLK variety, no? Because it's stock rated speed is 21*133, its overclocked-at-stock-voltage-with-turbo speed should be 21*150 instead of 22*150. Looks to me as there's some kind of turbo going on on the CPUZ screenshots. Or am I missing something?iwodo - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link
It is hardly surprising they are not selling well.Because, Nehalem didn't make as Big Jump as C2D in performance.
It is expensive, not only the chip itself. But the platform. Pentium 4 to C2D doesn't require new memory. And in some cases doesn't require new Motherboard as well.
Athlon Quad Core is Cheap. Consumers cares about Cores, not threads.
Economy doesn't allow to spend money upgrading on what is already working perfectly.
SSD offer much better value for money in terms of upgrade and investment.
No Integrated Graphics for Nehalem yet. ( Money need to spend on Graphics. )
Personally i am waiting for Sandy Bridge ( or even Ivy Bridge for FMA )
zero2dash - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - link
It doesn't?My socket 478 P4 3.0C would like to disagree with you, considering that it used DDR ram. Practically all of the later P4's were s775, using DDR2 boards.
I wanted to upgrade - I bought a new board and new ram to go along with it.
zero2dash - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - link
Ack, frickin' quote didn't work.[quote]Pentium 4 to C2D doesn't require new memory.[/quote]
afkrotch - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - link
The move from P4 to C2D can be huge or small.1. new proc
2. new mobo
3. new memory
4. new gpu
5. new psu
You were required to pick up 1-5 new parts. When I upgraded, I needed all 5.
Stating about saving money, then saying an SSD offers much better value for money in terms of upgrade and investment. WTF. As of right now, it's probably the worst choice, unless you already have the best parts available.
Dobs - Sunday, September 20, 2009 - link
I think P55 may be the problem - without USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0 SATA 6gbsIf all were included it would be a must have - even 1 of the 3 would make it very tempting.
Perhaps they could release them like "Draft n"... That may get sales moving.
Griswold - Saturday, September 19, 2009 - link
I'm not so sure this is fact. Other rumors say, Intel aims for 1 million shipped chips by the end of 2009. Thats not exactly shabby, bad or "not so good". Intel, historically, has a pretty good grasp of what is possible due to their very close ties with their partners.http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090916PD219.html">http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090916PD219.html
Then again, this could also be just a rumor without much truth to it. We'll have to see whos right.
But I already know that you're right with some of what you said. I was not impressed with i7 (LGA1366). I was waiting for i5/i7 (LGA1156). And while I think it can be a good product for a relatively fair price (depending on which model you take), I cant justify ditching my Q6600 for it just yet. The best reason would be power consumption and turbo.
Instead, I went with a SSD and got more improvement out of that than any other upgrade could possibly deliver.
The 32nm parts may be interesting again. If not, I'll just wait for sandy bridge. Or maybe even AMDs bulldozer. My current system will take me there easily...