The Intel Broadwell Desktop Review: Core i7-5775C and Core i5-5675C Tested (Part 1)
by Ian Cutress on June 2, 2015 7:45 AM ESTProfessional Performance: Windows
Agisoft Photoscan – 2D to 3D Image Manipulation: link
Agisoft Photoscan creates 3D models from 2D images, a process which is very computationally expensive. The algorithm is split into four distinct phases, and different phases of the model reconstruction require either fast memory, fast IPC, more cores, or even OpenCL compute devices to hand. Agisoft supplied us with a special version of the software to script the process, where we take 50 images of a stately home and convert it into a medium quality model. This benchmark typically takes around 15-20 minutes on a high end PC on the CPU alone, with GPUs reducing the time.
The presence of Crystal Well had a small effect on Photoscan, occurring mostly in the second phase of the calculation which is the one that also has an option to enable the GPU, indicating that memory bandwidth is an potential limitation in that segment.
Cinebench R15
Cinebench is a benchmark based around Cinema 4D, and is fairly well known among enthusiasts for stressing the CPU for a provided workload. Results are given as a score, where higher is better.
Cinebench is a historically CPU-limited benchmark, and the results show this again here. The fact that the 3.6GHz Broadwell-based i5-5675C performs so closely to the 3.9GHz Haswell-based i5-4690 is a promising sign here, as it means that despite being a mere "tick" in Intel's development efforts, there are tangible IPC increases on the desktop from Broadwell.
HandBrake v0.9.9: link
For HandBrake, we take two videos (a 2h20 640x266 DVD rip and a 10min double UHD 3840x4320 animation short) and convert them to x264 format in an MP4 container. Results are given in terms of the frames per second processed, and HandBrake uses as many threads as possible.
While no obvious improvement was seen in the low quality conversion, the double UHD conversion put the i7 above what was otherwise expected.
Hybrid x265
Hybrid is a new benchmark, where we take a 4K 1500 frame video and convert it into an x265 format without audio. Results are given in frames per second.
Unlike the Handbrake H.264 tests, the Hybrid x265 tests show a clear uptick in performance on the Broadwell processors. It is not fast enough to catch the i7-4790K and its 4.4GHz turbo clockspeed, but we see the i5-5675C shoot well past the i5-4690 despite the clockspeed deficit. Whether this is due to Broadwell architecture enhancements, Crystal Well acting as an L4 cache, or a combination of the two is difficult to determine, but the end result is substantial.
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Flunk - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
The 5820K is even available for < €400.ImSpartacus - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
And it's not THAT expensive. It's certainly not cheap, but it's reasonable considering Intel's dominance.bug77 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
I would love to see a quad core clocked higher (or with better IPC). I don't use highly parallel software that much and I have no use for an integrated GPU.Sadly, with no competition, Intel has just been pumping the GPU for 4 generations in a row. Not that I blame them.
Taneli - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Improving single threaded performance is extremely hard, just ask AMD. I'd expect improvements of 5-10% per generation for the next few years.bug77 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
They could still raise the clock speed. Intel CPUs could hit 4GHz on air for years. Even the top-level Haswell can do it, but it's 4 core+HT part. If I could replace my i5-2500k with a 4GHz quad-core, that would be good enough for me. Removing the integrated GPU from the equation would yield even more thermal legroom for the CPU. But it's not happening. With CPU performance securely in their hands, Intel is trying to secure positions in GPU and mobile markets (they'd be crazy not to at least try to diversify).Yet raising the clock speed conflicts with higher IPC. Because raising clock speed needs a longer pipeline and a longer pipeline means taking a more serious hit for branch mispredictions. AMD has managed to seriously raise IPC with AthlonXP. Intel did it with their Core architecture. And nothing happened ever since. Because there's no more pressure on Intel and AMD doesn't have the cash to invest anymore.
swaaye - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
You don't know that the GPU is impeding clock rate.Increases to clock rate increase power consumption dramatically. You can always overclock Broadwell yourself.
IPC has been steadily improving. Core 2, and anything from AMD, are far behind at this point.
bug77 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
"IPC has been steadily improving. Core 2, and anything from AMD, are far behind at this point."Not really. If you look here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7003/the-haswell-rev...
You'll see there's usually less than 10% gained (watch the i7 3.5GHz parts). And that's spread over three generations. Broadwell bring another 2-3%.
And yes, AMD has been playing the same game, only they're stuck in their Athlon64 days.
MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Dude, Intel is offering exactly this with i7 4790K. A really highly clocked quad core. Use your external GPU and the iGPU won't consume any power nor limit clock speed. In fact it makes the die larger and thus helps cooling a bit.sonicmerlin - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Oh please. What a garbage excuse. "It's hard"? Intel's more than doubled IPC/Watt in their mobile chips over the last 3-4 years. They just don't care about high end IPC because they have no competition.vision33r - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
That is what the XEON offers a better price and value than the X58xx line if you don't need unlocked performance. You can buy many XEON 6 cores cheaper than the X58xx line.