Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 60
 Very Satisfying June 27, 2009
kelvinator (Las Vegas, Nevada)
43 out of 44 found this review helpful
Pros:
It's my first build and coming from a Pentium 4 3.4 ghz in my Dell to this processor is simply amazing. I can now play Oblivion and L4D in the settings I want! Everything else it pretty much cuts through it like butter. It get a Windows 7 WEI of 7.6 3dmark Vantage CPU score P42500+ and I have it overclocked to 3.67 with blck of 184 vcore 1.225 with vdroop. Coupled with a Cooler Master V8 it's prime 95 stable (small ffts - 2 hours, large - 2 hours, blend - 9 hours) and LinX stable (max memory 10 runs) 75 degrees C max. Ambient 80 F
Cons:
None
Other thoughts:
If you are new to overclocking like I was here are some simple steps for a modest overclock:
WARNING: It is entirely possible to burn your CPU! Don't go crazy and set a high base clock from the start. Follow the steps!
1) download Realtemp.exe, cpu-z, prime 95, and LinX (google em)
2) go into your bios and increase the base clock by 5 (or 10 if impatient but remember my warning)
3) Load Windows and breath a sigh of relief if it does. But thats only 1/5 of the battle.
4) Run CPU-z to verify your overclock, close it then run realtemp.
5) Run LinX max memory, 3 runs. If it blue screens, restarts or errors then you've gone too far and you need to dial it down to keep your machine stable. Your last setting is your max overclock without adding vcore (cpu voltage).
6) If it passes with no errors and your max temps aren't above 85 C (some people use 80) then you're good, and you can add more base clock.
7) Go back to step 2 rinse and repeat.
8)Once you get to a speed you're happy with and it passes LinX, and is below 85 C, run prime 95 stress test for at least 6 hours of blend, 2 hours of small ffts, and 2 hours of large ffts. If it survives that then you're good for gaming and most everyday apps. If it survives p95 blend for 24 hours (no errors, < 85 C) then you're rock stable ready for mission critical or server work.
You can run Linx for more passes or folding@home SMP for further stability testing.
Finally don't expect much if you're using the heatsink that came with the processor.
Good luck. If I made a mistake somewhere please correct me in the comments.
BTW my motherboard is the EVGA X58 vanilla. The folks at the forums in their website are the most helpful and supportive folks you can find. Really thats the stuff that money can't buy, I strongly recommend their motherboards just for that. They have guides for more serious overclocks and guides explaining voltages, guides on optimizing Vista etc.
All the info about overclocking and stability testing comes from the stickied threads on the EVGA forums
8-cores at a 4-core price: another fantastic CPU from Intel December 3, 2008
Nathan Beauchamp (Oak Park, IL USA)
96 out of 108 found this review helpful
I upgraded to the i7 from an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. The main reasons I made the upgrade were:
1. Low power consumption (significantly lower than a Q6600 which is about $100 cheaper than the i7)
2. 8 logical cores available (quad core + hyper threading)
3. The ability to play cutting edge games that take advantage of all 8 cores.
4. The potential ability to load share between CPU & GPU once Windows 7 is released.
The upgrade might have been a bit premature, as the primary reason to buy an I7 processor won't be possible until Windows 7 is released. Windows 7 will allow load sharing between GPU (graphics card) and CPU. This will enable some really nice performance gains in games, or other graphic intensive applications like video editing software. Allegedly, games like Crysis will get a 20-30 percent performance increase. However, I heard that before when Windows stated that Vista would provide significant performance gains for DirectX10 games, which has not proved to be the case.
Regardless, the i7 920 is truly an amazing CPU. I've yet to experiment with overclocking much, but I do have it running at 3.12ghz stable and with a core temperature of 41C at idle and around 60C under load. I'll likely push things further in the coming weeks, and I'll give updates on temperatures and performance when I do.
Combining this card with two 4870hd 512mb graphics cards in Crossfire mode produced a 3DMark06 score of just over 19,000! That is a 5,000 point gain from my previous rig, and is in about the top 4% of all systems out there. That is pretty phenomenal performance. In Crysis with all settings at very high and DX10, I average over 50 frames at 1980x1200. This CPU is a gaming beast.
If you plan to overclock this card even a little, invest in an aftermarket heat sink and some Arctic Silver thermal compound. The heatsink provided with the retail package is small and ineffective at cooling an overclocked card. I recommend this Zalman Cpu Cooler for moderate overclocking. It is a very quite and very effective fan.
If your in the market for a 'future-proof' processor, this is a great option at a reasonable price point. The ceiling speed of processors is growing increasingly unimportant as multi-thread programing become the norm in both games and applications. You could spend a lot more for a higher GHZ CPU, but you're not really gaining as much performance as the jump from 2 to 4 cores, and then quad core to octo core. This processor will eat anything you throw at it and come back for more. Just make sure your mother board supports i7 chips before you buy one.
It's a beast February 4, 2009
AJF (Portland, OR)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Excellent performance; you will not be disappointed. The processor is highly overclockable - with a decent aftermarket cooling solution, it can easily be clocked over 4ghz. Even with the stock cooler, I was able to reach 3.3ghz with safe temperatures (fan at 100%) under normal usage (but prime95 stress test would push the temps a little too high at this speed). Even without overclocking, I noticed an improvement in speed and multitasking ability over my core 2 duo system. Highly recommended, particularly for those building a new rig. I use the core i7 primarily for gaming and general computing.
Cons - stock fan is somewhat loud to me even at low speeds, though I strive for silent computing. Invest in a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan (plus it will enable you to push performance well beyond the stock 940 at less expense).
The D0 stepping really puts the Core i7 920 over the top December 15, 2009
David Wilson (Northville, MI United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I got my second Core i7 920 here on Amazon in early November, and received the D0 stepping. You can tell by looking for a sSpec number of SLBEJ on the box. (SLBCH was the C0 stepping.) You don't need to unseal the Intel box to know what you're getting, so you could just return it if you didn't get the D0. Not that that's likely anymore. I initially wasn't impressed by the D0, using the same overclock settings I'd zeroed in on for the C0. If anything, it seemed to run even hotter. Then I learned the secret. You can turn the core voltage WAY down, which is the key to heat. I was at 1.30 volts to run the C0 stable at 3.7ghz (air cooled with Coolermaster V10). I've been able to turn it down to just a hair over 1.20 volts with the D0. With the bclk at 194, multiplier at 21, I'm now running over 4.0 ghz. That's running Prime95 all night on all eight threads, with max core temps at 73 C or below. To summarize, the big improvement with the D0 stepping is being able to run with much lower voltages, which in turn allows higher overclocks with safe temps.
i7 quick for the price February 9, 2009
Robert J. Shindeldecker (Boise, ID)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
It's been 10 years since I built a computer. But this chip was quite easy to install. I used a Zalman 9700led cooler w/arctic silver 5 paste, and a p6t deluxe asus motherboard. At idle it is about 34-36 degrees. When all 4 cores are crunching away, it goes up to about 58-62 degrees celsius (no overclocking done yet) You will be quite happy choosing this processor.
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