Benchmarks
Processor Arithmetic: Benchmarks the ALU and FPU processor units. Shows how your processors handle arithmetic and floating point instructions in comparison to other typical processors. Such operations are used by software in typical tasks.
Dhrystone (MIPS) - higher results are better, i.e. better integer performance.
Whetstone (MFLOPS) - higher results are better, i.e. better floating-point performance.
Processor Multi-Media: Benchmark the (W)MMX(2), SSE(2/3/4), AVX processor units. Shows how your processors handle multi-media instructions and data in comparison to other typical processors. Such operations are used by more specialised software, e.g. image manipulation, video decoders/encoders, games.
Multi-Media Integer (Pixels/s) - higher results are better, i.e. better integer performance.
Multi-Media Single/Double Float (Pixels/s) - higher results are better, i.e. better floating-point performance.
Multi-Core Efficiency: Benchmark the multi-core efficiency of the processors. Shows how efficient the processor cores and their inter-connects are in comparison to other types to other typical processors. The ability of the cores to process data blocks and pass them to another core for processing (producer-consumer paradigm) of different sizes and different chain sizes is measured. The efficiency of the inter-connect between cores is thus benchmarked; however, the number of cores (and processors) also counts as more data buffers can be processed simultaneously (aka "in flight"). True multi-core processors that have shared L2/L3 caches will thus perform much better than cores that have separate caches and are connected by the traditional FSB.
Inter-Core Bandwidth (GB/s) - higher results are better
Inter-Core Latency (ns) - lower values are better
Power Management Efficiency: Benchmark the power management efficiency of the processors. Shows how efficient the power management of your processors is in comparison to other typical processors. The ability of the processors to step-down in frequency and voltage at different workloads is measured. The more a processor steps down in both frequency and voltage the better the score at the specific workload. The test stops when the workload is too great the processor even at 100% efficiency. The ALU/FPU score is a geometric mean based on the whole range of workloads; thus the power of the processors does matter in obtaining a higher score. The Power Efficiency score is a geometric mean based on the supported workloads only. Thus the power of the processors does not matter.
ALU Power Performance (MIPS) - higher is better
Power Efficiency - higher is better
Cryptography: Measures the cryptography efficiency of the processor units: encryption, decryption and hashing. Shows how your processors handle cryptographic operations in comparison to other typical processors. Such operations are used by software in typical tasks.
Both bandwidths - higher values are better
Physical Disks: Benchmark hard disks (i.e. the disk itself, not the file system). Shows how your physical disks connected to the storage adapters or hosts compare to other disks in a typical computer. As the test measures raw performance it is independent on the file system the disk uses and any volumes mounted off the disk.
- Read Test: Sequential across disk
- Write Test: Sequential across disk
- Seek Test: random, full stroke
Drive Index: is a composite figure representing an overall performance rating based on the highest read or write speed across the whole disk. Thus the higher the better.
Access Time: is the average time to read a random sector on the disk, analogous to latency response time. Thus the lower the better.
Memory Bandwidth: Benchmark the memory bandwidth of your computer. Shows how your memory sub-systems compare to other computers in terms of bandwidth. The benchmark is based on the well-known STREAM memory benchmark.
Memory Latency: Benchmark the latency (response time) of processors' caches and memory. Shows how your processors' caches and memory sub-systems compare to other computers in terms of latency. The latency of caches is measured in processor clocks (i.e. how many clocks it takes for the data to be ready) as it is dependent on the processor clock speed. The latency of memory is measured in nanoseconds as it is typically independent on processor clock speed.
Integer Memory Bandwidth (MB/s) - higher results are better, i.e. faster memory bandwidth.
Float Memory Bandwidth (MB/s) - higher results are better, i.e. faster memory bandwidth.
Memory Latency and Speed Factor - lower is better
Cache and Memory: Benchmark the processors' caches and memory access (transfer speed). Shows how your processors' caches and memory sub-systems compare to other computers in terms of access.
Cache/Memory Bandwidth (MB/s) - higher results are better, i.e. faster memory bandwidth.
Speed Factor (MB/s) - lower results are better, i.e. less difference between processor cache speed and memory speed.
Conclusions
Enthusiasts only, please! I mean come on, how many of you are going to pay ~85,000 PKR for just a processor? In addition, not to mention a motherboard with a smallest price tag of 18,000 PKR. This is expensive business right here. However, if you are an enthusiasts and budgeting is the least of your concerns, this is the processor for you. It is not just another processor… it is a revolution. Intel went far ahead with the number of innovations on the Core i7 architecture. This truly is the fastest processor available on planet Earth.
Although the 965 with its C0 stepping can reach 4.0GHz with ease as well, it going to be phased out because the 975 is available for the same price. They could have included more multipliers but still the D0 stepping does make overclock a child’s play. If you are a multimedia editor who encode/decode most of his life, this is the processor for you. If you are a serious gamer… no question asked, just buy one! If you are an average PC user and even have the buying power, stay away from 975! Simple. You have to be an extremist to take advantage of the sheer power of 975. Heck, I mentioned earlier, the entry-level Core i7 processor, the 920, is capable of beating the past-monster Core 2 QX9770! This is a serious statement. If you render very dense and complex scenes in Poser, Maya, or 3DS Max, this is your processor of choice as seeing eight buckets working it out will be uber-cool.
However, there are a few things you might want to consider before buying one! The modular architecture allows Intel to literally 'add' cores to the monolithic die. There is a Xeon Nehalem, currently present, with six cores and all are hyper threaded. Therefore, there are 12 cores in the OS. The L3 cache is going to be upgraded and that is for sure. Next year, the Core i5 series will be launched and unfortunately, those processors will have a different size. Therefore, a different motherboard for them. If you want to go beyond Core 2, I would suggest go for Core i7 and skip Core i5.
I would give this processor a WCCF eXtreme Award… but it is already extreme.
Thank you to Intel for proving the killer sample.
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