Intel Core i7-990X Extreme: Crazy Fast Got Faster

Name: Intel Core i7-990X Extreme: Crazy Fast Got Faster - Page 4
Brand: Intel

by Dave Altavilla — Monday, March 07, 2011, 09:03 AM EDT

SiSoft SANDRA and 3DMark Vantage CPU Test

We began our testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA 2011, the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We ran three of the built-in subsystem tests that partially comprise the SANDRA 2011 suite with Intel's new Core i7-990X (CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, and Memory Bandwidth).

Preliminary Testing with SiSoft SANDRA

Synthetic Benchmarks

All of the scores reported below were taken with the processors running at its default clock speeds of 3.45GHz with 6GB of DDR3-1333 RAM running in triple-channel mode on the Intel DX58SO2 motherboard with Intel Turbo Boost technology enabled on in the BIOS.

Processor Arithmetic
Core i7-990X

Multimedia
Core i7-990X

Memory Bandwidth
Core i7-990X

With the exception of the memory bandwidth test, where our test system's stock 1333MHz settings fell somewhat short of some of the other test systems in SANDRA's database, the new Core i7 990X fell in right where we expected it to with best-of-class integer, FPU and multimedia results.

Futuremark 3DMark Vantage CPU Test

Physics Calculated on the CPU

3DMark Vantage's CPU Test 2 is a multi-threaded test designed for comparing relative game physics processing performance between systems. This test consists of a single scene that features an air race of sorts, with a complex configuration of gates. There are aircraft in the test that trail smoke and collide with various cloth and soft-body obstacles, each other, and the ground. The smoke spreads, and reacts to the planes as they pass through it as well and all of this is calculated on the host CPU.

The Core i7-990X Extreme's lead in 3DMark Vantage's CPU Test 2 wasn't very pronounced versus its predecessor. In this benchmark, Intel's new baby is only marginally faster but we haven't yet begun to make it sweat. Let's move on to some heavier lifting.