News
Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Intel Core i7 870
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Socket | 1156 | ||
| Number of cores | 4 | ||
| Clock rate | 2.93 GHz | ||
| Cache | 8 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 95 W | ||
 Show all specifications
|
|||
| Technology | 45 nm |
 Hide specifications | |
Régis Jehl
Test date: January 13, 2010
Test date: January 13, 2010
Intel's Range
The Core i7 800 series was introduced in September 2009 with two models: the 860 and the 870. Both are quad-core CPUs with hyper-threading (see main text) as wel as a Turbo mode, which increases their basic frequency by 266, 533 or 666 MHz depending on the number of cores required for a particular task.
Using the Lynnfield architecture, the i7 800 processors have 8 MB of cache and fit an 1156 socket. Engineered at 45 nm, they have a Thermal Design Power of 95 W, which is pretty reasonable.
Using the Lynnfield architecture, the i7 800 processors have 8 MB of cache and fit an 1156 socket. Engineered at 45 nm, they have a Thermal Design Power of 95 W, which is pretty reasonable.
The Core i7 870 is a quad-core processor with both Turbo mode and hyper-threading.
All of this technical jargon can be a little complicated, but it's actually fairly straightforward. The former automatically adjusts the CPU's maximum frequency depending on its workload, adjusting the processor's frequency between 2.93 GHz and 3.60 GHz according to the number of cores in use and the overall load.
Energy ConsumptionWith this range, Intel has again broken new ground with faster, more energy-efficient processors. While idle, the amount of power needed is less than a dual-core model like the Core 2 Duo E8600, reaching just 85 W. Working, the needle inevitably rises, but it still remains reasonable overall at 203 W for our whole computer.
Performance: ApplicationsOverall, the i7 870 performs identically to the i7 920. The energy consumption certainly helps distinguish them (in favour of the 870), but so does the price. The cheaper of the two is obviously the most attractive, but it's not something that we pay attention to in our tests or the final scores.
To give you some numbers, though, the i7 870 is quite a way behind its big brother, the i7 975 XE. For rendering 3D video with Cinema 4D R11, it took 2 minutes 25 seconds, while the 975 did the same job in 2 m 7 s.
General overall average.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
Performance: GamingThe i7 870 is at home with games, too. In the titles we used to test it out, it was powerful enough to reach the limits of our graphics card. To put it another way, if you find a game isn't giving you the performance you'd expect, you might do better to change the graphics card rather than this processor which is powerful enough for all current 3D games.
There is one small hitch though: some games (ArmA 2, for instance), don't like it when you turn on hyper-threading and their performance falls as a result. If you don't find some games a little jerky, try turning hyper-threading off, even if it will degrade performance in other apps.
| View Performance Index Table |
Pluses
-
Powerful Turbo mode
-
Hyper-threading
-
Low energy consumption, especially while idle
-
Very good performance
Minuses
-
Hyper-threading can be problematic for some games
We were impressed by the impressive perforamcne of this CPU--and it's ultra-low energy consumption when it's not working hard. It's a great choice.
