As you know, the change of microprocessor Intel architectures happens every two years. Computing power is constantly growing, the flagships of the recent past are turning into outsiders, giving way to the strongest representatives new architecture. With the introduction of processors based on the Nehalem architecture in November 2008, Intel has significantly strengthened its position in the Hi-End desktop sector. And the recent top models in the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo lines could no longer compete with the Core i7 processors, so they had to shift to the middle price niche, giving way to high-end newcomers in the Hi-End segment. In future plans by Intel includes expanding the presence of representatives of the new architecture in all market segments. However, the Core i7 line in its original form is in no way able to fit into the budget of medium and budget desktop PCs. That is why, for the general public, the company's engineers have developed a "light" series of CPUs based on the Nehalem architecture. Today, Intel officially introduced three new microprocessors - Core i7 870, Core i7 860 and Core i5 750, designed to work in the Socket LGA 1156 processor socket. The first representatives of the Core i7 family were designed to be installed in the Socket LGA 1366 processor socket, and motherboards for these processors were built on the basis of the only available set system logic- Intel X58. The market entry of new members of the Core family required the development of a new chipset and motherboards based on it. The new chipset was the Intel P55 chipset. Before we take a closer look at the differences between the new solutions for Socket LGA 1156 and the old LGA 1366, let's take a look at the summary table of characteristics of Core i5/i7 CPUs and Intel P55 and X58 chipsets.

*The frequency step is determined by the step of the processor multiplier from the original, depending on the load on the cores. From the above table, it follows that the differences in the internal structure of the LGA 1366 and LGA 1156 processors are not limited to the lack of support for a three-channel memory controller in Lynnfield. In fact, the difference is much more significant. Let's analyze the differences between these CPUs in more detail.

Design

Memory controller

Hyper Threading Technology

Turbo boost mode

Bundle "Lynnfield - P55"

Core i7 processors for Socket LGA 1366 communicate with the Intel X58 chipset using the QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus, which provides up to 25 GB/s of throughput. In turn, the Core i7 and Core i5 processors, designed for Socket LGA 1156, "communicate" with the Intel P55 chipset via the DMI (Direct Media Interface), first used by Intel back in 2004, paired with the ICH6 south bridge. It's no secret that the DMI interface cannot provide the same high bandwidth like a QPI bus. Judge for yourself, the PS of the DMI interface is ~ 2 GB / s versus ~ 25 GB / s for QPI. And how, then, to "pump" huge amounts of data between the processor and devices connected to the PCI-Express 2.0 bus, for example, video cards that require a data transfer rate of up to 16 GB / s. But there are also less demanding devices, such as network controllers, hard disks etc. Intel engineers quite elegantly solved the problem. The PCI-Express controller and DMI interface, along with the memory controller, are now integrated into the CPU, which largely solves the "bottleneck" problem. Why largely and not completely? The fact is that the integrated PCI-Express 2.0 controller supports up to 16 lines, which will be entirely occupied by one or a pair graphics accelerators. For a single video card, all 16 PCI-Express lines are allocated; when two video cards are installed, the lines are distributed as 2x8. It turns out that for other devices, the capabilities of the integrated PCI-Express controller are no longer enough. However, this problem has been successfully solved! Thanks to the integration of some of the control blocks on the CPU substrate, the Intel P55 chipset is just one chip, which has received a new name. Now this is not just a south bridge, it is the so-called Platform Controller Hub (PCH), which, along with a standard set of functions south bridge, also received support for the PCI-Express 2.0 controller to meet the needs of peripheral devices.

VT-d

TDP

From theory to practice. Test platform

Core i5 750 on the left, Core i7 920 on the right

As a basis for our test bench, we used the MSI P55-GD65 motherboard, kindly provided by the Russian representative of MSI. We will publish a detailed review of the MSI P55-GD65 a little later, but for now we will focus on the description key features fees:

• Processor support for Socket LGA1156
• 4 x DDR-3 memory slots
• Support for 7 SATA II connectors
• Support for SLI and CrossFireX technology
• Brand support MSI technology OC Genie

Now is the time to look at the Core i5 in action and talk about the overclocking features of the new Intel processors based on the Lynnfield core.

Features of the Core i7 and Core i5 processors on the Lynnfield core

This material opens a series of notes in which I will tell you about the overclocking potential of interesting pieces of iron. Processors, graphics cards, RAM - these are the three main components that every overclocker overclocks. The idea of ​​creating a base for overclocking has been around for a long time, but only the statistics are scarce, so we will tell you about our impressions of overclocking our wards.

We start, perhaps, with the most interesting this moment processors from Intel - Core i5 750. The cheapest processors of the current generation will face each other today, and we will find out which of the 8 copies will be the best.

test bench

To study the platform for socket 1156, we chose the following configuration:

• Motherboard Asus P7P55D Deluxe
• Cooler Scythe Ninja 2
• RAM 2x2Gb OCZ Flex 1600MHz CL6 1.65v
• Video card Saphire 4890 OC (plug in PCI-E required)
• Chiftec 1200W power supply
• Hard drive Seagate 7200.12 250Gb

C motherboard from Asus on the P55 chipset I encountered for the first time and I want to note that the first acquaintance can be considered successful. The board easily and seamlessly worked with all the set voltages. Of the features, I would like to note that the voltage set in the BIOS for the processor coincided with the readings from CPU-Z, which is very pleasing.

Test Methodology

All eight processors were tested at three frequencies:

• max valid frequency - maximum valid CPU-Z frequency.
• max bench frequency - the frequency at which the processor can be made to work in light benchmarks, the Super Pi1M test is taken as an indicator.
• max stable frequency - the frequency at which the processor will work 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, without turning off for a second. Naturally, I'm joking - in our conditions of express testing it is difficult to find a really stable frequency. But as an estimated one, we will take the frequency of passing the Hyper Pi 32M test - the same Super Pi32M is only multi-threaded.

From the settings in the BIOS were used:

• CPU Voltage: 1.35-1.45V;
• CPU PLL: 1.9-2.0V;
• IMC Voltage: 1.4V;
• Dram Bus Voltage: 1.65V

The system was overclocked from under Windows utility from Asus - TurboV. The operating room was used for testing. Windows system XP SP2.

conclusions

Eight processors of three weeks of production took part in testing: six copies - the 22nd week, one copy - the 24th week and one copy of the 30th week. Based on the results, we can determine the winner of our testing: it was a copy with serial number 6, released on the 30th week of 2009. This processor is the coldest, and he was the only one who obeyed the coveted numbers of 4.6 GHz. The processors of the 22nd week of release can be called strong middle peasants, half of the processors showed results close to 4600 MHz, but at the same time, the other half overclocked by 50 MHz worse. And the most unfortunate, in my opinion, was the processor released on the 24th week of 2009, its distinctive features were a hot temper and zero response to voltage increases higher than 1.4 V.

The frequency at which the processors were able to withstand the Super Pi1M averaged 4400-4450 MHz, best percent was able to pass 1M at 4535 MHz, and the worst only at 4380 MHz. 100 MHz means a lot in benchmarking. But in terms of stability for all processors, the spread in frequency is not so high. Everyone withstood 4200 MHz, the winner even 4300 MHz. With confidence for a home system, you can set 4 GHz and use the computer for your own pleasure.

A little more than a year has passed since the appearance of the Nehalem platform, but the prices for new processors are still not affordable. The expansion of the modern CPU line with models based on the Lynnfield core for LGA1156 did not affect the pricing of older brothers in any way, and they themselves were not distinguished by democratic prices. Until recently, the most economical processor based on the new architecture was the Core i5-750, which led to a fairly large popularity of this model. And even the recent appearance of Clarkdale processors from the same series is unlikely to shake the position of the "old man", which has real four cores against four "virtual" ones in new products. But we will have separate material on Clarkdale, and in this article, as you may have guessed, we will focus specifically on the Core i5 750.

The Intel Core i5 750 is sold in retail in a boxed version, but sometimes you can also find tray options, which are provided with a 12-month warranty from the seller.

The standard cooler has rather compact dimensions and low heatsink height; the core is made of copper. By design, it does not differ from the cooling systems of processors with the LGA775 design.

With air cooling, all Core i5 processors submit to the BCLK frequency of about 200-220 MHz. Having several budget motherboards for Socket LGA1156 available, we found out that the limit of our CPU in terms of base frequency (with air cooling) is 220 MHz. At higher values, significant system instability was observed. Thus, with the maximum multiplier x21 “in the air”, theoretically, even 4620 MHz can be obtained. In fact, we stopped at around 4066 MHz, at which full stability was maintained in stress tests (OCCT, LinX, etc.). Note that this result was achieved on the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 board at a CPU Vcore voltage of 1.4 V and a QPI/Vtt Voltage of about 1.35 V. tests.

To compare the performance of the considered Intel Core i5-750, we selected the following quad-core processors:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300;
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505;
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450;
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550;
• AMD Phenom II X4 810;
• AMD Phenom II X4 940 BE;
• AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE.

* - for QPI (Intel Core i5-750) and HyperTransport (AMD Phenom II) buses, speed is specified in GT/s.

Test configurations

Intel LGA1156 test configuration:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2;
• Memory: Team TXD34096M2000HC9DC-L (2x2GB DDR3);
• Video card: Point of View GF9800GTX 512MB GDDR3 EXO (@818/1944/2420 MHz);
• Sound card: Creative Audigy 4 (SB0610);
• Hard drive: WD3200AAKS (320 GB, SATA II);
• Power supply: FSP FX700-GLN (700 W);

• Operating system: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 x64;
• Video card driver: ForceWare 190.62.

Intel LGA775 test configuration:

• Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme;
• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage Formula (Intel X48, Socket LGA775);
• Memory: OCZ OCZ2FXE12004GK (2х2GB DDR2-1200);

• Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme;
• Motherboards: MSI 790XT-G45 (AMD 790X, Socket AM2+), MSI 790FX-GD70 (AMD 790FX, Socket AM3);
• Memory: OCZ OCZ2FXE12004GK (2x2GB DDR2-1200), Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/4G (2x2GB DDR3-1600);

Characteristics of the system in nominal modes:

Test Methodology

The testing methodology is described in the previous material. POV-Ray was excluded from the list of tests, because the built-in performance test in version 3.7 beta 27 we used did not work correctly on the LGA1156 platform, and in newer versions the results changed significantly on older processors. In the absence of an opportunity to repeat the test in new version POV-Ray on processors from our list had to do without this program. For general information, we can only note that in POV-Ray 3.7 beta 35, the Intel Core i5 750 processor showed a result almost 10% lower than the Core 2 Quad Q9550, and with Turbo Boost enabled, 5% lower. Excluded from gaming tests Resident Evil 5 due to strange behavior of the "fixed test" and "limiting" performance on quad-core CPUs after running the application on dual-core configurations.
Test results

Synthetics. Application software

PC Mark Vantage

Paint.net

Adobe Photoshop

CineBench

Xvid video encoding in VirtualDub

X264 Benchmark

PHP Benchmark

Fritz Chess Benchmark

super pi

Battlestations: Pacific

X3 Terran Conflict

H.A.W.X.

world in conflict

Far Cry 2

Crysis Warhead

Grand Theft Auto 4

Armed Assault 2

The object of our review, the Intel Core i5-750, is quite expectedly the leader, but the Core 2 Quad Q9550 is just a few percent behind it. With overclocking, the Core i5 at 4.07 GHz outperforms the Core 2 Quad Q9550 at 3.96 GHz by a more significant 10%.

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

conclusions

It's time to sum up some results of our testing. The Intel Core i5-750 we reviewed turned out to be out of competition against the background of other processors of the previous generation and against the background of AMD solutions. In almost all applications, it has demonstrated a level of performance higher than running at a higher core frequency 2 Quad Q9550, sometimes even without activating Turbo Boost. The very benefit of this auto-overclocking technology for different cores brings an average increase of no more than 5%, although in rare single-threaded tasks (for example, in the SuperPi test), it can reach all 15%.

The most significant advantage of the junior representative of Lynnfield turned out to be in gaming tests, but it must be admitted that in a number of applications the situation is ambiguous. With a significant advantage over all other CPUs at low settings, the Core i5-750 could be slightly inferior to them with high-quality graphics at higher resolutions. This was most clearly manifested in FarCry 2, when at a resolution of 1024x768 the gap between Lynnfield and its closest competitors was almost 17-20%. But at the same time, at 1280x1024 and rendering in DirectX 10, the same competitors show a result 15% higher. In similar applications, overclocking the CPU itself brings minimal benefit, and activating Turbo Boost has almost no effect on the result at all. The mechanism of such a decrease in performance is not entirely clear, we can only state that the Core i5-750 is not always good at high resolutions and high graphics settings. But this does not diminish the advantages of this processor. It may be inferior to competitors somewhere in certain conditions, but in most games it demonstrates unattainable performance for them, often at the same frequency, the superiority over its predecessors on the Yorkfield core (with a maximum of 12 MB L2 cache for them) reaches 30 % and more! It is also indicative that the younger Yorkfield with 4 MB of cache memory in a number of applications reaches a comparable level of performance only with overclocking to 3.5 GHz. But the Core i5-750 is also the youngest representative of its family. Progress, as they say, is evident.

However, the older Core 2 Quad against the background of the Core i5-750 at low resolutions are also not impressive, but thanks to overclocking to 4 GHz, they are even more or less comparable to a beginner in some gaming applications. As for the overclocking of the object of our article itself, its frequency potential has grown slightly relative to its predecessors. The 4.07 GHz we got did not seem to differ much from 4 GHz for the Core 2 Quad Q 9505 or 3.96 GHz for the Core 2 Quad Q 9550, but further overclocking of Lynnfield was limited mainly due to the insufficient performance of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme cooler . If we take into account that we used a powerful fan at maximum speed, then when working in quiet modes with air cooling systems in everyday use, the frequency limit for all these processors will be approximately the same. But CBO users may well expect great results. Overclocking Core i5-750.

Due to Intel's pricing policy aimed at promoting new products, there is no point in buying the older Core 2 Quad Q9550 now, because the Core i5-750 on the local market will cost you at least $ 65 cheaper with more high performance. And the Core 2 Quad Q9500 or Core 2 Quad Q9505 are also not very attractive in terms of price. This situation makes many Core users 2 Duo instead of upgrading to Core 2 Quad, think about a complete change of platform. And the Core i5-750 in this case will be the ideal choice, because at its level of performance it is best processor for $200-220.

AMD processors generally look depressing against the background of the Core i5-750, especially in gaming applications. In particular, Phenom II X4 955 with a frequency difference of about 500 MHz in games is almost always inferior to the younger Lynnfield. At the moment, it is simply impossible to consider AM3 processors as the basis for a promising gaming platform, and this is sad. You can counter that the cost of AMD products is lower and for the price Intel Solutions you can take the top-end Phenom II X4 965 with a frequency of 3.4 GHz. But will these additional 200 MHz help, if Phenom II X4 955 did not help much with 500 MHz?.. I would like to see more worthy and competitive solutions from AMD that could withstand not only processors of the past Generations of Intel but also newer models. Let's hope the upcoming Phenom II X6 lives up to our expectations.

Test equipment was provided by the following companies:

• AMD - AMD Phenom II X4 940 and Phenom II X4 955 processors;

DCLink - Intel Core i5-750, Core 2 Quad Q9550, Core 2 Quad Q9505, Core 2 Quad Q8300, Gigabyte board GA-P55M-UD2 and Team TXD34096M2000HC9DC-L memory;

• MSI - AMD Phenom II X4 810 processor, MSI boards 790XT-G45 and 790FX-GD70;
• SerOl - Point of View GF9800GTX 512MB GDDR3 EXO video card;
• Spetsvuzavtomatika - Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/4G memory;
• —HDD WD3200AAKS.

2009 was marked by the release of the updated Lynnfield processor architecture, the most accessible representative of which at that time was the Core i5-750 chip. The characteristics of this semiconductor product are not so different from modern quad-core CPUs from this manufacturer. Therefore, this processor still continues to be relevant and allows you to solve most of the various tasks at the moment.

The niche of the processor market that the hero of this review was focused on

With the release of the LGA1156 platform, Intel divided the microprocessor market into the following segments:

PC entry level based on Celeron processors (these chips provided a minimum level of performance sufficient for office computers) and Pentium (in this case, one could even count on the launch of some new toys with minimal settings, but such a system unit could only be called a game one with a stretch). The difference between these two products was the increase in cache size and increase in the clock frequency of the processor, and this made it possible to obtain additional percentages of performance in practice.

The mid-range segment was occupied by chips of the i3 and i5 families. It was to this group of CPUs that the processor solution considered within the framework of this material belonged. Lower i3 models included only 2 physical processing units program code. But due to the introduction of proprietary HT technology, this semiconductor crystal at the software level could already process information in 4 streams. But i5 were full-fledged processors with 4 physical cores. They also had an increased amount of cache memory and implemented support for TurboBoost technology. The latter made it possible to adjust the CPU frequency depending on the degree of optimization of the program code for multithreading, the thermal state of the semiconductor crystal, and the level of complexity of the problem being solved.

The most productive system blocks, both then and now, are based on chips of the i7 family. They have 4 physical code processing units, but support for HT technology allows at the level software get 8 threads. Also, the frequency formula in this case is increased, as is the cache memory.

Although formally the hero of this review belongs to the processor products of the middle class, nevertheless, among almost all the software existing at that time, it was he who could easily compete with the flagship microprocessor. Most of the software even now is focused on the use of 4 physical cores, and it is for this reason that there is no big difference in terms of performance between the older CPUs of this manufacturer at the moment.

Contents of delivery

This product was sold in two configurations. The more modest of them was called TRAY. In this case, in addition to the CPU itself, an instruction manual, a warranty card, and a sticker with the name of the chip model for the front panel were purchased. Such equipment is aimed primarily at large assemblers of system units, but it was also sometimes purchased by computer enthusiasts. The second configuration option for this processor product was called BOX. In the common people, the name "boxed version" stuck behind it. In this case, the delivery list was supplemented with a cooler and thermal paste.

Processor socket

The Kor i5-750 was oriented to installation in. The characteristics of this processor socket indicated that it was focused on assembling single-chip system blocks. This socket made it possible in 2009 to organize computer systems that are completely different in purpose and cost. This computer platform remained relevant until 2011, when it was replaced by the LGA1155. But even now the products of this series continue to be relevant for at least one reason that their performance level still allows solving most tasks.

Semiconductor Crystal Production Technology

According to typical technology at the beginning of 2009, the Kor i5-750 was produced. The characteristics of this entire generation of chips indicate that they were all manufactured using the 45 nm process technology. At that time, it was perfectly worked out and there were no significant problems with the yield of suitable silicon wafers in this case. In the future, he was replaced by technology with tolerance standards of 32 nm.

Cash

Like all modern most advanced processor products, the Intel i5-750 has a three-level cache. The characteristics of this semiconductor product in this case are as follows:

The first level included 4 segments of 64 Kb each, tied to a specific computing module.

Similarly organized 4 blocks of 256 Kb at the second level.

The cache memory at the third level was shared by all CPU resources and had a total size of 8 MB.

RAM

The RAM subsystem has been significantly redesigned in solutions based on LGA1156, including the Core i5-750. The characteristics of this product indicated that, along with the RAM controller, it was transferred from motherboard on the semiconductor chip of the central processing unit. This made it possible to significantly increase the speed of the RAM. But, on the other hand, the integration of the RAM controller led to the fact that the chip could only function with a certain list of RAM sticks. In this case, this set was limited to DDR3-1066. Also, in combination with this CPU, it was possible to use faster RAM boards, but their frequency of operation was limited to only one value - 1066 MHz. Nothing more could be obtained in this case.

Temperature Range. thermal package

The i5-750 processor was designed for a thermal package of 95 W. The characteristics of this model of the central processor indicate the maximum allowable temperature value of 72 degrees. In the normal mode, the temperature regime of this chip was limited to 40-50 degrees. In the case of overclocking, this range increased and was already in the range of 50-60 degrees. In practice, it was impossible to load this CPU in such a way that it reached the maximum possible value in the nominal operating range. It was possible to go beyond the established boundaries only in two cases. One of them is a breakdown of the cooling system, and the second is overclocking the chip in combination with the bundled cooler and running several resource-intensive applications on the PC.

Frequencies

At 2.7 GHz, the initial frequency value was set for The characteristics of this CPU indicated support for TurboBoost technology. That is, this processor could adjust the frequency value and the number of active calculation units. When using all four blocks, the maximum frequency value was limited to 2.8 GHz. If the processor operated in dual-threaded mode, then the frequency value was 2.93 GHz. Well, in the case when only one block for performing calculations worked, this value could generally increase to 3.2 GHz. It was also possible to overclock this CPU. As experience shows, with proper configuration system block it was possible to overclock this processor to 4 GHz and get almost a 30% increase in performance due to this.

CPU architecture

As noted earlier, 4 physical code processing modules included the Intel Core i5-750. The specifications of this product indicated that it did not support HyperTrading technology. Therefore, at the software level, it was represented by the same 4 threads. And this value even today continues to be relevant due to the fact that most of the software is optimized for a maximum of 2 or 4 threads. In this case, the difference with the more expensive CPUs of the i7 family was practically not felt.

Owner's opinion. Price

This modification of the Core i5 was priced at $213. The CPU 750 (it really had excellent characteristics for 2009) made it possible to solve any tasks. And even now, this CPU can easily handle almost all workloads. Only the most recent toys can cause problems. But in this case, you can lower the quality of the displayed image, which will allow you to fully immerse yourself in excellent gameplay.

Results

A worthy processor product for 2009 was the Core i5-750. Its characteristics continue to this day to be relevant and allow you to still solve most problems. Also, the advantages of this CPU model include affordable cost, the presence of four physical code processing units and excellent energy efficiency, as for a 2009 chip. But still, the owners of such system units will very soon have to think about the planned upgrade of their computing system.

Socket LGA1156 L3 cache size 8192 KB Number of cores 4 CPU frequency 2667 MHz Integrated graphics core No

General characteristics

Core

Frequency characteristics

Cache