Shootouts

A Stepping Ahead - The Core i7-975 Extreme Edition and i7-950

By Vincent Chang - 2 Jun 2009

Better Overclocking, Really?

Better Overclocking, Really?

Finally, we get to the part that enthusiasts are probably most interested in, the overclocking allowance on these new chips. Especially the Extreme Edition i7-975. Using our basic methodology of simply increasing the multiplier along with judicious jolts of voltage in order to find the maximum capable on our Core i7-975, we found that the new D0 revised chip appeared to have a slight improvement.

Our older Core i7-965 XE managed to reach 3.86GHz in these conditions (reference Intel heatsink), one multiplier step below the 3.95GHz on the i7-975. While we subsequently broke the 4GHz barrier (4.08GHz with Turbo Boost) and got into Windows, the system could not complete all our benchmarks and we had to revert to the previous overclock.

We came close to breaking 4GHz by increasing the multiplier and a minor voltage jolt. Compared to the Core i7-965 XE, it's a small improvement.

So was there an improvement? Well, it was just one multiplier better, though one could probably get higher clocks with more aggressive overclocking options and after-market coolers. However, it's likely not something that enthusiasts should hopefully target as the mileage varies from processor to processor.

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