Following my yesterday’s article, I received news that GTX280 kicked the bucket so my friend decided to install the ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 as a replacement, and the machine is now working like a clockwork.
I won’t go into fashion decisions, as I am not a big fan of acrylic cases, but I wish my friend all the best when it comes to cleaning up.
When it comes to the CPU itself, Intel Core i7 965 (codename: Bloomfield) works at 1.6 GHz in SpeedStep mode, and works at 3.4 GHz by default. E.g. it works in ASUS motherboard at 3.4 GHz by default, since the board came with Turbo mode on.
Intel Core i7 965 works at 1.2 Volts, the board was feeding the CPU with 1.208V, bus speed was supposed to be 133 MHz, the board was giving out 135.9 MHz (which means QPI is clocked at 3.23 GHz instead of 3.2 GHz), but if you want, you can turn the Turbo mode off. Since Core i7 Extreme is made for overclocking anyways, expect that this system will undergo a nice air cooling upgrade and then target 4 GHz on air.
One thing is certain: somebody is really, really lucky 🙂
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- Retail box that you already saw 😉
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- Packaging is rich, as always in Republic of Gamers… I wonder is Republic of Gamers strict as Taiwanese one when it comes to getting a visa?
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- The board itself… have to say, like the layout.. but I like Revolution even more 😉
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- BIOS reset switch on the backplate… thanks heavens!
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- Now this is a really user-friendly experience… voltmod on the go
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- I don’t understand why anybody would put the cap on these 4-pins… motherboard will not work if you don’t put 8-pin rail here…
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- Socket LGA-1366.. a short stop until regular, “Core i5” debuts. That’s LGA-1160.
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- Yes, you can read fingerprints of it. Guys did clean it, though…
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- Work in progresss, still cleaning…
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- And i7 965 sits in its socket… travelled from Costa Rica to Croatia, to meet his “final destination”.
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- Acrylic case… yuck. But what can you do, “lucky guy” won it in a giveaway…
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- Again, good luck with cleaning… and why there are no VelociRaptors in the case, just two regular ones?
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- BIOS settings… as you can see, the CPU is 3.2 GHz one
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- But auto options will do a bit of a free speed upgrade 😉
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- Target was 3.19 GHz, result was 3.4 GHz. Gotta love this motherboard 😉
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- With SpeedStep kicked in, all four cores work at 1.6 GHz… everything to save power 😉
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- But when CPU driver went through Windows update, clock jumped all the way to 3.4 GHz…
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- 3DMarkVantage score.
You are free to use images from the gallery, just please link to this post. If there are interested, resolution is 2048×1536, since all pics were taken with a Sony Ericsson phone. And yes, my Nokia N93i would make way better ones 😉
P.S. If you wonder why Intel chose the name 965 for its Core i7 series, reason is very simple: company wanted to revisit its failed NetBust marchitecture and relive the glory days. Pentium EE 965 was a 150W consuming (that was advertised, reality was a bit different… for the worse) monster that failed to beat AMD processors that worked at much less clocks… now, Intel is challenging AMD with the new 965.
