After a phenomenal four-year stretch, I'm finally as far as I can go on Intel's P45 architecture. I've really savored being able to squeeze this much use out of the same platform and the result is quite a lot of improvements for my new processor, an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770.
Truthfully speaking, I knew it was time to upgrade when I recently tested a 3.3GHz Core i3-2120 processor in our new entry-level Dell Optiplex 790 workstation. Despite the budget-nature of the PC, the eighteen month-old Sandy Bridge CPU proved to be a tough competitor for my overclocked 3.3GHz Q9650. I figured the i3's newer architecture and same clockspeed would make the single-threaded tests close. But with it being a dual-core, I figured my quad-core would walk it in the multi-threaded tests. However, much to my surprise the two additional threads courtesy of Intel's Hyper-Threading (HT) technology enabled the Core i3 to keep pace. As embarrrasing as it was, the Core i3 with just two physical cores was clearly as fast-- or faster-- than my four-core Q9650. It was a humbling defeat for my once-mighty processor at the hands of Intel's $125 upstart.
MATERIAL SCIENCE
Still, it wasn't altogether unexpected given the architectural enhancements that the i3 is blessed with. In fact, taking into account the specs for both CPUs, it doesn't take Stephen Hawking to see that my new Ivy Bridge CPU is smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient. However, the Q9650 does excel in the equity department as even in today's market it fetches almost as much as my new i7 processor.
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Intel's Ivy Bridge represents five generations (Bloomfield>Lynnfield>Sandy Bridge>Sandy Bridge-E>Ivy Bridge) of engineering improvements over my Yorkfield-based Q9650. It also showcases the world’s first use of tri-gate, or 3D transistors. These 3D transistors literally rise up off of the die to dramatically reduce power consumption while increasing performance. But the most significant of these (for me) is the addition of native USB 3.0 support in the Z77 Panther Point chipset on the motherboard. "Panther Point" is Intel's name for the 7-series line and an onboard USB 3.0 controller means better compatability and higher performance than an aftermarket offering. Additionally, Panther Point enjoys an upgrade to PCI-E 3.0 which doubles the bandwidth from 500MB/s to 1GB/s. Earlier versions such as Lynnfield and Sandy Bridge were limited by PCI-E bandwidth when sharing memory lanes. Finally, the integrated HD graphics is what Intel's most proud of. Chipzilla has been trying to get this right for over a decade, and the HD 4000 Graphics are almost good enough to make people forget about the horrible i740 integrated graphics. However, buying Panther Point for the onboard video is like buying the Bayeux Tapestry to use as a beach blanket. Granted, the integrated graphics are DirectX 11-compliant (and can actually run 3DMark 11) but only a casual gamer would ever use them. Games like Max Payne 3 will always demand high-end discrete graphics.
TECHNOLOGY TSUNAMI
My new Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard boasts a spec sheet wet with technology at a price that didn't break the bank. Remarkably, it was cheaper than the Gigabyte board it replaced, a GA-EP45-UD3R from 2008. And all three Gigabyte boards I've owned have been rock-solid despite my overclocking antics which is the main reason I bought another one. However, following Gigabyte's history of brightly-hued boards, the wacky blue and white color scheme is definitely an acquired taste. The GA-Z77-D3H is also my first motherboard capable of multiple-GPU gaming, supporting both SLI and Crossfire. Given the inherent problems with juggling dual graphics cards, I think I'll continue with a single-slot solution but it's a nice option if I ever do change my mind.
I'm also admittedly a little behind the times in adopting DDR3 memory. So much so in fact, that a Gateway P-7811FX gaming laptop that I owned in 2008 was equipped with 4GB of DDR3 RAM while my desktop was still lumbering along in 2012 with 4GB DDR2. But with memory prices falling faster than New York propery values after Hurricane Sandy, it's easy to pick up 8GB DDR3 for what I paid for 4GB DDR2 four years ago. And even now, benchmarks prove that 8GB is still overkill so the only real dilemma is picking either 1333, 1600, 1866 or 2133MHz modules. As it turns out, 1333 is on the lowside with a slight performance penalty while 1600 yields the best performance for the dollar. The minor speed increases associated with 1866 and 2133 don't warrant the inflated prices of such boutique memory.
And while I had originally intended to limit my upgrade to just a new processor, motherboard and memory, the project began to speed out of control like a technology tsunami, collecting various other parts along the way. Suddenly, there was a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card swept up in the frenzy. That was followed by an OCZ Fatal1ty 750w power supply with modular cables and a Samsung 24X DVD burner. Finally, the financial erosion of my bank account ceased with an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD. The logic behind this last purchase was simple: The new processor and memory would only be as fast as the hard drive and I was still saddled with a 7200rpm mechanical model. With an SSD, I had to compromise between speed and capacity so I picked the Vertex. This fourth-generation solid-state drive is one of the fastest available and features sustained sequential reads up to 560 MB/s and writes up to 430 MB/s. The fact it was also chosen for Maximum PC's $15,000 2012 Dream Machine didn't hurt either.
CINEBENCH RELEASE 11.5
My last test of this video rendering software (Version 10) two years ago showcased that clockspeed and core-count are equally important for this punishing benchmark. In fact, this program was voted the most likely to send CPU temperatures through the roof once it got started. Rendering the image is deceptively simple, yet as bizarrely effective as waterboarding. Since my GTX 570 video card was the sole component left over from my Q9650 system, I expected little difference in the GPU-dependent OpenGL benchmark. That notwithstanding, it jumped from 42.57 FPS to 57.48 FPS indicating a 35% improvement. And the actual processor test was exactly twice as fast with the Core 2 managing 3.87 PTS to the Core i7's 7.54 PTS. Here, Intel's Hyper-Threading technology really struts its stuff as both processors have four physical cores, but the 3770's eight threads effectively give it the power of an octo-core CPU.
CONVERT X to DVD 4
Counting the aforementioned eight threads at my disposal, this was the benchmark I was most salivating over. Convert X to DVD is perhaps the most popular and complete suite for burning multiple video formats onto DVD, but waiting for the actual conversion is the most tedious part of the process. With my outgoing Q9650, it took 11 minutes to convert a standard 700MB AVI file to a DVD image before burning. But my new system did the deed in a scorching 3.5 minutes which makes it almost 75% faster! The time savings alone justifies the cost of the hardware upgrade to me.
CRYSTAL DISK MARK 3
A republican was in office the last time I purchased a new hard drive, so this is the sole benchmark I've not used before. The unit was a Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s drive that was plenty fast out of the box. But technology is not stagnant, and mechanical hard drives will soon join the scrap heap littered with other obsolete storage technologies such as 1.44MB floppies and Iomega zip drives. Since 2008, solid-state drives have been increasing in speed and size while prices have been declining. Current fourth-gen SSDs are averaging around $1/GB, although you can get a bargain on earlier models if you don't mind sacrificing some performance and stability. And beyond the synthetic benchmark, the results were reflected in real-world file transfers. For instance, when unzipping a game like Dishonored that is eighty 100MB files, it took my old system 8 minutes. However, with the SSD it took under 2 minutes for the same task. More so than any other upgrade, the Vertex swap was the most dramatic. Can you spot the SSD below? (HINT: Faster is better)
WINDOWS EXPERIENCE INDEX
Admittedly, there are more sophisticated applications for determining overall performance than Microsoft's WEI. But it remains an interesting one nonetheless and can be something of a cruel mistress, heavily penalizing the user for perceived indiscretions. In 2008, despite having a blazing-fast dual-core than ran at 3.6GHz, I was docked several percentage points simply because it wasn't a quad-core. On my Q9650, the overall WEI score is a paltry 5.9 (on a scale of 0-7.9) simply because I was still using a 7200rpm hard drive and the composite number reflects the lowest-scoring component in the system. With the 3770, my subscore was an excellent 7.8 with that going to both my memory and CPU. Once again, it seems I just fell short of maxing out the CPU and Memory categories, possibly because I don't have a hexa-core processor nor an excessive amount of RAM.
OVERCLOCKING
With Intel's new Turbo Boost function, traditional overclocking is taking a back seat. After all, upon startup and regular single-threaded tasks the dynamic overclocking automatically adjusts the speed to 3.9GHz. However, I noticed that in multi-core tests the clock-speed was only dropping to 3.7GHz instead of 3.4GHz, which tells me the Gigabyte BIOS was probably overclocking the processor 10%. Gigabyte does include its Easy Tune software which is supposed to automatically adjust the settings for various overclocks, but it kept crashing Windows. Finally, I disabled Turbo Boost and manually bumped the clock ratio from 34x100 to 40x100 which gave me a steady 4GHz. My system has been torture-tested over the past month with several multi-hour Borderlands 2 sessions and I'm proud to report there hasn't been a single hiccup.
CONCLUSION
In my Q9650 review from 2010, I complained about Intel's flimsy plastic fan and heatsink that has no business shipping with a $300+ processor. Surprise, two years later it's still the same cheap design but at least this time it went on much easier. And even running at 4GHz, the temps rarely get above a frosty 40 degrees celsius so I guess I shouldn't grumble too much. And while I expected the star to be the shiny new Ivy Bridge processor, the real surprise was the Vertex 4 SSD which completely blew me (and my existing benchmarks) away. Finally, I could have gotten a similarly-clocked i5 processor and saved $100, but I opted for the top-tier i7 due to the availability of Hyper-Threading. And as the benchmarks illustrate, it was money well spent!
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