Conclusion

With the new Lynnfield CPU Intel presents a very interesting new product line. Only the Core i7 870 CPU comes with a rather high price tag. For example with an i7 860 CPU it is possible to configure a system where the base components as CPU, mainboard and memory only cost about CHF 600.- (est. EUR 400.-). Therfore Intel is now also in the mainstream sector at least one step ahead from the competitor AMD. They now have a product line in their portfolio which is able to convince regarding price and performance.

Because of the reason that Lynnfield is a down scaled version of Bloomfiield it can still profit from most of the advantages the Nehalem architecture comes with. The i7 Models therefore are equipped with SMT as well as an overworked Turbo-Mode which now is able to raise the clock speeds up to 666 MHz or in other words by five multiplyer steps. Like this the enduser gets a real performance benefit in single threaded applications when the clock speed is as high as possible.

If we look at the performance figures the i7 870 is able to compete easily with a i7 920 CPU thank to the enhanced Turbo-Mode. Single threaded application profit quite massively from the enhanced Turbo-Mode. Therefore it isn't a surprise that especially in Super Pi and Pov Ray the i7 870 CPU comes dangerously close to a i7 965 CPU. Not only the theoretical benchmarks profit because of the better Turbo-Mode also the multithreaded applications get a nice performance benefit from the up to 666 MHz faster clock speeds.
One small weakness of the Lynnfield CPU seem to be recent games at high resolutions and high detail level. Therefore we were able to see performance drops in Streetfighter 4 and Resident Evil by up to 24 percent.

The best thing about the new Lynnfield CPUs is the massively lower power consumption compared to the Bloomfield models. If a system with an i5 750 CPU is in idle it draws 35 percent less wattage than an setup which is basend on a i7 920 CPU. Even under load the savings are about 25 percent.

If you're looking for a CPU which has a very wide area of application field and comes with a sensible price tag Lynnfield should be just perfect. Therefore it doesnt matter if you'd like to assemble an up-to-date gaming system or a file server.

At Digitec you can buy the Core i5 750, the Core i7 860 and i7 870 to the following prices:

• Core i7 870: CHF 666.- (ca. EUR 444.-)
• Core i7 860: CHF 339.- (ca. EUR 226.-)
• Core i5 750: CHF 239.- (ca. EUR 159.-)