Author: Ben Sun · 06-26-2008
The Personal Computer has been kicking it for many years now, with the first IBM PC launched in 1981 with a 4.77MHz CPU and 64KB of RAM. That was almost 27 years ago, a long time in computer history. One of the problems with the modern computer is that they are too powerful for their own good with most programs running perfectly fine on any CPU from the last three or four years. Add to that the fact that PC gaming is mostly a dying breed; this means that the modern computer has issues with finding a killer app.
Intel dominates the CPU market with their CPUs. At the moment, their quad core CPUs outshine their competition from AMD by wide margins, with AMD forced to compete on price/performance instead of strict performance as the fastest AMD CPU, the Phenom X4 9850 doesn’t come close to the performance of the fastest Intel CPU, the QX9770 which I’m reviewing today. The Intel QX9770 is their first 1600MHz FSB CPU and is geared for the ultra high end crowd and those not meek with their cash flow.
-1600MHz FSB (400MHz Quad Pumped)
-Yorkdale architecture
-45 nanometer process
-12MB L2 Cache split into 6MB for each of 2 cores
-3.2 GHz clock speed
-Intel Virtualization Technology
-Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
-Intel Execute Disable Bit
-Intel 64 architecture
-Quad Core Processing
-Chipset support: Intel X48, NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI official many others
compatible with overclocking
-Intel Wide Dynamic Execution
-Intel Smart Memory Access
-Intel Advanced Smart Cache
-Intel HD Boost
The QX9770 is based upon Intel’s Yorkdale architecture. The Yorkdale is Intel’s first 1600MHz FSB series of CPUs. Intel uses a QuadPumped architecture meaning that the FSB is running at 400MHz which is multiplied by 4 to get the final FSB of 1600MHz. The Yorkdale CPUs with a 1600MHz FSB include the QX9770 being reviewed here and the QX9775 found in the Intel SkullTrail high-end platform.
Intel calls their Core 2 Extreme QX9770 CPU a “Quad Core” CPU since it has four processor cores on a single die. The QX9770 like other Intel Core 2 Quad CPUs consists of two Core 2 Duo CPUs on the same die, each with two processor cores on them. AMD calls their Phenom CPUs the first true “Quad Core” CPU as they have four processor cores on the same packaging. It’s a matter of semantics as either way you get four processor cores.
Yorkdale and Wolfdale CPUs have large amounts of L2 cache, much more than previous Intel CPUs. The QX9770 has 12MB of L2 Cache with each pair of Intel cores on the die sharing a 6MB L2 cache. Yorkdale, like the earlier Intel CPUs based upon the Penryn core. The Socket that the new CPU uses is the same LGA-775 Socket in use since 2004 with the launch of the Prescott CPUs and the 925X chipset but this CPU is only officially supported by the X48 and nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipsets at the moment.
The clock speed of the QX9770 is 3.2GHz, which is the multiplier 2x 1600MHz for the FSB. The QX9770 is based upon Intel’s 45 nanometer process, while AMD is still stuck on the 65 nanometer process. The QX9770 has a die size of 214mm squared with 820 million transistors. The die of the QX9770 is really two Core 2 CPUs side by side accounting for the die size and transistor count as the Core 2 Duo has ½ the cache and die size.
Viruses are programs that replicate themselves into the memory and operating system of the computer infected. One issue with modern computers is the inability to stop executable programs from automatically executing. Intel’s QX9770 has their Execute Disable Bit (NX Bit) technology to help prevent virus attacks against the computer. Windows XP SP2 introduced this feature for CPUs that support NX Bit.
The QX9770 has the following instruction sets available to it: MMX, SSE1, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, Intel 64 instructions. The introduction of Penryn included the SSE4 instruction set which adds 47 new instructions to the CPU instruction set. Intel’s Penryn architecture can run four instructions in a single clock cycle compared to two instructions on earlier architectures.
Virtualization technology allows different operating systems to be run on the same system to run as virtual machines. Each operating system is done on a partition and operates independently. VT requires support of the CPU, BIOS, chipset and memory. For example VT can be used to run Windows Vista, Windows XP, several distributions of Linux without a sweat. Each operating system has its own partition. Currently, the only Intel chipset that officially supports the QX9770 is the X48 chipset that was launched a month or two ago. The other chipset that officially supports the QX9770 and its FSB 1600MHz brothers is the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset. Unofficially, the CPU has been shown to work with NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI and Intel X38 chipsets with a bit of overclocking of the FSB. I would suggest a supported chipset as they offer the latest features and if you’re buying a $1000+ CPU, buying a cheap motherboard is not the wisest of choices.
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