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Intel Core i7 Build & Architecture Changes
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DRAM Frequencies and Performance
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DRAM frequency. Since memory bandwidth has increased significantly, having faster DDR3 memory actually makes a huge difference with Nehalem. How much?
But having fast memory doesn't work by itself. It's going to need to be tweaked.
First things first, we'll have to hit DRAM TIMING CONTROL and change the latencies.
Since our DDR3-1866 kit is rated at 9-9-9-24, we've gone ahead and changed that.
Next, we need to work on the Voltage.
Remember, higher than 1.65 isn't recommended by Intel, the closest this BIOS allows is 1.66, so we're going to go with that. Once we've done this, we'll go ahead and reboot into Windows.
I ran a couple of tests to give you an idea of the performance.
First things first, here's our CONTROL SYSTEM
Processor: Intel Kentsfield QX9850 (3.0 GHz)
Memory: 4GB DDR3-1333 @ 9-9-9-24 (dual channel)
Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe
Here's the Everest read/write performance numbers for a baseline.
Now let's talk about our NEHALEM SYSTEM
Processor: Intel Core i7 965 (3.2 GHz)
Memory: 6GB DDR3-1866 @ 9-9-9-24 (triple channel)
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe
Here's the Nehalem at the exact same memory settings (DDR3-1333)
Here's the Nehalem at the advertised memory settings (DDR3-1866)
Look at those huge increases! Performance numbers through the roof!
Just for curiosity's sake, let's look at another one....
These are numbers taken from SiSoft Sandra 2009! Look at the huge increase in bandwidth!
The latency numbers are equally impressive.
Truly, the Core i7 looks like a monster.
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