It's no secret that a powerful processor is the main component for building gaming systems, that's just the choice of a decent device on the market is difficult. After all, manufacturers assure customers that all the products present in the store window will cope with the tasks without problems, but in practice everything turns out to be much worse.
The focus of this article is a rather interesting representative of Intel, the i7-930 crystal, which was developed specifically for gaming solutions. Overview, specifications and owner reviews will allow the reader to learn a lot about the processor interesting and useful.
Specifications
Many users believe that the key to high performance is the processor clock speed. The higher it is, the faster the cores of the crystal work. There is logic in this, but an important factor is the speed of information exchange with RAM and other controllers. It may seem that the i7-930 chip does not stand out for anything special, but the processor has potential:
- 4 physical cores with Hyper-Threading support, allowing due to virtualization to double the number of cores;
- level 1 cache of 64 kilobytes per graphic core (total 256 Kb);
- level 2 cache is 256 KB per core (only 1 MB);
- level 3 cache - 8 MB;
- effective processor bus frequency - 4800 MHz;
- the operating frequency of each core is 2.8 GHz (in the Turbo Boost mode 3.06 GHz);
- power dissipation 130 watts.
Advanced Crystal Features
Although the characteristics of the crystal are similar to other representatives of the Intel line, the i7-930 processor has additional functionality that competitors cannot boast of. This product supports three-channel RAM mode, like all processors created for the LGA1366 platform.
The chip at the hardware level supports DDR3 controllers operating at 800 and 1066 MHz. The maximum amount of RAM that the processor can handle is 24 gigabytes. Yes, for professional video processing and working with 3D modeling, the indicator is not high, but it is quite enough to run all resource-intensive toys.
If you believe the reviews, the only drawback of the crystal is that it does not work with ECC technology and, accordingly, cannot be recommended as a server solution for working with databases. But again, this crystal and its cheaper analogue of Intel Core i7-920 were created only for gaming tasks.
Inexplicable technology
The fact that the Intel product is equipped with all modern instructions is not worth mentioning, since there are many other useful features that not all crystals are equipped with. It is rather strange that the manufacturer did not equip the processor with integrated graphics support, because for many gamers who use overclocking video adapters, this is an indispensable criterion when buying computer components.
But at the hardware level, the manufacturer implemented VT-x and VT-d virtualization support in the Intel Core i7-930 chip. When else did gaming solutions use the resources of virtual machines and domains based on them? This ends the list of useless and inexplicable technologies, and judging by the reviews of the owners, this is good news.
Two Acrobat Brothers
Many potential buyers know that the culprit of the review has a younger model Intel Core i7-920, but not everyone knows that the crystals do not have significant differences, which seriously affect performance when testing platforms. And the difference in price for both products is significant, which leads to rumors among buyers.
The problem is that the junior representative is the processor of the previous generation, which has a low threshold for power dissipation during overheating. That is, getting 4 GHz during overclocking for both crystals will not be difficult, however, the younger model when it reaches the threshold of 230 watts will simply turn off, while the i7-930 will continue to work (possibly with errors). In general, for such processors, the 4000 MHz threshold is the psychological barrier that most users are guided by. In fact, with decent cooling, the crystal is capable of more - each product has its own limitations.
Game potential
Judging by the numerous user reviews, to increase performance in many demanding games, overclocking is applied not only to the graphics accelerator, but also to the central processor. This question is primarily of interest to the future owner of the i7-930 crystal. Overclocking is possible, but so far there is not a single video adapter on the market that will make the processor reach its full potential.
If we go to the numbers, then there is something to surprise the buyer. A crystal with decent air cooling easily reaches 4 GHz, demonstrating stable operation. A significant drawback is the increase in power consumption of the central processor and its power dissipation. The future owner, who will have a desire to disperse the crystal, should have a powerful power supply and a decent cooler at hand.
Meal'n'Real
At the first meeting on the market, the cost of the i7-930 processor is disconcerting. The price of 10,000 rubles for the game processor looks really strange, because the younger representatives of Intel Core i5 have the same price on the storefront. Naturally, a potential buyer will have questions, and he will begin to study the results of testing processors. Yes, in synthetic tests, where only mathematical calculations with floating point are performed, the representative of Core i7 gives not the best indicators.
However, you do not need to pay attention to such comparisons, because game applications do not run on one processor, but require the participation of RAM, a video adapter and a motherboard. And here the culprit of the review is what to prove. True, for this, all the manufacturer's conditions must be observed (we are talking about three-channel use of memory and PCIex slots).
Competitive sheet
But a comparison of the Intel Core i7-930 processor with a competitor from AMD FX-8350 is able to interest any customer who wants to save several thousand rubles on the purchase of an assembled computer. It’s not a secret to anyone that AMD products are cheaper than Intel products in the world market.
In the synthetic tests, which all owners of FX processors like to be proud of, the 8-core competitor representative shows high performance indicators, leaving the i7-930 crystal not a single chance. This is understandable - twice as many physical cores, higher clock frequency (factory-made), and also increased the cache of the 2nd and 3rd level.
But just launch a resource-intensive toy at maximum settings, it immediately becomes clear who is the market leader. In all tests, without exception, an Intel representative shows the best performance. That's just the representative of AMD copes with the task and supports the work of games at maximum, albeit with a lower rate of FPS.
Features of the platform
Before looking in the direction of the i7-930 product, you should learn a little about the specifics of the LGA1366 platform, which many users forget about during operation. There is no need to talk about the fact that at least three RAM modules should be installed on the motherboard, because this is the root cause by which the user gives preference to Intel and its product.
Do not forget that all motherboards for this chip are equipped with three PCIex16 slots, which also support three-channel mode. Accordingly, focusing on the Core i7-930 processor, the buyer should have three identical video adapters available. If one of the requirements is violated, then only the user is at fault.
The player should also think about the video cards themselves, which are able to reveal the potential of such a powerful processor. The initial level of graphics accelerators is clearly not suitable here. It’s worth taking a closer look at gaming solutions that are in the lower price range on the market for productive video adapters.
Finally
Following all the manufacturer's recommendations, many users are destined to remain without a powerful i7-930 processor. After all, as practice shows, most buyers focus on the cost of computer components and on abundant advertising in the media. Therefore, before buying, it is recommended that you once again get acquainted with the characteristics of the crystal and solve for yourself several important tasks on which the overall performance of the gaming platform will depend:
- the presence of at least three DDR3 memory modules (ideally - 6 pieces);
- 3 identical video cards of a game class;
- a powerful power supply that can cope with the support of all components;
- decent cooling system (if overclocking is supposed).