Intel Core i7-930 Processor: review, specifications and reviews

It's no secret that a powerful processor is the main component for building gaming systems, but only the choice of a decent device on the market is difficult. After all, manufacturers assure buyers that all products present in the store window will cope with the tasks without problems, but in practice everything turns out to be much worse.

In the focus of this article - a fairly interesting representative of Intel, the i7-930 crystal, which was developed specifically for gaming solutions. Overview, specifications and reviews of the owners will allow the reader to learn about the processor a lot of 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 crystal core works. 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 characteristics of the i7-930 crystal are nothing special, and they do not stand out, but the processor has the potential:

• 4 physical cores with Hyper-Threading support, which allows to double the number of cores due to virtualization;
• Cache level 1 64 kilobytes for each graphics core (only 256 KB);
• Cache 2-nd level is 256 KB per core (only 1 MB);
• L3 cache - 8 MB;
• The effective frequency of the processor bus is 4800 MHz;
• The operating frequency of each core is 2.8 GHz (in Turbo Boost mode 3.06 GHz);
• Power dissipation 130 watts.

Advanced Crystal

Let the characteristics of the crystal and have similarity with other representatives of the Intel line, but the processor i7-930 has additional functionality that competitors can not boast of. This product supports three-channel mode of RAM, as well as all processors created for the platform LGA1366.

The crystal at the hardware level supports DDR3 controllers running at 800 and 1066 MHz. The maximum amount of RAM that the processor can handle is 24 gigabytes. Yes, for professional video processing and work with 3D-modeling the indicator is not high, but it is quite enough for launching 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, can not be recommended as a server solution for working with databases. But again this crystal and its cheapened analogue Intel Core i7-920 were created only for gaming tasks.

Unexplained technologies

The fact that Intel's product is equipped with all modern instructions should not even be mentioned, since there are many other useful features that not all crystals are supplied with. Oddly enough, the manufacturer did not equip the processor with integrated graphics, because for many game enthusiasts who use overclocking of video adapters, this is an obligatory criterion when buying computer components.

But at the hardware level, the manufacturer implemented the Intel Core i7-930 chip to support the virtualization of VT-x and VT-d. When did the game solutions use the resources of virtual machines and domains based on them? On this list of useless and inexplicable technologies ends, and, judging by the feedback of the owners, this is positive news.

Two acrobat brothers

The fact that the culprit review has a younger model Intel Core i7-920, is known to many potential buyers, but not everyone knows that the crystals do not have significant differences that seriously affect the performance when testing platforms. And the difference in price for both products is significant, which leads to the generation of rumors among buyers.

The problem is that the younger representative is a processor of the previous generation, which has a low power dissipation threshold for overheating. That is, it's easy to get 4 GHz when overclocking for both crystals, but the younger model will simply turn off when the threshold reaches 230 watts, while i7-930 will continue to work (possibly with errors). In general, for such processors, the 4000 MHz threshold is a psychological barrier, to which most users are oriented. In fact, with adequate cooling, the crystal is capable of more - each product has its own limitations.

Gaming potential

Judging by the numerous user reviews, to increase the performance in many resource-intensive games, overclocking not only the graphics accelerator but also the CPU is used. This issue is primarily interested in the future owner of the crystal i7-930. Overclocking is possible, but on the market so far there is not a single video adapter that will make the processor unleash its full potential.

If we go to the figures, then there is something to surprise the buyer. The crystal with a decent air cooling easily reaches 4 GHz, demonstrating stable operation. A significant drawback is the increase in the CPU's power consumption and its dissipated power. The future owner, who will want to disperse the crystal, at hand should be a powerful power supply and a decent cooler.

Meal'n'Real

At the first meeting in the market confuses the cost of the processor i7-930. The price of 10,000 rubles for a gaming processor looks really strange, because in the shop window junior representatives of the company Intel Core i5 have a similar value. Naturally, the potential buyer will have questions, and he will begin to study the results of testing the processors. Yes, in synthetic tests, where only mathematical calculations with floating point are made, the representative of Core i7 does not give the best results.

However, you do not need to pay attention to such comparisons, because gaming applications are not run on one processor, but require the participation of RAM, video adapter and motherboard. And here the culprit of the review has something to show itself. However, for this, all the conditions of the manufacturer must be met (it is a question of three-channel memory usage and PCIex slots).

Competitive sheet

But the comparison of the processor Intel Core i7-930 with a competitor from the company AMD FX-8350 is able to interest any buyer who wants to save several thousand rubles to buy a computer assembly. After all, it's not a secret that AMD products are cheaper than Intel products on the world market.

In synthetic tests, which all owners of FX processors like to be proud of, the competitor's 8-core representative demonstrates high performance, leaving the i7-930 not a chance. It is understandable - twice as many physical cores, higher clock speed (in the factory version), and also increased cache of the 2nd and 3rd level.

But if you just run a resource-intensive toy at the maximum settings, it immediately becomes clear who is the leader in the market. In all tests without exception, the representative of Intel shows the best performance. That's just the representative of AMD is coping with the task and supports the work of games at the maximum, albeit with a lower FPS.

Features of the platform

Before looking towards the i7-930 product, it's worth to learn a bit about the specifics of the LGA1366 platform, which many users forget about during operation. There is no need to say that there should be at least three RAM modules on the motherboard, because this is the primary reason for the user's preference for Intel and its product.

Do not forget that all motherboards for the crystal in question are equipped with three PCIex16 slots, which also support three-channel mode. Accordingly, focusing on the processor Core i7-930, the buyer should have in stock and three identical video adapter. If one of the requirements is violated, then this is only the fault of the user.

Think about the player and the video cards themselves, which are capable of revealing the potential of such a powerful processor. The initial level of graphics accelerators is clearly not suitable. Look closer to gaming solutions that are in the lower price range in the market for high-performance video cards.

Finally

Following all the recommendations of the manufacturer, many users are destined to remain without a powerful processor i7-930. After all, as practice shows, the majority of buyers focuses on the cost of computer components and on plentiful advertising in the media. Therefore, before buying it is recommended to once again get acquainted with the characteristics of the crystal and for yourself to solve 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 the game class;
• A powerful power supply that is able to cope with the support of all components;
• A decent cooling system (if overclocking is supposed).