Intel’s new Core i5 chips look to be top performers. Vortez.co.uk takes a quick look at the cheapest of the present line up of i5 processors the 750.
Product on Review: Core i5-750 Processor
Manufacturer: Intel
MSRP: Not mentioned on website
Street Price: Around £150
As a follow up to my recent ASUS Maximus III Gene review it was decided that a closer look at the additional components involved in that review should be undertaken.
Consequently we will take a look at Intel’s budget CPU from their Core i5 range. Despite being the cheapest Core i5 at the time of the review the 750 is still a fully featured quad.
Intel have ruled the roost for some time. The arrival of their Conroe based Core2 powered chips boosted performance way past anything AMD could offer at the time. Since then their subsequent upgrades have largely kept the range ahead of AMD’s Phenom and even the companies excellent new Phenom II chips.
Here’s a little about the company:
Intel pushes the boundaries of innovation so our work can make people’s lives more exciting, fulfilling, and manageable. And our work never stops. We never stop looking for the next leap ahead—in technology, education, culture, manufacturing, and social responsibility. And we never stop striving to deliver solutions with greater benefits for everyone.
It began with the Intel® microprocessor, the invention that sparked a revolution. Intel’s history of developing groundbreaking technology continues today. We attract the most brilliant minds in science to push the boundaries of innovation and further our position as the world’s leader in semiconductor technology. Our passion is to create technology that changes the world.
Specifications
• 2.66 GHz and up to 3.20 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
• 4 processing threads
• 8 MB of Intel® Smart Cache
• 2 channels of DDR3 1333 MHz memory
Intel® Core™ microarchitecture is Intel’s latest generation of dynamically scalable microarchitecture. The Intel® Core™ i5 processor is based on the same energy-efficient processor core as the Intel® Core™ i7 processor, but is designed for mainstream computing.
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload—more performance when you need it the most.
Integrated memory controller enables two channels of high-speed DDR3 1333 MHz memory. This memory controller’s lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications.
Intel® Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry-leading multi-threaded games
Being the base model in the i5 line up the 750 only has a 2.66ghz clock.
Test setup
CPU: Core i5-750 @ 2.66ghz
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus III Gene P55
RAM: 4gb Kingston HyperX DDR3
HDD: 250gb WD 7200rpm SATA HDD
Optical drive: LG Bluray/HDDVD Multidrive
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Hyper TX3
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580w
Case: Lian Li V350
Overclocking
The Core i5-750 proved to clock very nicely. The Maximus III Gene provided a stable base from which to get some very impressive performance boosts.
Using Intel’s P55 chipsets ‘CPU Level Up’ function the chip achieved 3.2ghz at the ‘Extreme’ setting.
As that proved stable some manual clocking was needed.
It turned out to be a simple job – i altered some basic settings (multipler to 21x – bus speed to 190mhz) and upped the CPU’s core voltage to 1.33v. Doing this returned a 4ghz clock speed… a 50% overclock.
4ghz CPU-Z.
Yes the chip i tested was an engineering sample but from my experience the vast majority of Core, i5 and i7 chips clock very well.
Of course depending on the chip you may end up needing a touch more voltage but ultimately 4ghz should be achievable with decent cooling and a nice motherboard.
Temperatures were also good.
CPU temps at all three clock speeds.
Testing and performance
A selection of desktop based hardware tests from Everest’s Ultimate (Trial Edition), Futuremark’s PCMark05, 3DMark Vantage and a couple of recent gaming titles.
Performance
As seen in the Maximus III Gene review the numbers truly speak for themselves.
Everest
i5 750 @ stock results with Everest.
i5 750 @ 3.2ghz results with Everest.
i5 750 @ 4ghz results with Everest.
e2160 @ 3ghz results with Everest.
Phenom II 720 @3.4ghz results with Everest.
At stock clocks the Core i5-750 holds its own against other competing chips but when overclocked the chip really shines.
PCMark05
i5 750 @ stock – Score 9843
Physics and 3D 275.01 FPS
Web Page Rendering 3.67 Pages/s
File Decryption 71.56 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2
Text Edit 156.83 Pages/s
Image Decompression 36.75 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3
File Compression 11.19 MB/s
File Encryption 68.36 MB/s
i5 750 @ 3.2ghz – Score 11598
Physics and 3D 330.19 FPS
Web Page Rendering 4.13 Pages/s
File Decryption 85.44 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2
Text Edit 198.93 Pages/s
Image Decompression 44.56 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3
File Compression 13.69 MB/s
File Encryption 81.75 MB/s
i5 750 @ 4ghz – Score 12797
Physics and 3D 406.18 FPS
Web Page Rendering 5.28 Pages/s
File Decryption 106.56 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2
Text Edit 234.72 Pages/s
Image Decompression 55.46 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3
File Compression 16.49 MB/s
File Encryption 104.29 MB/s
e2160 @ 3ghz – Score 8803
Physics and 3D 158.98 FPS
Web Page Rendering 3.88 Pages/s
File Decryption 82.3 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2
Text Edit 196.39 Pages/s
Image Decompression 41.82 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3
File Compression 6.88 MB/s
File Encryption 40.96 MB/s
PII 720 @ 3.4ghz – Score 10070
Physics and 3D 268.86 FPS
Web Page Rendering 3.69 Pages/s
File Decryption 82.47 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 2
Text Edit 178.53 Pages/s
Image Decompression 43.29 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3
File Compression 10.37 MB/s
File Encryption 86.62 MB/s
Performance continued
Based on the number crunching ability of the i5-750 its gaming performance should be quite special too.
Vantage
3DMark Vantage performance.
The Core i5-750 offers a considerable score advantage here.
Blacksite
Blacksite performance.
The Phenom II 720 @ 3.4ghz (Min 44/Max 70/Avg 50fps) can’t match the i5 even at stock.
Race Driver GRID
Race Driver GRID performance.
The overclocked Phenom II @ 3.4ghz beats the stock clocked i5-750 (Min 42/Max 58/Avg 50fps) but once the i5-750 gets to 3.2ghz and beyond the AMD is soundly beaten.
The Intel Core i5-750 is a very competent gaming chip and provides great performance at high resolutions… especially when it’s clocked beyond 3.2ghz.
Conclusion
All in all i feel that Intel have lost no momentum with the release of the i5. Yes, the flagship i7 may be faster but it requires an extra investment that some may not be willing to stretch to. What we have here is a massive chunk of that performance in a very affordable package.
Its desktop performance is very strong as too was its gaming credentials. Also worthy of mention was the snappiness of the desktop environment. This probably has something to do with the onboard memory controller that the Core i5-750 carries. Applications would open in an instant and the overall urgency of the system seemed greater than that of the older core 2 chips.
I’ve been very impressed with the Core i5-750 and would thoroughly recommend it to all mid and high end users.
Pros
+ Very well priced
+ Quite cool running
+ Exceptional performance in both desktop and gaming use
+ Great overclocking for both novice and expert users through the P55 chipset
+ 3 Year Warranty
Cons
– Nothing that i can see
