Test Systems

Processor: Intel Core i7 870 and Intel Core i5 750
Mainboard ASRock P55 Deluxe (P130 BIOS) (Supplied by ASRock)
Memory: 4GB Kingston KHX12800D3T1K3/6GX (Supplied by Kingston)
Hard Disk: Kingston SSD Now M (Intel X25-M 80GB SSD) (Supplied by Kingston)
Graphics Card: Zotac GTX 285 AMP! Edition 1GB (flashed to stock BIOS) (Supplied by Zotac)
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 (with an extra fan) (Supplied by Cooler Master)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate RC-1
Drivers: Intel INF 9.1.1.1015, ForceWare 190.62

Processor: Intel Core i7 975, Intel Core i7 965 and Intel Core i7 920
Mainboard ASRock X58 Extreme (P130 BIOS) (Supplied by ASRock)
Memory: 6GB Kingston KHX12800D3T1K3/6GX (Supplied by Kingston)
Hard Disk: Kingston SSD Now M (Intel X25-M 80GB SSD) (Supplied by Kingston)
Graphics Card: Zotac GTX 285 AMP! Edition 1GB (flashed to stock BIOS) (Supplied by Zotac)
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 (with an extra fan) (Supplied by Cooler Master)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate RC-1
Drivers: Intel INF 9.1.0.1007, ForceWare 190.62

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Mainboard Asus M4A79T Deluxe (BIOS 1604) (Supplied by Asus)
Memory: 4GB Kingston KHX12800D3T1K3/6GX (Supplied by Kingston)
Hard Disk: Kingston SSD Now M (Intel X25-M 80GB SSD) (Supplied by Kingston)
Graphics Card: Zotac GTX 285 AMP! Edition 1GB (flashed to stock BIOS) (Supplied by Zotac)
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 (with an extra fan) (Supplied by Cooler Master)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate RC-1
Drivers: AMD Driver version 3.0.732.0 and NVIDIA ForceWare 190.62

For this evaluation, we re-ran all the test data on fresh installs. This took a lot of extra time, but I did want to make sure everything was current as of this publication.

You will notice that we went with a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition instead of the more expensive Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. There were two reasons for this; the first being it was all I had on hand in the lab, while the second is the PII X4 955 BE is the closest in terms of price.

The Lynnfield Core i5 750 will sell for around $200 in the US, the PII X4 955 BE also sells for around $200 in the US. This will put AMD's current marketing strategy of "better price performance" directly to the test.

Let's go!