Gaming Performance:
3DMark06
 |
 |
Sisoft Sandra XII
 |
We ran the standard Sisoft multi-core CPU test and recorded the results. In the Sisoft Sandra test, the QX9770 takes no prisoners, dominating the competition with the highest float and integer performance we’ve ever seen benchmarked.
Conclusion
The high-end cpu market has been growing like crazy. With the move to multi-core cpu’s, Intel has raised the industry performance index, continuously improving upon previous price vs. performance models. The QX9770 continues this trend of exponential improvement, offering the best performance of any cpu available to the public, if they hit their March launch window. If you do any type of 3d graphics, multimedia editing, gaming or photo editing and you want the best money can buy, then this is the processor for you. Gamers out there with tighter wallets can look to the QX9650 for their speed fix since it offers the same performance when overclocked to 3.2 GHz, while maintaining a street price of $950*. If you are uncomfortable with overclocking your cpu, then fear not because the QX9770 definitely backs up its $1000* price with unbeatable performance. Intel was serious when they set out to maintain their performance crown.
- Multimedia: This processor eats video and audio encodes for lunch. Fastest batch image editing we’ve ever seen.
- 3D Rendering: The QX9770 is a monster when it comes to rendering. Short of a cluster, this is the best performance you can buy.
- Gaming: The QX9770 will max any game you throw at it. If your frame rates are low, then it’s certainly not because of this processor. We are however challenged to see exponential gains over slower clocked chips as much of game speed relies on graphics.
- Synthetic Performance: No other CPU can match the QX9770’s number crunching abilities. With SSE4 hardware support, Intel promises huge performance increases in applications supporting the new instruction set. This means you can expect these numbers to go up as software developers implement SSE4.
- Value: With a price over $1000, this is one expensive piece of hardware. If you are comfortable with overclocking then the QX9650 is a better choice, but otherwise, this is the best performance money can buy. When compared to the AMD platform alternatives such as Spider etc.. We then find a bit more of an argument against the high price tag if employed strictly for gaming.
ATOMIC score: 88%
*Prices subject to change
**Benchmark Scores may vary
