Intel Core i7-950 Review
Introduction
Processor lines are always strange things. When compared to graphics cards which have thousands of variants, processors tend to have perhaps three or four types within a classification.
The i7 line consisted, upon release, of the i7-920, i7-940 and the i7-960. With the i7-920 around £240, i7-940 about the £450 mark and the top end i7-960 being about £700 it was obvious that the i7-920 was the weapon of choice for the masses, and the extremists would go towards the i7-960. When the D0 stepping i7-920 was released it was pretty much the only sensible choice.
This continued to be the case through the many evolutions of the LGA1366 line until now the Quad-Core range consists of the i7-930, the i7-950 and the range-topping i7-975. The middle processor was always an odd choice. Nobody would spend twice the price on basically a single multiplier increase over the bottom end model, and those who wanted the absolute best would always gravitate towards the multiplier-unlocked 975 Extreme.
Recently however Intel have drastically cut the price of the i7-950 down to nearly the level of the i7-930. Surely it becomes the processor of choice now? Let’s find out.
Technical Specifications
| Status | Launched |
| Launch Date | Q2’09 |
| Processor Number | i7-950 |
| # of Cores | 4 |
| # of Threads | 8 |
| Clock Speed | 3.06 GHz |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 3.33 GHz |
| Intel® Smart Cache | 8 MB |
| Bus/Core Ratio | 23 |
| Intel® QPI Speed | 4.8 GT/s |
| # of QPI Links | 1 |
| Instruction Set | 64-bit |
| Instruction Set Extensions | SSE4.2 |
| Lithography | 45 nm |
| Max TDP | 130 W |
| VID Voltage Range | 0.800V-1.375V |
| Tray 1ku Budgetary Price | $294.00 |
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So as you can see it’s basically a i7-930/920 but with a multiplier of 23 instead of 20.
