craig5320

Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Review
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Today sees the release of Intels latest CPU, the Core i7-980X Processor Extreme Edition. While the model number may be similar to the existing i7-975 this release is more than "just another speed-bump". Today we take Intels new high end processor through a selection of real world productivity, media and gaming tests to establish how much of a step forward it is from the existing product range.

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mkk

Not really a product to consider but it's always intresting to see where they are moving designwise. I guess they split the L3 cache in twice because they're likely to do an eight core version on the same base. Some bleeding edge software might need to consider these things when optimising for both quad and hex core systems.

Cow_160483

nice review guys and what a motherboard and processor

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ET3D

That and a couple of SLI'd 5970's will make a great rig.

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comp_ali

Great processor , at last Intel decided to improve the cooler , it looks ugly though.
It is about 1100 $ now , so it is indeed for hardcore.

I like Gigabyte motherboard too , the heatsink expansion seems great. The performance gain in Sata III and USB 3.0 is disappointing though , I hope it will be better when more devices that support theses new technologies arrive.

Bolletje

I sense a certain trend where HH just gives high marks to products lately (just giving 10's away?). Therefore I don't take the conclusion serious anymore, or at least, I will go to another website first.

Nofi, but maybe you can better just give marks to games and not to hardware.. That's my opinion though...

Veridian3

Our marking system has not changed, there has just been a run of excellent products come through the office in the last month or so. It’s actually quite easy to show an example of how the marking system is relevant and consistent. Take the review of Silverstones RV02 from September last year ( http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...d=835&pageid=6 ) It received 9 10 9 10 10 (Gold/Perf) and was written by Zardon. When I reviewed the FT02 recently ( http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...d=934&pageid=7 ) it received 10, 10, 9, 10, 10 (Gold/Perf). These reviews, written by two separate staff members who had no input into each other’s work, scored the two similar cases very closely. The build quality being 1 mark higher for FT02 which, you guessed it, reflected the improved build quality!

We mark each product on its own pros/cons as well as taking into account other competing products. In addition to this we do not base our scoring on what other products have recently received... it would be ridiculous to say "oh, 2 products got 10's recently we better mark this one down for that reason". If something gets a 9/10 (or any score) on HH you can be sure that it deserved that mark and that the content of the review will back up the conclusion.

Why don’t we turn it round a little... go read this review again and give me any reason Gigabyte or Intel shouldn't be awarded 10's on design, build quality and performance when compared to other products on the market.

EDIT: Just wanted to add a bit of info about X58A-UD7... of all the motherboards we have ever tested this has received the most testing. It has been the basis for our main review rig since we received it in January. It has performed so well and has so many excellent features, specifications and flexibility in addition to its reliability that we have chosen it to be the basis for all of our component reviews in the coming months.

Cow_160483

I think the scoring was spot on and is much more consistent that other sites who frequently change parameters while testing, for example a graphics card review done with different amounts ram or without the latest drivers or different drivers on two similar cards .... there is so much inconsistency out there

Am glad HH has kept the standards high and consistent for so long keep it up and good work guys

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dawgXdenta

Spot on sweet when I have the bucks i'm getting an x58 board and an i7, AMD has some good stuff but they'll have to do a slum dunk on intel just like they did with the 5000 and 4000 ati series cards with regard to nvidia

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IvanV

Yup, a nasty cooler, loud and it has a LED and Intel is just about the last company I expected to put one on a cooler. It's a $1000 CPU and they went through some trouble to give it a very decent heatsink, why not spend $0.02 more on the bundled fan?!

Still, the CPU is a monster and if I could get my hands on one, I'd forget all about the bundled fan. The price is what I expected too, about what all the previous top models cost when they came out. Your turn, AMD!

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comp_ali

O always have faith on Gigabyte motherboard and they never let me down . From the amount of motherboards I've use , definitely gigabyte were the best manufacture , so it isn't odd to see it grab the gold score.

press

Thanks for great review

Bolletje

"Speaking of the northbridge cooler, Gigabyte really have to go back to the drawing board with it. We trashed its design on the EP45T-Extreme, and it has basically been carried over to this model. Using fins to transfer heat from the bottom layer to the top layer of a cooler is highly inefficient. There just isn't enough contact area to properly transfer the heat load to the top layer. As a result, adding a water block to the top is fairly pointless, as is attaching the huge Hybrid Silent-Pipe module. This is not to say that the heatsink doesn't do a good job at cooling the X58 chipset since it does, but it could be so much better."


That will not say it's a shitty board, I just noticed all the 10's lately.

And maybe a picture of the new stock cooler? Since it's pretty impressive for a stock one.

iPlayer

Yeah, it's a nice air cooler. Although the Extreme Editions normally come with better coolers, this time around it's even comparable to the after-market offerings - if not for the loud fan .

The gigabyte board is very nice, except for those 2 virtually useless slots that get blocked by the HS.

Veridian3

So, to sumarise your comment about the cooler ... it works well but you dont like the design. If it works well then whats the problem? Show me something better on a comparible motherboard from Asus, MSI etc...

As for the WC comments, its the only multi-purpose solution which works. If you hollowed out the entire area then people who dont use WC would have terrible thermal performance issues. This design suits all users and allows complete flexibility.

Regardless of the above, its clear you didnt actually read the article before making some nonsense claims about our scoring system. There are three pictures of the cooler on page 15 as well as performance figures and noise observations.

Veridian3

HI, only one of the slots is blocked by the northbridge cooler. Our X-Fi Forte fits in the 2nd ok. If you managed to populate all of the other PCIe slots (remember 1x cards will work in the lower 4x, 8x, 16x slots) then the top 1x is still suitable for video capture cards etc which usually come on a short PCB. (You could for example add 2 extra SATA 6gb/s ports on a PCIe 1x card to that slot).

I just wish there were a decent amount of 1x cards available to actually cause this to be an issue... its about time add-in card manufacturers moved away from PCI completely.

mac_angel

everyone loves Gigabyte motherboards. I thought that since they reviewed so great that I'd get one. BAD idea. No support what so ever. I couldn't find a telephone number to call, whether an 800 number, or even long distance from Toronto Canada. I was stuck with e-mail support. Maybe that would have been fine if they ever e-mailed me back. 2 weeks after purchase, multiple e-mails in to them, and not a single response.
oh, wait, that's not completely true. They added me to their spam mailing list. I'm getting Gigabyte spam from them now, but no help with the motherboard.

Veridian3

PM me the details, i'll make sure someone contacts you.

mac_angel

thanks for the offer, but I returned it to the store and went back to EVGA. 24/7 technical support and an 800 number. Also lifetime warranty. Had to pay a bit more for it, but the all the support is there, and their forums are amazing. Tonnes of people to help out with overclocking and everything else.
I had the option of just exchanging it for another Gigabyte, and though I was still semi-tempted since they are suppose to be great boards, the support was a HUGE turn off. I'll never be touching another Gigabyte board again.

slugbug

Looks like an amazing processor. I'll never be able to afford one though. I wonder if Intel will be sponsoring any giveaways?

Bolletje

I think it can be improved. That comment was a quote from another site though (see the ""?).

"However there is one problem.
You can see in the visible area that the main heatsink has a layer of concealed fins between the X58/ICH10R heatsink and the heatpipe assembly connecting the mosfets and the hybrid heatsink. I'm not trained at all in heat transfer theory but common sense would dictate that having this be solid rather than composed of thin fins would assist in heat transfer. I'm not saying it doesn't work, the heatsink system does the job, there just is room for improvement."

I haven't seen any text in the HH review about installing the heatsink and it's performance. The only page about the motherboard is page 3. I don't see if it's easy to install or if it's installed what negative aspects came with the huge heatsink.

I've read the arcticle, but I think I missed the pictures. Why else would I say that there weren't any pictures?

But hey, If you think they are nonsense claims, fine.. I just said a little bit about it. If you do one page about a whole motherboard and then giving it all the tenners you have, fine..., but don't you think a seperate review would be considered, since it's a very special motherboard?

Heck, I even changed my avatar and sig so they won't bother you anymore.

Neshi

aren't you overreacting a little?
If you make claims about a review and then ask for pictures that are IN that review, don't you think that comes off as if you didn't even read the whole review but just the conclusion page to see the marks it has gotten?

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Bolletje

Maybe, maybe not.

If I hadn't read the whole page I would have said why the reviewer hadn't mentioned the cooler. Now I only was curious where the pictures were. Like I said, maybe I've missed them due to fast scrolling or maybe because OpenDNS is installed on the place where I saw the review. Sorry for that misunderstanding if that is what you want to hear.

Takaharu

AMD didn't do too badly for themselves, considering a 980X setup will undoubtely set you over £1,000, compared to the 965's few hundred. The 965 on its own is around £170 now. The i7 975 on its own is over £875 and the 980X will probably be around £980, which is silly money for a home PC.
AMD are missing out on the dual x16 slots that have USB 3.0 and SATA-3...

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Veridian3

The issue here is that you essentially called the review worthless without giving reasons for that and without actually reading it fully. When I asked you to give some actual thoughts on why YOU thought the products did not merit the scores you decided to quote other reviews rather than your own opinions. Then, to cap it all of, you asked for content that was in the review followed by acting like a child. Hardly a constructive way to act, hopefully you can be more productive in your future posts.

Anyway, lets get back on topic...

Veridian3

Absolutely, AMD have the value aspect nailed. As for the 2x 16x... it is strange that they are delaying chipsets with that support, doesn't seem to benefit them in any way (unless they have a pile of 790 inventory kicking about).

Bolletje

EDIT: Removed by V3.... taking it to PM so that the thread can remain about the products.


Edit 2:
If you delete posts, then delete them all about the subject, not only mine...

nicnik

thanks for the review. great as always.

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