Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Review

A chip for the very richest only.... (or the very stupid).

Agreed. Most 920s will clock close to that.

I can't help but feel that anyone who buys an EE CPU regrets it six months down the line, although I don't know anyone that would even consider buying one. It's obviously not aimed at workstations, which means that it's only real market is for the high-end enthusiast paying for it out of their own pocket (plus all the exotic cooling you need to get the most out of it), purely because its the fastest chip currently on the market and for its overclocking ability. I've said it once and I'll say it again: living on the bleeding edge of technology is never an economical proposition. But you try telling that to all the new iPhone 3G S owners :(

Still, it's nice to see the overclocked 920 holding its own in the gaming benchmarks ;)

Agreed with all of the above - EE CPUs are really only for people with sub-zero cooling and a thirst for record-breaking. I do strive to make that point frequently throughout the article.

For those few however, EE CPUs are typically great as they'll go well beyond what the lesser CPUs of the range can, given the right cooling.

I find it interesting that the top end Intel processors, the Extreme Editions, are really expensive and price out of most sane peoples' consideration but that AMD's equivalent, the Black Edition CPUs, are actually very popular. I wonder: if the Extreme Editions were slightly more competitively priced would they sell more? Not that I can see Intel dropping their prices significantly in the long term of the EE brand.

Originally Posted by Cupboard
I find it interesting that the top end Intel processors, the Extreme Editions, are really expensive and price out of most sane peoples' consideration but that AMD's equivalent, the Black Edition CPUs, are actually very popular. I wonder: if the Extreme Editions were slightly more competitively priced would they sell more? Not that I can see Intel dropping their prices significantly in the long term of the EE brand.

How quickly we forget - when AMD was top dog, it had the FX range of super-expensive, multiplier-unlocked CPUs. But yes, AMD's Black Edition strategy is a very interesting one - I'm not sure I'd buy a non-BE AMD processor at all, in fact!

I'm amazed that the 955BE can't keep up with the i7 920 at all..

I'll stick with my 486 DX66 for now....

Pah! My trusty old 486DX 50 will trounce your 485DX2 66 any day with its poxy 33MHz bus :)

ok, I'll dust off my old 286 16mhz with all 384K of expanded memory.... will have to streamline the autoexec.bat and config.sys to free up 620K of conventional memory (damn X-Wing can be such a memory hog!)

Oooo, fighting talk :) I'm sure I might be able to find my old 4.77MHz 8086/8088 somewhere. Then again, with one of those you're basically limited to playing ASCI games...

Originally Posted by Lizard
Then again, with one of those you're basically limited to playing ASCI games...

But you have all the street cred ;).

lol... we could go on all day! My Sharp MZ-80K was a beast!!

Originally Posted by smc8788
But you try telling that to all the new iPhone 3G S owners :(

and that is relevant to a discussion about CPUs how? /derail.

The I7 975 EE is a completly pointless product other than epeen show off for those with more money than common sense.

I7 920 D0
+
120 /128 GB SSD with Samsung controller
+
Decent 24" TFT
=
cheaper and you get more out of it.

Originally Posted by Claave
Agreed with all of the above - EE CPUs are really only for people with sub-zero cooling and a thirst for record-breaking. I do strive to make that point frequently throughout the article.

For those few however, EE CPUs are typically great as they'll go well beyond what the lesser CPUs of the range can, given the right cooling.

True, they are the best if you cool them with Ln2.... but given the fact that Ln2 is far from viable for 24/7 use it is a very limited appeal.

Two thoughts: $1000. So what.

Does anyone really by this crap? I mean, sure they are given out to any Intel overclockers, but does someone actually buy one with money? He/she's just stupid. Sorry.

So if this silly CPU is only really worth the money when you sub-zero cool it for overclocking... where are the Bit-tech sub-zero overclocking results? :p

a tad overkill price wise but nothing shockful when you dominate the market and theres no compition you get away with such stuff. And these cpus do sell much to popular opinion. People who buy ultimate gaming rigs with no intension of overclocking.

ya I have to agree people who buy EE, do not know computers and are most likely just going for bragging rights as thats pretty much all you get from an EE, that and an empty wallet.

why review an extreme chip on air?

water should have been the minimum for this review

No one from round here would buy this. This CPU is for people who by their PCs ready built. I doubt anyone that owns this CPU could even reinstall windows without a bit of help (not counting intel employees ;) )

Originally Posted by Claave
How quickly we forget - when AMD was top dog, it had the FX range of super-expensive, multiplier-unlocked CPUs. But yes, AMD's Black Edition strategy is a very interesting one - I'm not sure I'd buy a non-BE AMD processor at all, in fact!

I haven't forgotten :) I had a FX60 when it came out. It still lives on in my wife's rig. I DID regret buying however, as cheaper dual core AMD64s came out soon after, and were soon being clocked higher than my FX60. That price premium didn't go a long way.

I remember the FX range, funnily it was actually worth something as the competing Intel P4 XE965 was selling for the same price.

Of course the FX-62 destroyed it.

The black editions are a godsend, and I find it interesting that they never run out of stock, surely the bins must be empty from all those BEs.

huh now that I think about it, anyone with an I7 system or wanting to build an I7 will have to go with this CPU or the 6-core version as all those other i7 cpus will soon be phased out leaving only those two left as options for the I7 lol

Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
ya I have to agree people who buy EE, do not know computers and are most likely just going for bragging rights as thats pretty much all you get from an EE, that and an empty wallet.

Empty wallets make you go faster...less weight and all.

Don't get me wrong, they are fast as hell, but you could step down a few processors and actually have enough for a motherboard, graphics card, RAM, HDD, etc. On the otherside, if you have enough for that processor, you're not exactly strapped for cash.