Conclusion

Price Point

Price: $969.99

Class: High End/Enthusiast

The Core i7 965 Extreme is priced at $969.99 which puts it firmly into the high end class.

Performance

The performance capabilities of the Core i7 965 Extreme are clearly defined through the various benchmarks performed on the test system. The strong points for the 965 were its superior performance out of the box with the dominance throughout the various benchmarks, especially with the productivity tasks performed by high end workstations. The graphics performance was not as strong in the gaming categories versus the 920, but once overclocked, the 965 out performs the 920 solidly in the gaming benchmarks with a lesser clock speed after overclocking. The additional headroom in overclocking with better cooling would certainly add to the performance of this chip, but when considering the price point and classification of this chip, many of the systems that this chip would find a home in would include water cooling and various other provisions to allow for stronger and higher overclocks, with a much stronger dominance over all the other chips in the market.

Reviewer's Opinion

The abilities of this chip are exceptional when compared with the other top chips on the market, whether Intel or AMD. The performance out of the box beats any other chip out there, with the exception of the newest extreme the 975. This makes this chip an amazing choice for any high end build, whether for gaming or for workstation productivity. The overclocking options associated with the unlocked multiplier also bring to the table many different options for extracting extra performance from the chip's already powerful capabilities and offerings.

Intel has coined the phrase extreme edition with other powerful processors, and had maintained the ultimate stronghold on the high end CPU market. AMD does not produce a chip that is any where near in direct competition with this chip. in either price or performance, leaving the extreme edition CPUs from Intel alone at the top of the market. The Core i7 CPUs are already extremely formidable processors with hyperthreading and onboard memory controllers supporting triple channel DDR3 RAM, but with the addition of the extreme edition 965, the top of the pile gets much stronger and the road to catching the Intel high end chips, a much longer and harder journey

Pros

• Hyperthreading Technology
• DDR3 Triple Channel Memory Support
• Fast 3.2GHz stock/3.3GHz turbo mode enabled clock speeds
• Unlocked Multiplier
• Excellent overclocking potential

Cons

• none