3770K just slightly faster than 3770T? What?

[Guest]

Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz 10,388 Intel Core i7-3770T @ 2.50GHz 9,227 Whoa, major malfunction detected.

[David (PassMark)]

major malfunction detected

I am not sure if you think the malfunction is with Intel, us or maybe even yourself.

In any case the Core i7-3770K turbos to 3.9Ghz, while the Core i7-3770T turbos to 3.7Ghz.

This 200Mhz difference is a ~5% difference in clock speed, and the benchmark number is ~10% different in our benchmark charts. Which seems reasonable. Hard to see why anyone would purchase the 'T' variant however, unless it was way cheaper.

[2006]

I am not sure if you think the malfunction is with Intel, us or maybe even yourself.

Your software, or possibly Intel since I don't own a 3770.

In any case the Core i7-3770K turbos to 3.9Ghz, while the Core i7-3770T turbos to 3.7Ghz.

I thought they did that with single-threaded apps only. If the max is 3.9 instead of 3.5, why advertise it as such? What's the point of Turbo?

This 200Mhz difference is a ~5% difference in clock speed, and the benchmark number is ~10% different in our benchmark charts. Which seems reasonable.

Well, seeing the 40% increase in clockspeed (3.5 vs 2.5 ghz) and only 12.5% increase in rating, it blew me off.

Hard to see why anyone would purchase the 'T' variant however, unless it was way cheaper.

Its max TDP is 45W, who wouldnt want it? If Passmark is right and it's only 5% slower than the 77W equivalent, that is pretty sick.

Hmm, I can post paragraphs this time it seems. Weird.

[David (PassMark)]

The base clock speed on these new CPUs doesn't mean much.
When idle they drop below this base speed. When under load they ramp up above the base. So in fact they aren't often operating at the base speed.

Turbo is not only used for single threaded apps.

Its max TDP is 45W, who wouldnt want it?

I would think at idle these 2 CPUs would use about the same power. I would think you could buy a Core i7-3770K and slightly under clock it to get a similar effect at full load, plus you still have the option of running it at full speed. So I think it would only make sense to get the 'T' variant if it was cheaper than the 'K'.

[2006]

The base clock speed on these new CPUs doesn't mean much. When idle they drop below this base speed. When under load they ramp up above the base. So in fact they aren't often operating at the base speed. Turbo is not only used for single threaded apps.

The "base" speed has always been the maximum before, so what is the point of the Turbo feature? Why not advertise the 3770K as 3.9 ghz if that's the max it runs on? Does Turbo only work under certain conditions, such as the room being exceptionally cold today?

I would think at idle these 2 CPUs would use about the same power. I would think you could buy a Core i7-3770K and slightly under clock it to get a similar effect at full load

I'm not familiar with how TDP correlates with clockspeed but having 70% less power consumption for just 5% less speed... I would assume they've specially rigged the 3770T to have that kind of feat.

[David (PassMark)]

Yes, a cold room might make your CPU faster for longer, depending on the circumstances.

There is a summary of Turbo mode functioning on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

I don't think power usage in Watts and clock speeds have a linear relationship, but I don't have the hard figures to prove this.

[2006]

Yes, a cold room might make your CPU faster for longer, depending on the circumstances.

There is a summary of Turbo mode functioning on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

Interesting. No need for overclocking anymore, eh? Its all automatic now.

I don't think power usage in Watts and clock speeds have a linear relationship, but I don't have the hard figures to prove this.

You don't need to be a computer scientist to know with certainty that just 5% more gigahertz could not possibly require 70% more power on the same chip. Thats just ridiculous.

[David (PassMark)]

No need for overclocking anymore, eh?

People still overclock to raise the max turbo speed.

Note also that TDP refers to how much cooling is required. Not how much power is actually used by the chip.

So a 45W TDP chip (with cooling sufficient to dissipate 45W) might actually exceed 45W of power usage. But after a while it will get too hot and throttle down a bit due to overheating.