Intel Core i9 (Gulftown) - 6 cores, 32 nm: hands-on review 

Overclocking

Of course, we could not have missed overclocking. Unfortunately, limited time and issues with early BIOS versions did not allow us to carry out a full test. However, we can show you a few screenshots to whet your appetites:

In view of the recurring questions in the comments, we also decided to play Crysis:

The voltage in the screenshots is overstated – in fact it was at 1.35 V. Based on our short experience in overclocking a 32-nanometer six-core, we can venture a conclusion that the temperatures will not be a limiting factor for maximum overclocking in the air. What could be a limit is rather the voltage – the maximum frequency for stable operation scales with voltage much better than on Core i7. Unfortunately, we have no knowledge of degradation on these processors under the influence of high voltage. Around 1.4 V is probably the highest reasonable value of when air- or water-cooling. We will try to come back to overclocking this processor (including extreme overclocking).

Summary

The Gulftown processor can be briefly summarized using a military concept: shock and awe. Twelve threads and huge bandwidth put on a show of incredible computing performance. It is just that if Gulftown is the shock and awe, most readers are the citizens of a neighboring country that does not take part in the conflict. In domestic applications, with gaming on top, the four extra threads are of little importance to the efficiency and comfort. Core i7-900 is not the best processor for gamers and the new six-core is not much faster clock-to-clock. Gulftown is a processor for servers and workstations, not for gamers.

The average John Doe will probably be much more impressed by the 32 nm technology it was made with than the processor itself. Smaller, faster and more efficient transistors will allow Intel to build a system with significantly lower power consumption and higher power efficiency than today’s processors. Made using the 32-nanometer process technology, the dual-core Clarkdale processors are likely to appear on the shelves sooner than the Gulftown, and are bound to give a much mightier shake to the market than the high-end six-cores. We hope this article has given you some idea of what we can expect from Intel in the near future.