Contrary to popular belief, CPU chip fabrication is really an imprecise art, and manufacturing perfection cannot be found in this industry. The same series of chips, in this case the i7 900 series, are all manufactured from the same wafer. Whether or not they get the extreme designation and specified number is based on testing done on each chip after the fabrication process is complete. However not every chip is tested for a specific range in the series (e.g. 975).
Like any company, Intel has manufacturing quotas, so a certain number of 975s have to be produced each month, but beyond that, they don't run the harder tests involved with the 975s. So in reality, you could technically get a 965 or a 975 in the 950 mix, assuming all quotas were met for any chips above 950 in that particular month of fabrication. The main reason for this is due to the limited demand on the 965s and 975s. In the end, it's more-or-less the luck of the draw.
Technically, this means you could by chance end up with a 920 that matches the quality of a 950 or higher. However, the chances are more likely that you could get a 975-quality from a 950 batch, since both would come from the same vicinity on the wafer (that vicinity being the area that consistently yields the best chips) whereas the 920s are coming from a known lesser-quality area of the wafer. The 920s typically are the bottom of the barrel in the series.
So if you're absolutely picky and you must have top-of-the-line equipment, definitely go with the 975 or one of the other extreme edition CPUs, because you're guaranteed to receive a chip of the highest quality (assuming you can afford it).
However, if price is any concern at all, but absolute top performance is certainly not an issue, go with a 950 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6G3V2?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8) and take your chances on getting something better, especially if you're considering overclocking. It really all depends on your cooling solution, settings and the chances of drawing something better than the label suggests, but from what I've seen the chances are actually pretty decent.
I've benchmarked the 975, 965 and 950, all overclocked. The 975 ran only 1.8% faster than the 950, but the 950 ran even better than the "extreme" 965. In the end, I was certainly satisfied with the results of the 950 for the price. For anyone on the fence with price vs performance, you certainly won't be dissatisfied with the 950. Even if you have the extra cash to plop down on the 975, save your money and get an SSD with the extra cash flow. That's where the real bottleneck is in computing these days, and you shouldn't ever run such a top-of-the-line system without having a high-speed hard drive!
For those who are curious, here is what I chose for my machine's final configuration:
Mobo: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KA9PZK?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8
CPU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6G3V2?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8
Cooler: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KUV2KQ?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8
Memory: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VNLDN8?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8
Hard Drive (SSD): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002IGT7IU?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8
PSU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M3G42W?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8 Intel Core i7-950 Processor 3.06GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1366
The best thing about the Core i7-950 besides its incredible benchmark performance and rock solid overclock ability, is that it's price tag keeps dropping, and with Sandybridge processors just about to enter the market, they'll only get cheaper from here on out. Boasting 4 cores and 4 threads, these are beast CPUs that have to be taken into consideration for any serious gaming rig or video rendering build. I bought this processor on a really nice deal at a local computer store--sorry Amazon but the price difference was too significant--and have been happily enjoying my new computer build for a while now.
OVERCLOCKING:
In a word: easy. If you know something about overclocking older intel chips (dual and quad core 45nm and 65nm chips), you'll find that while some things have changed (bclock vs FSB) many others work about the same, and in particular managing Vcore, RAM timings, and micro-tweaking voltages to get the most out of your chip. There are many, many excellent resources on enthusiast boards that will guide you through the process--just employ Google to get the information you need. Most i7 chips OC about the same, so even a i7-920 guide will get you pointed in the right direction.
Suffice it to say I was able to achieve a solid 4.07ghz 24hr Prime95 stable system with temperatures never north of 78C. I idle at about 45C, and gaming pushes my temps into the high 50s or low 60s. I am extremely impressed with the quality of the overclock, and the relative ease with which I arrived there.
PERFORMANCE:
Stellar across the board. I have a gaming rig with a crossfire arrangement which I also use for video editing, photo editing, streaming media files throughout my house (using PlayOn and several WD TV Live devices). I can play any game I want with the PlayOn media server running, Torrents running, and still not hit 50% CPU usage. Really the only time I use 100% of this chip's capacity is when testing out an overclock using Prime95, or when I run a synthetic benchmark. Real world usage, with the exception of video rendering or other CPU intense tasks, will not use half of what this chip has to offer.
VALUE:
The i7 chips have been coming down in price for a while now, and with the current sub $300 prices on the 950, I can't see a better value out there on an intel chip if one plans to overclock. Why spend 2-3x more for an "extreme" edition chip when you can get one of these and overclock it as high or higher? There are numerous people overclocking these chips into the 4.5ghz range, some of them on air! If you want a great CPU to build a computer around, you'd be hard pressed to find a better option for a 4-core processor.
CONCLUSIONS:
Buy yourself one. - 950 - I7 - Cpu - Intel'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
