Test Setup

As we mentioned in our introduction, Intel's 9-series chipset were designed from the start to allow future compatibility with Broadwell. As a result with a BIOS update we're able to drop these processors into our existing MSI and ASUS Z97 boards, though not without some pre-release BIOS teething issues.

Test Setup
Processor Intel i7-5775C, 4C/8T
Intel i5-5675C, 4C/4T
Motherboard MSI Z97A Gaming 6
ASUS Z97 Pro
DRAM G.Skill RipjawsZ 4x4GB DDR3-1866 C9 at DDR3-1600
Low End GPU Integrated
ASUS R7 240 2GB DDR3
Dual Graphics with R7 240
Mid Range GPU MSI R9 285 Gaming 2GB
MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB
High End GPU MSI R9 290X Gaming LE 4GB
ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB
Power Supply OCZ 1250W Gold
Storage Drive Crucial MX200 1TB
Operating System Windows 7.1 64-bit, Build 7601
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Nepton 140XL CLC

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:

Thank you to AMD for providing us with the R9 290X 4GB GPUs.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs and the R7 240 DDR3 GPU.
Thank you to ASRock and ASUS for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU.
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill and Corsair for providing us with memory.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.

Load Delta Power Consumption

We'll start things off with a look at power consumption. Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single NVIDIA GTX 770 configuration with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency.

We are reporting the power consumption difference when idle and during an initial OCCT load. This is slightly skewed by the adjustment up the efficiency chain of our power supply, showing lower power CPUs consuming a little more, but despite this the qualitative comparison is a still a good place to start.

Power Consumption Delta: Idle to AVX

Despite our test being almost qualitative, it is exciting to see that in our power consumption limit test both CPUs score around their TDP values.

SKUs, Chipsets, & More Office and Web Performance
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  • MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link

    Simply use something representative of the current situation. Not old numbers which may be totally meaningless today. In Europe we have simple price comparison engines like geizhals.eu where it's really easy to find typical prices. Just exclude obvious outliers and cheap products not yet deliverable and voila, you've got the current street price.
  • nathanddrews - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link

    In Europe? You mean on the Internet? LOL

    There are tons of price comparison websites, but why should AT take the time and be responsible for tracking down pricing when we can all do that in our own areas or from our favorite retailers? They don't know where I like to shop or what currency I use, so it seems like a waste of their time. I'd much rather get quality performance analyses on a more regular basis than have them worry about updating price indexes. Who knows? Maybe their new parent company can do that for them off to the side or something?
  • MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link

    I never see people from the US referring to them. They seem to just use Newegg or Amazon. And getting prices for European shops won't do AT any good, as they're mainly writing for the US.

    And AT has to look up the launch prices of the hardware anyway when they write a review. How much more time would it take to instead look up the current price in a comparison engine? Again, I'm not talking about updating prices dynamically.

    I they're not doing this you always get comments like "who in their right mind would buy x? Vendor y must be totally stupid to keep offering this". Simply because the launch price is far higher than the current price.
  • Senpuu - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link

    Why should AT take the time, you asked? Well, why should they list a price at all then? Hell, why provide any information to the reader beyond specs and performance metrics? Why even talk about the market at all? There is obviously value to be had in doing so and it comes down to where you draw the line. Whereas you would rather they not 'waste their time', I would rather not waste mine by having to question whether a product is being valued near current market price or some esoteric launch price, and then being forced to google multiple things myself to get a feel for 'real world' prices. No, the price they come to will likely not tell me the exact total of the item in question at whatever preferred retailer a reader happens to use, but it will probably be within 5-10% of that value, which is highly useful for at-a-glance comparisons and understanding where something sits in a market segment.

    We're not talking about a large amount of effort here, but I'd rather AT do it than myself; it's less effort for them and it benefits a large portion of their readers. Simply provide a disclaimer about the methods used to gather the data as well as a liability warning, and everyone's happy.
  • Thud2 - Saturday, June 13, 2015 - link

    Very good point.
  • yannigr2 - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link

    There are official price cuts and so you have new OFFICIAL pricing that it is fair to put in the charts. If the launch price of 7850K was $500 and the last official price was $100, wouldn't be the above charts completely misleading? People do have a price/performance ratio in their minds when looking at these charts. In fact for 90% that's the biggest parameter when looking at those charts. And those charts LIE exactly there.
  • manifestation88method - Sunday, September 27, 2020 - link

    Nice post https://discoversoulpath.com/
  • yannigr2 - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link

    You can always take the last OFFICIAL price, but nevermind. It's AMD's pricing that it is wrong anyway. Who cares about poor poor AMD?
  • Gothmoth - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link

    intel is sitting on it´s laurels because there is no competition.
    AMD is no competition for poweruser.

    users want broadwell..mhm.. aha....

    i am the only one who wants intel to make a fast 6 (or better 8) core system without integrated graphics, that runs not to hot and does not cost a fortune?

    can´t we have such a CPU for 500-600 euro?

    ok then i stick to my OC ivy bridge for a few more years.. and you intel can complain about declining sales.
  • MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link

    That's exactly what i7-5820K is for. If it consumes too much power for your taste - well, that's simply the price you have to pay for more cores.

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