Intel Core i7 970 CPU Review

Writing a conclusion for a 6 core, 12 thread processor that costs almost £700 in the UK is a tough thing to do. There is absolutely no point focusing on the price, because if you need something this powerful you already know you do. You will not need a reviewer to try and measure the ‘performance to price' ratio for you.

This review has proved that for most people an AMD 1055T is more than enough, but if you need to utilise more than 4 cores or 8 threads then the 970 is actually great value for money. For video editing and 3D rendering, the 980x and 970 are the best commercial processors money can buy.

Both i7 970 and i7 980x are products which deliver no compromise levels of performance and if you are planning at running at reference clock levels then we urge you to save the £90, spend it on a high end cooler and get the Core i7 970. The performance differences at reference clock speeds between these processors are so minimal that we doubt you would notice it at all. If you plan on overclocking however then the 980x makes much more sense because the unlocked multiplier means you can normally get 200-300mhz+ extra performance.

At the end of the day the fiercest competition for the 970 is actually the 980x … at £90 more it is going to overclock better and get there with the minimum of fuss. If the 970 was selling for £600 then we could offer more reasons to purchase, but we feel the current pricing is a little unbalanced. Whether you need either is entirely down to your bank balance and computing demands, but if ultimate performance is your primary goal then either 970 or 980x is going to future proof your system for a long time to come.

KitGuru says: The 970 is a very powerful processor which faces little competition from AMD right now. Its biggest challenger is actually the 980x which we feel offers more to the extreme high end enthusiast audience. That said, if you don't plan on overclocking, get the 970.

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