Retail Core i7 already available?

On the Overclock.net forum, someone has been able to obtain a retail version of the Core i7 processor. The concerned model is the fastest 965 EE version, purchased from a computer store in California. Acquiring a matching X58 motherboard, in this case the P6T Deluxe, wasn't a problem either. The official introduction for these new Intel processors is still two weeks ahead, namely the 17th of November.

The happy owner of the i7 965 has already released some benchmarks on the new processor, both at stockspeeds and with an overclock. In the 3DMark 06 CPU test, the processor scored 5606 points out-of-the-box. When the CPU was overclocked from 3.2 to 3.84 GHz, it produced a rough 1000 points more, totaling 6608. 

Retail version of the Core i7 965 with ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard, image source: Overclock.net

The benchmark SuperPi 1M, which tests the individual core performance, was finished in 11 seconds at a clockspeed of 3.48 GHz. In the chess benchmark 3.6 Fritz 11, the relative speed is 27 with 13.000 kilo nodes per second. 

The owner also reports that the cooler of Intel's latest quadcore is fairly silent and keeps the processor at 35 degrees in idle, when overclocked to 3.8 GHz. Because the NDA for Core i7 ends tomorrow, official benchmarks will be released shortly.