Core i7 870
Intel desktop processor · Core i 1st gen · launched September 2009
Check the price on AmazonAffiliate link. Street prices move; the figures on this page are launch prices.
Launch price in today's dollars
The Core i7 870 launched at $562 in 2009. Adjusted with the U.S. Consumer Price Index, that is about $867 in 2026 dollars (7-month average), a 54% rise over 17 years. At its launch price that is 6 Blender points per $100.
Method: launch price × (CPI 2026 average ÷ CPI 2009 average), calendar-year averages of BLS series CPIAUCSL. 2026 covers 7 months so far.
Blender rendering score
Median score 34 (middle half of runs 26–38) across 7 community runs on Blender 4.x with the CPU backend. That is #270 of 290 desktop processors in our dataset with a score, and #2 of 6 in the Core i 1st gen.
This is a rendering benchmark (samples per minute over the monster, junkshop and classroom scenes), not a gaming benchmark. It says how fast the part renders in Blender's Cycles engine and nothing about frame rates. Source: Blender Open Data, CC0, snapshot 2026-09-06.
Specifications
| Vendor | Intel |
|---|---|
| Series | Core i 1st gen |
| Launched | September 2009 |
| Launch price | $562 (1,000-unit price) |
| Socket | LGA 1156 |
| Cores / threads | 4 / 8 |
| Base clock | 2.93 GHz |
| Boost clock | 3.6 GHz |
| L3 cache | 8 MB |
| Rated power | 95 W (TDP) |
| Tier | 7-series |
The Intel 7-series over time
Intel desktop processors in the same tier around this one, oldest first, re-releases left out. Prices in launch dollars and in 2026 dollars; scores are Blender 4.x medians where they exist.
| Part | Year | Launch price | In 2026 $ | Blender |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i7 920 | 2008 | $284 | $436 | 27 |
| Core i7 940 | 2008 | $562 | $864 | 36 |
| Core i7 965 Extreme Edition | 2008 | $999 | $1,535 | — |
| Core i7 950 | 2009 | $562 | $867 | 32 |
| Core i7 975 Extreme Edition | 2009 | $999 | $1,540 | — |
| Core i7 860 | 2009 | $284 | $438 | 30 |
| Core i7 870 | 2009 | $562 | $867 | 34 |
| Core i7 960 | 2009 | $562 | $867 | — |
| Core i7 860S | 2010 | $337 | $511 | — |
| Core i7 930 | 2010 | $294 | $446 | — |
| Core i7 980X | 2010 | $999 | $1,516 | — |
| Core i7 875K | 2010 | $342 | $519 | — |
| Core i7 880 | 2010 | $583 | $885 | — |
| Core i7 870S | 2010 | $351 | $533 | — |
| Core i7 970 | 2010 | $885 | $1,343 | — |
| Core i7 2600 | 2011 | $294 | $433 | 40 |
Compare with
- Core i7 860 · 2009 · $284 · 30
- Core i7 950 · 2009 · $562 · 32
- Core i7 960 · 2009 · $562
- Core 2 Quad Q9550 · 2008 · $530
- Core 2 Quad Q9650 · 2008 · $530
- Core i7 880 · 2010 · $583
- Core i7 920 · 2008 · $284 · 27
- Core i7 940 · 2008 · $562 · 36
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