Intel Core i7 processors (Nehalem)

Core i7, that’s the name of the new family of processors (code name Nehalem) Intel is releasing this month. I couldn’t read about something as major as this and not blog about it although I am having my midterms now. Anyway the new family has some big changes in the architecture something Intel calls QuickPath which is a new way of handling shared memory and inter-processors communication. The keyword is NO MORE FRONT SIDE BUS. FSB was used as parallel way for accessing both the memory and the IO devices. The new architecture separates the IO and the memory connections, putting the memory in direct point to point connection and that means that the memory manager moved from the chipset into the processor. The IO is handled through the chipset on the motherboard. That means with those new processors come new motherboards, chipsets and everything.
One of the restrictions that comes with the new package is that although they support to have more DIMMs but the support only DDR3 (bye bye DDR2). I think that’s a change that will affect everyone interested in PCs. Hope to get my hand on one of those soon (In two years or so :D). So here are the capabilities of each member of the family
Core i7
Model
Speed
(GHz)
Cache
Memory controller
QuickPath
Interface
TDP
Socket
920
2.66
256 KB L2/core
8 MB shared L3
3xDDR3 800/1066 MHz
1x 4.8 GT/s
130W
LGA1366
940
2.93
965 Extreme Edition
3.2
3xDDR3 1333/1600 MHz
1x 6.4 GT/s
I got this table from Wikipedia so for further information about the new family and the new architecture you can visit:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=634
http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2008/08/getting_to_the_core_intels_new.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7
Don’t forget to comment.

Comments

  1. Yaser the decimalNovember 17, 2008 at 6:47 PM

    So interesting. Always choosing the coolest topics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ahmed KotbNovember 17, 2008 at 8:33 PM

    really great information..

    BTW..AMD is also releasing later this year a new 8 core processor called 'shanghai'..

    and i think it will be more than two years till we can try such new tech. :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahmed KotbNovember 21, 2008 at 9:57 PM

    amd is releasing a new processor
    called phenom II
    see this
    http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/11/21/amd-phenom-ii-hits-5ghz-stable-3

    ReplyDelete

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