Two Core i7 and One Core i5 Lynnfield En Route

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

Been holding out on building a new computer because Lynnfield is en route? Well, it doesn't look like the wait will be that much longer, as the prospective release date is hovering around September. That's not straight out of Intel's mouth, but the rumor-mill, of course. The timing doesn't seem unrealistic, though, especially with the company's Developer Forum occurring the same month, and generally, major launches such as this do tend to happen around this time.

So what models are to come out? Again, this hasn't been verified by Intel, but previous leaks have been accurate more often than not. On the Core i7 side (as revealed last month, the Core i7 branding isn't limited to Bloomfield), it looks like we'll be seeing an i7-870, at 2.93GHz and also an i7-860 at 2.80GHz. I truly don't understand why two products with frequencies so close to one another are needed, but the pricing should be interesting to look out for.

On the Core i5 side, the first known model is the i5-750, at 2.66GHz. Unlike the Core i7 models, this (and all the others to come I'm sure), lack HyperThreading, so like Intel's Core 2 line-up, the Quad-Cores here will stay at 4 threads. For most regular consumers, the lack of HT isn't likely to make a difference, but as we discovered in our launch article, it will likely affect those using workstation applications (and also server).

The Core i5 performance-level brand will share both Lynnfield quad-core 4-thread chips and Clarkdale dual-core 4-thread chips that are yet to be announced. The entire brand will be operating on socket LGA 1156. As for the Core i3 entry-level brand, it will consist of all Clarkdale dual-core 4-thread chips that are yet to be announced. Finally, at the very bottom will be Pentium branded Clarkdale dual-core 2-thread chips running on LGA 1156 that are yet to be announced.

Source: Fudzilla​

 

[Kougar]

The frequency overlap (so I hear) is because the Core i7 920 is going to be EOL'd by the year's end or early Q1 of the next year. Not sure how credible it is but it certainly sounds logical enough, especially since I'm sure speedbumps will be coming out for Lynnfield by around March.

 

[Doomsday]

this be very interesting....so its more like...workstation oriented ppl should go for i7s and Mainstream/Gamers should go for i5s ?!? Hyper Threading not much help in games han!?

Edit: i5s be 32nm ?

 

[Rob Williams]

The frequency overlap (so I hear) is because the Core i7 920 is going to be EOL'd by the year's end or early Q1 of the next year. Not sure how credible it is but it certainly sounds logical enough, especially since I'm sure speedbumps will be coming out for Lynnfield by around March.

It's still ridiculous to me to have two freq. like that so close to one another! 200MHz is one thing, but this is even tighter than that.

this be very interesting....so its more like...workstation oriented ppl should go for i7s and Mainstream/Gamers should go for i5s ?!? Hyper Threading not much help in games han!?

Edit: i5s be 32nm ?

Lynnfield will be 45nm still... Westmere will be the first 32nm out the gate from Intel. As for HT, no it doesn't affect gaming, and in some cases, it might worsen the performance (but at an almost microscopic level), but that might all change when more and more multi-threaded-aware applications and games are released.

 

[Doomsday]

Its kinda weird that they r still even considering making Dual-Cores....Westmere is gonna be something!!

 

[Rob Williams]

Its kinda weird that they r still even considering making Dual-Cores....Westmere is gonna be something!!

Dual-Cores still make perfect sense for a lot of things. Many people who build HTPCs today, for example, don't at all require the overall horsepower of a Quad-Core... two cores are plenty. The same would apply if you're just trying to build a low-power box for simple means. So I think Dual-Cores will be around for a while.

As for Westmere, that's still a Dual-Core chip... it just also happens to include a GPU as well. Westmere for the high-end will be a Sextal-Core chip, though, with no integrated graphics.

 

[Kougar]

It's still ridiculous to me to have two freq. like that so close to one another! 200MHz is one thing, but this is even tighter than that.

I agree, and I think it clearly shows that Intel is more interested in the bottom line than catering to the enthusiasts that bought into the Bloomfield platform. On the flipside I should not be surprised, because Intel has a history of undercutting their performance/feature rich chipsets with cheaper mainstream models. It just hurts that they've done so with a third socket change. I only bought my X58 board because I got it way below street price, which are in turn way below prices when X58 initially launched, but still most were not as fortunate.

Lynnfield will be 45nm still... Westmere will be the first 32nm out the gate from Intel. As for HT, no it doesn't affect gaming, and in some cases, it might worsen the performance (but at an almost microscopic level), but that might all change when more and more multi-threaded-aware applications and games are released.

45nm yes, but the 2.8GHz Lynnfield will still have 4 cores running 8 threads. So at the same price as a Core i7 920 you trade a superfluous memory controller for 140MHz, but that is not all. Lynnfield has more aggressive Turbo settings. So while a 920 would run at 2.8GHz, the 2.8GHz Lynnfield will be running at 3.06 or even higher. Best case a 2.66GHz 920 will run at 3Ghz, but the 2.8GHz Lynnfield maxes out at 3.46GHz with Turbo mode. And it will do this on a chipset that is price compatible with P45. It's great and I'm all for it, but this does leave Bloomfield users high and dry.

Sure Gulftown will be a hex-core chip, but it will also be a $999 "Extreme Edition" part and greater than 3/4ths of Bloomfield users don't have the money for anything like that.

 

[Rob Williams]

Lynnfield has more aggressive Turbo settings. So while a 920 would run at 2.8GHz, the 2.8GHz Lynnfield will be running at 3.06 or even higher. Best case a 2.66GHz 920 will run at 3Ghz, but the 2.8GHz Lynnfield maxes out at 3.46GHz with Turbo mode. And it will do this on a chipset that is price compatible with P45. It's great and I'm all for it, but this does leave Bloomfield users high and dry.

This is what has confused the heck out of me over the course of the past few months. When Core i7 was first released, I believe we all thought (at least I did), that Core i5 (or Lynnfield in general) would essentially be Core i7 minus a few perks. It was my thinking that it wasn't going to be the most desirable chip for enthusiasts, due to the lack of HyperThreading and the QPI bus (although the benefits of that are hard to figure out).

But where things like the Turbo are concerned, it seems like Lynnfield is actually poised to overtake the higher-end Core i7... and how exactly does that make sense? When Intel talked to me about the Turbo on that thing a few months ago, I didn't even know how to react... it felt like what they were saying just didn't make any sense.

As it stands now, it seems like it'd make sense to just hold out until Lynnfield arrives and get it over Core i7, unless you have a specific need for the extra features of Bloomfield (the addition of HyperThreading is nice and I highly recommend it for workstation-type apps), but still... it makes you wonder if Intel even knew of the performance Lynnfield would offer when Bloomfield came out. You'd imagine so, given they have full control over the Turbo, so I'm really not sure what their thinking was.

Sure Gulftown will be a hex-core chip, but it will also be a $999 "Extreme Edition" part and greater than 3/4ths of Bloomfield users don't have the money for anything like that.

At first yes, but it's no surprise since this is how things have always been. Their flagship chip gets launched, and a year later, it becomes affordable for everyone (same thing happened with Quad-Cores).

 

[Doomsday]

At first yes, but it's no surprise since this is how things have always been. Their flagship chip gets launched, and a year later, it becomes affordable for everyone (same thing happened with Quad-Cores).

oh man that is sooo truee! i am like, if i had saved the money then and bought a new system now, it would have been a Quad + GTX260/216 + Storm Sniper + Dominator !!

kinda frustrating, but i calm my self that by the time i am ready to buy another new rig, it'll be............................ well, after a yr of That build i'll be bitc*ing bout it again a yr later!! lol!

 

[Kougar]

At first yes, but it's no surprise since this is how things have always been. Their flagship chip gets launched, and a year later, it becomes affordable for everyone (same thing happened with Quad-Cores).

Yes, and actually I am very thankful for this. I remember when the Q6600 was launched in 2007 for ~$860... I watched it's price drop by 40%, then that new price dropped by another 40%... now it's a sub-$200 part!

My point with my comment is that telling their most loyal Bloomfield customers that they will still have an upgrade path with a six core Gulftown next year when it will consist of only a $999 CPU is not just pointless, it's a fake lure to placate those that bought into an overpriced system and expected it to be supported for a few years. It's simply disingenuous.

Right now my only question is what socket will Sandy Bridge use....... this CPU is shaping up to be the next best thing since Conroe debuted, and considering how closely Gulftown will be launching to Sandy Bridge I only have my eyes on Sandy Bridge...