Posts Tagged ‘Core i5 processors’
Intel 6-Core Processor Dominates Benchmarks
Westmere 6-core designs begin
Introduction
Thanks to Intel’s policy of sharing their road maps years in advance, we have known about the upcoming 6-core (or hexa-core) Gulftown processor for quite a while though exact release dates are always held closer to the vest by the chip giant. Initial reports from back in 2008 and early 2009 were ambiguous as to whether or not we would see this computing powerhouse on Intel’s 45nm or its 32nm technology, but a speed-up in the process transition (and likely some technical and development considerations) has now made that distinction for us.
Gulftown, now known as the Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor, will be available immediately for power users that want the top level performance available in a consumer product. Let’s dive into the details.
Making the case for 6-core processors
When it comes processors, the more cores the better, all else being equal. HOW MUCH better is a matter of application usage, personally preference and in many case, personal opinions, but I think we can all agree that having more computing power is a good thing. For power users that currently are using quad-core processors with HyperThreading (from either Intel’s Bloomfield or Lynnfield lineup) you are already a witness to this. While not all applications can take advantage of multiple threads for computing, all modern operating systems today can at least apply multi-threading to entire system. So how does a 50% increase in core count and thread count sound?
Click to Enlarge
Pricing on the Core i7-980X will still be considered very high at $999 but compared to the price on the Core i7-975 that is quad-core offering, I see no reason for someone to NOT get the 6-core option instead. They even operate at the same frequency so I am not exactly sure how Intel is justifying this on their end…
One thing to keep in mind about the pricing here: a lot of times we complain about the cost of the top end CPU offering from Intel and then recommend that users find the middle ground and overclock accordingly to reach or beat the performance of the high cost part. That isn’t really an option for us here as you can overclock a quad-core to a hexa-core CPU. As the only 6-core part for the consumer as of today, that difference will demand a premium.
Source: www.pcper.com
Intel 6-Core Processor Dominates Benchmarks
Westmere 6-core designs begin
Introduction
Thanks to Intel’s policy of sharing their road maps years in advance, we have known about the upcoming 6-core (or hexa-core) Gulftown processor for quite a while though exact release dates are always held closer to the vest by the chip giant. Initial reports from back in 2008 and early 2009 were ambiguous as to whether or not we would see this computing powerhouse on Intel’s 45nm or its 32nm technology, but a speed-up in the process transition (and likely some technical and development considerations) has now made that distinction for us.
Gulftown, now known as the Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor, will be available immediately for power users that want the top level performance available in a consumer product. Let’s dive into the details.
Making the case for 6-core processors
When it comes processors, the more cores the better, all else being equal. HOW MUCH better is a matter of application usage, personally preference and in many case, personal opinions, but I think we can all agree that having more computing power is a good thing. For power users that currently are using quad-core processors with HyperThreading (from either Intel’s Bloomfield or Lynnfield lineup) you are already a witness to this. While not all applications can take advantage of multiple threads for computing, all modern operating systems today can at least apply multi-threading to entire system. So how does a 50% increase in core count and thread count sound?
Click to Enlarge
Pricing on the Core i7-980X will still be considered very high at $999 but compared to the price on the Core i7-975 that is quad-core offering, I see no reason for someone to NOT get the 6-core option instead. They even operate at the same frequency so I am not exactly sure how Intel is justifying this on their end…
One thing to keep in mind about the pricing here: a lot of times we complain about the cost of the top end CPU offering from Intel and then recommend that users find the middle ground and overclock accordingly to reach or beat the performance of the high cost part. That isn’t really an option for us here as you can overclock a quad-core to a hexa-core CPU. As the only 6-core part for the consumer as of today, that difference will demand a premium.
Source: www.pcper.com
Crowd-Sourced Toshiba Satellite Notebook = Thin & Sexy
If you could design your own laptop in an effort to have the perfect balance of performance, price, size, weight, and features, what would you include and what could you live without? As part of its Blue Label program, Best Buy asked that question of its customers–accepting as much feedback as its customers could give and then channeling that information back to the laptop manufacturers it partners with. The ensuing results of this feedback now manifest themselves in the three current Best Buy Blue Label exclusive laptop offerings: the Dell Studio s15Z-2249CPN, Sony Vaio VPCS11FM/S, and Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904.
All three of these laptops have a fair bit in common: They are all mainstream laptop designs, powered by Intel Core i5 processors, they come with 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM memory, and include generous 500GB hard drives. (They are somewhat diminutive as mainstream laptops go, but they’re not quite thin-and-light laptops either.) The Toshiba (14-inch display, 2.53GHz Core i5) is the least expensive of the group, with an $899.99 price tag (which was just reduced from $999.99); the Dell (15.6-inch display, 2.53GHz Core i5) sells for $999.99, and the Sony (13.3-inch display, 2.26GHz Core i5) is the most expensive, at $1,049.99. In our opinion, however, the Toshiba is the sexiest-looking of the bunch, and we were fortunate enough to get it in for testing.
Source: hothardware.com