ci5_62x47 Yes.. we’re finally back at work after a few days (more like a week-plus) of travel and volleyball.. and what better way to get this week going than with new processor and chipset announcements by Intel? That’s right.. the company announced a slew of new processors today – including new Nehalem based processors for the desktop and server market as well as a new chipset in the form of the Intel P55 Express Chipset. Without further ado – here’s a quick lowdown on the new announcements.

On the processor front, Intel announced the new Core i5 processor family, two new Core i7 processors, and a new Xeon Processor 3400 series.  The new processors also are the first Intel processors to integrate both a 16-lane PCI Express 2 graphics port and a two-channel memory controller – which also means the P55 Express Chipset is a single chip chipset.

Here’s a rundown of the new models:

  • Core i7-870 processor; Base clock speed of 2.93 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.6GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $562 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Core i7-860 processor; Base clock speed of 2.80 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.46GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $284 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Core i7-750 processor; Base clock speed of 2.66 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.2GHz, 4 Cores/4 threads, 8MB cache, $196 at a 1K unit price, No HT, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon X3470 processor; Base clock speed of 2.93 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.6GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $589 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon X3460 processor; Base clock speed of 2.80 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.46GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $316 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon 3450 processor; Base clock speed of 2.66 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.2GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $241 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon 3440 processor; Base clock speed of 2.53 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 2.93GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $215 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon 3430 processor; Base clock speed of 2.40 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 2.8 GHz, 4 Cores/4 threads, 8MB cache, $189 at a 1K unit price, No HT, 95 watts TDP
  • Xeon L3426 processor; Base clock speed of 1.86 GHz, Turbo Frequency of up to 3.2GHz, 4 Cores/8 threads, 8MB cache, $284 at a 1K unit price, HT enabled, 45 watts TDP

The new P55 Express Chipset supports 8 PCI Express 2.0 x1 Ports (2.5 GT/s), 6 SATA 3 Gb/s ports, RAID levels 0/1/5/10 via Intel Matrix Storage Technology, up to 14 USB 2.0 ports (using Intel USB 2.0 Rate Matching Hub), Intel HD Audio, and support for dual graphics cards in a “2×8” configuration.

So.. with new processor announcements comes.. reviews of course. Here’s a list of reviews from a variety of websites (along with blurbs).

Anandtech – “Core i7 870, i5 750”:

“Lynnfield shows us the beginning of how all microprocessors are going to be made in the future. Even AMD is embracing turbo, we’ll see it with Fusion in 2011. Extend turbo to its logical conclusion and you end up with something very exciting. Imagine a processor made up of many different cores, large and small, CPU and GPU. Each one turning on/off depending on the type of workload, and each running as fast as possible without dissipating more heat than your system can handle.”

TechReport – “Core i5-750 and Core i7-870 processors”

“The Lynnfield chips’ combination of price, performance, and power efficiency effectively clears the field in the desktop CPU market, leaving little room for competition from the Phenom II or older, cheaper Core 2 Quad processors—or even faster, pricier Core i7s.”

Tom’sHardware – “Core i5 and Core i7: Intel’s mainstream magnus opus”

“Alright, so the Core i5-750, specifically, is priced well. What is there to like about it? Reasonable power consumption, a base clock rate comparable to Intel’s Core i7-920, a more-aggressive Turbo Boost able to take the chip to 3.2 GHz in single-threaded workloads, CrossFire and SLI compatibility—it’s a pretty compelling list, actually.”

BenchmarkReviews.com – “Core i5-750 processor”

“Minor issues aside, the Core i5-750’s true strength lies in its Turbo Boost Technology. With it, the processor can automatically overclock all four of its cores independently to match the workload at hand. Down-clocking worked equally as well. Thanks to new power saving features, the Core i5-750 actually consumed the least amount of power out of all of the processors tested.”

Hardware Secrets – “Core i5-750 and Core i7-870 Processors Review”

“For the average user, Core i5 provides a better cost/benefit ratio than Core i7. It is true that Core i7 is faster than Core i5 even when we compare a Core i7 and a Core i5 running at the same clock rate as we did in our review, thanks to the Hyper-Threading technology that makes programs to “see” eight CPU cores instead of “only” four, but this difference in performance will be only worthwhile to professionals because a faster processing means more work done in less time, and thus more jobs for their clients and hence more money. We don’t see why a regular user would pay at least 45% more on a CPU that won’t give that much performance increase in return.”

Overclockers Club – “Intel Core i5 750 Core i7 870 Review”

PC Perspective – “Intel Lynnfield Core i7-870 and Core i5-750 Processor Review”

TweakTown – “Intel Lynnfield Core i5 750 and Core i7 870 Performance Testing”

Bjorn3D – “Intel i7 870 and i5 750 CPUs”

Enjoy!

I think it’s time for me to do a processor/system upgrade now…

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