Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz vs. Lynnfield 2.66Ghz

[algorhythm]

So will all the whining of Core i7 920/950 disappearing end now?

This is exactly what I said all along, Core i5 will fill that marketing gap....

The core i5 seen here seems to all but ensure the death of the i7 920.

In my opinion the consumer loses with this transition. Before $280 got you a 2.66Ghz HT Quad-Core with Tri-Channel DDR3, now it gets you a 2.66Ghz non-HT? Quad-Core with Dual-Channel DDR3. i7 wasn't for everyone obviously, but even the Dual vs. Tri-Channel memory issue makes the i5 a worse CPU in general for the same price.

I wish Intel would have made the i5 more of an actual improvement to the i7 920 if they were going to replace the i7 920 with it. Give us a 2.6Ghz HT Quad-Core with Tri-Channel and the other new i5 features and sell it for $300. Replace the 920 with that! Then there's still a clear consumer path. Instead people with i7 920s won't touch i5, and people that haven't gotten of Core 2 yet will get an i5 instead of an i7 920 because p55 is cheaper than x58. I'm disappointed that i5 is so orthogonal to i7. Considering that i7 920 exists (for now), I don't think you can call i5 a step forward.

[villa1n]

but its not confirmed that the 2.66Ghz lynnfield come without HT.

And if not that´s no problem, it is only a clock for clock comparison. The 2.93Ghz Lynnfield with HT cost almost the
same as the 2.66Ghz Core i7 ($284). So you get more power for same money

Regards
Chris

The core i5 seen here seems to all but ensure the death of the i7 920.

In my opinion the consumer loses with this transition. Before $280 got you a 2.66Ghz HT Quad-Core with Tri-Channel DDR3, now it gets you a 2.66Ghz non-HT? Quad-Core with Dual-Channel DDR3. i7 wasn't for everyone obviously, but even the Dual vs. Tri-Channel memory issue makes the i5 a worse CPU in general for the same price.

I wish Intel would have made the i5 more of an actual improvement to the i7 920 if they were going to replace the i7 920 with it. Give us a 2.6Ghz HT Quad-Core with Tri-Channel and the other new i5 features and sell it for $300. Replace the 920 with that! Then there's still a clear consumer path. Instead people with i7 920s won't touch i5, and people that haven't gotten of Core 2 yet will get an i5 instead of an i7 920 because p55 is cheaper than x58. I'm disappointed that i5 is so orthogonal to i7. Considering that i7 920 exists (for now), I don't think you can call i5 a step forward.

There are not many applications that will Saturate trichannel DDR3, especially for the home user, the dual channel is plenty of memory bandwidth, for the gamer/homeuser, lower latency will be more important than over bandwidth..server apps of course this is not the case, which is why i7 was server platform more than a Desktop. And the quote above , shows that price point wise the i5 (he said 2.8, but i changed it to the 2.93 which is what i believed he meant) will have HT and be clocked higher for the same value. It remains to be seen, how stable these will be at higher clocks (how powerful a cooling solution we ll need vs the i7) since these chips have more parts on die, but if they clock within 10% of i7, people should easily be hitting 3.8-4.0ghz on air, with near identical performance, and cheaper mobo's... sounds like a win for the end user here.

[Chri$ch]

(he said 2.8, but i changed it to the 2.93 which is what i believed he meant)

i meant 2.8Ghz

[Tao~]

Yeah I would like to see as well what Intel does with Socket 1366. It will get a hexacore no doubt but it seems its heading towards a UP server socket eventually.

So we can safely assume 2.8 Ghz Lynnfield will beat i7 920 in all possible ways,(performance,cost,power consumption) (significantly so in single threaded apps with that kind of Turbo )

I wonder who would like to bet it isnt Core i5

[sosna]

So Intel managed to encage all current 1366 users,especially the ones with the 920.

Lets hope the new 6 cores will use the same socket.

[villa1n]

i meant 2.8Ghz

LoL oh wow, wasn't aware there was a 2.8 variant, i always picked up on the 2.6 and the 2.93's in articles heh. And thats a hefty price to pay for 130mhz...!!!!! like double?!! haha, I guess i m waiting for the golden stepping to come out for the 2.8's and away we go, the performance, and platform is very appealing.

[villa1n]

Yeah I would like to see as well what Intel does with Socket 1366. It will get a hexacore no doubt but it seems its heading towards a UP server socket eventually.

So we can safely assume 2.8 Ghz Lynnfield will beat i7 920 in all possible ways,(performance,cost,power consumption) (significantly so in single threaded apps with that kind of Turbo )

I wonder who would like to bet it isnt Core i5

We re not sure how it OC's given that the NB is ondie now, more parts in small package = more heat, i would guess, and more chances for instability. But I would venture a guess not too much less given how well i7's are clocking.

[Vozer]

So we can safely assume 2.8 Ghz Lynnfield will beat i7 920 in all possible ways,(performance,cost,power consumption) (significantly so in single threaded apps with that kind of Turbo )

Yeah, that's what AnandTech tried to tell us. (And the 2.66GHz no-HT isn't bad at all, too.)

[perkam]

-----> ------>

Unless we see a 3.4 BE or an X6 from AMD in the same price range.

Perkam

[villa1n]

-----> ------>

Unless we see a 3.4 BE or an X6 from AMD in the same price range.

Perkam

Agreed, my 3.5ghz quad phenom is great, but these numbers make me drool in comparison...unless they have a 6core Am3 drop in that clocks well, ie 3.5-3.8 on air ^^.... as it seems more and more, things i do are becoming multithreaded..

[Vozer]

I hope Intel change their mind and keep the "Core i5" brand for Lynnfield.

That name is well-known and widely accepted now.

[MomijiTMO]

As you can see there is no doubt that in a lot of benchmarks, a stock 2.8GHz i5 will outpace a stock 2.6GHz i7 with or without HT. Where things become more interesting is single threaded apps where i5 should go even further ahead with a higher turbo. In this test, the i5 consumed less power but I expect the 2.8GHz i5 will make this gap smaller.

The biggest test of i5 is how it ocs. Normally we would expect the mainstream platform to be outclassed by the upper platform chips. However, seeing Intel has been rumored to EOL the lower i7 models, Intel no longer has to do this. Thus, it is possible that i5 chips could oc just as well as their bigger brother. If this does happen, the i5 would indeed turn out to be great for gamers and computer enthusiasts alike, the only MAJOR downside is for multi gpu setups. Folks with Tri SLI or XF would be better off with 1366 which would cost considerably more money than the i5 platform [assuming 950 and 920 do get phased out].

The lower voltage would mean a cooler chip and if the i5 has a similar headroom to i7, we can expect big ocs. Not having an i7, I can only go by what I have read in this forum. It seems that with D0's the limiting factor is the load heat. A cooler i5 with lower stock vcore [and higher stock frequency] may make 4+GHz available for all and 4.5GHz standard to good batches.

At the end of the day, Lynnfield could be something worth wild.

EDIT : As I said in another thread, if the Lynnfield substitute for the 920 is the same price, either Intel is going to make a lot of money relative to the 920 OR the 920's margin was too small.

EDIT V2: Game benchmarks for lesser pc folks like myself.




These were with a single 4870, can't wait to see multigpu benches.

[villa1n]

As you can see there is no doubt that in a lot of benchmarks, a stock 2.8GHz i5 will outpace a stock 2.6GHz i7 with or without HT. Where things become more interesting is single threaded apps where i5 should go even further ahead with a higher turbo. In this test, the i5 consumed less power but I expect the 2.8GHz i5 will make this gap smaller.

The biggest test of i5 is how it ocs. Normally we would expect the mainstream platform to be outclassed by the upper platform chips. However, seeing Intel has been rumored to EOL the lower i7 models, Intel no longer has to do this. Thus, it is possible that i5 chips could oc just as well as their bigger brother. If this does happen, the i5 would indeed turn out to be great for gamers and computer enthusiasts alike, the only MAJOR downside is for multi gpu setups. Folks with Tri SLI or XF would be better off with 1366 which would cost considerably more money than the i5 platform [assuming 950 and 920 do get phased out].

The lower voltage would mean a cooler chip and if the i5 has a similar headroom to i7, we can expect big ocs. Not having an i7, I can only go by what I have read in this forum. It seems that with D0's the limiting factor is the load heat. A cooler i5 with lower stock vcore [and higher stock frequency] may make 4+GHz available for all and 4.5GHz standard to good batches.

At the end of the day, Lynnfield could be something worth wild.

EDIT : As I said in another thread, if the Lynnfield substitute for the 920 is the same price, either Intel is going to make a lot of money relative to the 920 OR the 920's margin was too small.

EDIT V2: Game benchmarks for lesser pc folks like myself.




These were with a single 4870, can't wait to see multigpu benches.

Interesting though, gigabyte boards say "2 pci-e x16 2.0 slots" ... wierd advertising if it can only be 8 x 8 while both are used...

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...-revealed.html

[orangekiwii]

idk i think even in multigpu benches... the difference won't be too much... maybe 5% tops

i mean the QPI bandwidth thing doesn't really affect gaming... at least yet (compared to the FSB it does in multigpu though)

[MomijiTMO]

They are x16 pcie slots. . . that just don't work at x16 when you use both at the same time =p.

idk i think even in multigpu benches... the difference won't be too much... maybe 5% tops

i mean the QPI bandwidth thing doesn't really affect gaming... at least yet (compared to the FSB it does in multigpu though)

5% performance boost might just swing a few people like myself to pay the extra 100-150AUD on the mobo. [Assuming the price difference between top end models is that big.]

[orangekiwii]

but would it swing you to pay the extra 500$ on the processor? (don't take into account xeons as most people don't know you can get the equivalent for about the same price)

[Peakr]

It would be interesting to see how i5 stands up to i7 in multi-threaded video encoding apps.

[villa1n]

They are x16 pcie slots. . . that just don't work at x16 when you use both at the same time =p.



5% performance boost might just swing a few people like myself to pay the extra 100 bucks on the mobo

LoL, thats what i thought, but i mean, whats the sense in mentioning that, haha. I think that is the only downside to the platform as Xfiring or Sli'ing the next iterations from ATI and Nvidia, depending how beastly they are, 2 cards might be able to saturate 8x 2.0 pci-e lanes at 1080p or higher resolutions...which would be the point to those cards ^^, i d be happier with they had enough lanes for 2x 16X pci-e.. i guess the multi gpu benches will tell the tale when they come out..

[MomijiTMO]

but would it swing you to pay the extra 500$ on the processor? (don't take into account xeons as most people don't know you can get the equivalent for about the same price)

Well no, but if I'd just buy a 920 as soon as the benches are out and win.

[ericware]

somehow I am not interested in i5 .. nothing spectacular about it though .. need something more powerful than i7 .. probably gulftown =]

[MomijiTMO]

Ahh good point. A Q6600 is more than enough, especially at 3.7GHz like yours. The upgrade bug has me by the throat.

[orangekiwii]

yeah, i have a q9550 at 4 ghz... and I want to upgrade... except i'd see very little real world (noticeable) performance increase in any of my program i use regularly... a brand spanking new kick@ss gtx380 or 5870x2 would be much better and probably cheaper

[MomijiTMO]

Yeah well my 3.6GHz Q6600 on x48 w/ 2 gpus isn't hindered by pcie lanes. Damn you upgrade bug. This is why I'm interested in P55 multi gpu benches because I don't plan on downgrading if you know what I mean.

[nsegative]

Wonder how much the mobos are to fight phenom pricing. I might upgrade to i5 due to having only pci-e 1.1 on the ip35-pro

[BulldogPO]

Suprisingly good performance :o
Loooks like this is really going to hurt AMD´s sales numbers.