Intel Core i7 Review Thread

[Drwho?]

i was referencing the well written tech report article.... http://techreport.com/articles.x/15818

granted Intel did a better job than AMD, but in some aspects it looks very familiar? (on-board memory controller, QPI)

and people need to chill out.. im not trying to start an argument, i was just pointing it out.

well, AMD did copy the design of the 80386SX ... humm hummmm

"In 1988, Intel introduced the i386SX, a version of the 386, designed to enable low-cost systems software-compatible with the 386.

Cost was reduced by narrowing the external data bus to 16 bits from the internal 32, which in some designs can halve the number of RAM chips, and eliminating economically unusable pins such as those address lines required to support over 16 MB of RAM (too expensive for the low-cost systems this processor targeted).

Performance suffered both due to the narrower external databus, and the typical lack of cache memory in i386sx systems.

The original i386 was subsequently renamed i386DX to avoid confusion, though this would rather cause confusion later when the DX in the name i486DX instead indicated floating-point capability. The i387SX was a compatible i387 part (i.e. with a 16-bit databus) available as an optional math-coprocessor. The 386SX was packaged in a surface-mount QFP, and rarely offered in a socket to allow for an upgrade.

A similar cost reduction was done for the 8088 CPU used in the original PC.
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386SX