Core i5

nightmare99 · 28 May 2009 at 13:22

This Core i5 stuff I don't understand, but I do see how it'll make money.

It will replace skt 775, initially starting at the top end and working its way down until it is a top to bottom replacement of skt 775.

John Doe · 28 May 2009 at 13:56

Greebo said:
In saying that I have just read that i720 and i740 are being dropped since their performance is too close to the next high end i7 cpus so expect future i7cpus to cost an arm and a leg.

Where did it say that please?

Greebo · 28 May 2009 at 14:27

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/05/28/intel-to-discontinue-core-i7-920-940-cpus/1

News today.

And my other post was slightly wrong. It should have said i5 cpus so close to i7 performance that i7 is being dropped.

nightmare99 · 28 May 2009 at 14:33

It should have said i5 cpus so close to i7 performance that i7 is being dropped.

That statement contains so much FUD :cool:

920 & 940 are already EOL any way. They are not saying i7 will be dropped they are saying the low end i7 chips will become EOL quicker and the 1366 socket focus will move more towards higher frequency six core chips.

Greebo · 28 May 2009 at 14:59

nightmare99 said:
That statement contains so much FUD

920 & 940 are already EOL any way. They are not saying i7 will be dropped they are saying the low end i7 chips will become EOL quicker and the 1366 socket focus will move more towards higher frequency six core chips.

Which means little upgrade path for 920 or 940 users until the expensive 6 core stuff comes out next year.

Whereas the i5 socket get the new 32nm chips earlier.

nightmare99 · 28 May 2009 at 15:14

Which means little upgrade path for 920 or 940 users until the expensive 6 core stuff comes out next year.

Nobody knows how much future LGA 1366 chips are going to cost and it certainly does not mean i7 is being dropped.

elite.ire · 28 May 2009 at 15:28

i7 920 is under threat from being discontinued apparantly
source : http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225673
and some i5 stats :
http://www.guru3d.com/news/core-i5-test-leakedlynnfield-perforamnce-revealed/

Greebo · 28 May 2009 at 15:28

nightmare99 said:
Nobody knows how much future LGA 1366 chips are going to cost and it certainly does not mean i7 is being dropped.

by "i7" i meant the current range of "i7" processors not the socket.

The article states that the current range will be EOL on 1st September and I beleive sexcore isn't out until next year.

Also note the point about future LGA 1366 chips being high end/server oriented and may only be available in extreme versions.

You expect sexcore cpus to be £250?

John Doe · 28 May 2009 at 17:46

Greebo said:
Also note the point about future LGA 1366 chips being high end/server oriented and may only be available in extreme versions.

If this expensive upgrade path ends up being true, would building an i7 system be unwise? What kind of 'ball park figures' for future chips might come into play?

nightmare99 · 28 May 2009 at 20:48

The article states that the current range will be EOL on 1st September and I beleive sexcore isn't out until next year.

I can't believe that the brand new i7 950 & 975 will only have a life span of three months, we know that 965 & 940 are practically dead due to the 950 & 975 being released. Sure the 920 may get the chop as I expect there will be a performance overlap between that and the higher i5 chips.

You expect sexcore cpus to be £250?

Can't see why not, it entirely depends on how Intel decide to line them up. It would be very difficult to predict the line up for next year, If I were t o guess I would say that there will be three six core chips replacing the current three i7 chips (920 950 975).

If this expensive upgrade path ends up being true, would building an i7 system be unwise?

Not really it depends what you are coming from and what you are expecting. Some people like to chop and change CPUs but keep the same mainboard and others like to replace main board/CPU/Ram in one hit.

i5 2.66Ghz performance is less than the i7 920 2.66Ghz (looking at one of the articles linked) and also seems to be priced that way
$196 Core i5 2.66Ghz
$284 Core i7 920 2.66Ghz

HighlandeR · 28 May 2009 at 21:36

Thats some killer news if Core i7 920s are gonna go but tbh anyone who would have one or even the ocuk bundle would already be experiencing 4ghz of silly speeds which wouldnt require them to upgrade till sexcore 4ghz overclocked goodness

Perfect_Chaos · 28 May 2009 at 22:10

HighlandeR said:
Thats some killer news if Core i7 920s are gonna go but tbh anyone who would have one or even the ocuk bundle would already be experiencing 4ghz of silly speeds which wouldnt require them to upgrade till sexcore 4ghz overclocked goodness

Yeah not worth selling a 920 for any other chip than a sixcore when they come out imo, then the 920's will probably fetch a good amount of cash needed toward the new cpu's.

Greebo · 29 May 2009 at 00:07

Nightmare99:

I didn't say anything about the not even released 950 and 975 cpus. I referred to "current" i7 cpus. I said, reading the news, it would appear the 920 and 940 are about to be EOL as of 1st September.

It does also rumour that the 950 may also never get released now, just the 975 coming out and staying.

The 975 is a "premium" cpu and will cost £700 -£900 depending where you buy if from if you look at a 965.

If indeed that 950 gets dropped and the 920,940 become end of line your choices for i7 mobos will be an extreme cpu costing £700+.

That puts the price far ahead of a lot of enthusiasts.

You assumption about the sexcore if flawed. You have already semi agreed with me the 920 might disappear and the 940 is almost dead and if the 950 never appears (or only until September) then the sexcore is only replacing one cpu in the quad core lineup, the 975.

Hence the rumours that all future i7 cpus are going to be extreme only may well be true.

That will put the sexcore extreme at around £800-£900 at launch. No "cheap" cpus for current i7 users to upgrade to.

And lastly the i5 platform gets 32nm cpus before the i7 platform so although the first launch i5 cpus may well be slower than the i7 counterparts, the 32nm certainly may not be and may overclock much better hence Intel has a crossover on their hands with a cheaper, mid range cpu outperforming their top end cpus which is not good for them.

jamiehavok · 29 May 2009 at 00:52

what id like to know, does x58 support 6 core cpus. or will you have to get a new motherbaord, even if the 6 core cpu is still socket 1366.

Perfect_Chaos · 29 May 2009 at 01:19

jamiehavok said:
what id like to know, does x58 support 6 core cpus. or will you have to get a new motherbaord, even if the 6 core cpu is still socket 1366.

I seriously doubt they would change socket that fast, pretty much a given they will be same socket.

Greebo · 29 May 2009 at 09:36

Perfect_Chaos said:
I seriously doubt they would change socket that fast, pretty much a given they will be same socket.

Looking at the roadmap the 1366 is here to stay for a few years. I would suspect that all that will be needed is a bios update just like when quad cores came out on the 775 platform.

The question is though, will you be able to afford a sexcore at £700-£900?

nightmare99 · 29 May 2009 at 09:36

It does also rumour that the 950 may also never get released now, just the 975 coming out and staying.

It is out on sunday, distribution already have stock.

I would not put it past Intel to replace the 920 at a later date with a 925 or 930 keeping the platform as a three sku lineup.

Hence the rumours that all future i7 cpus are going to be extreme only may well be true.

I only see this reported at Bit-tech with all other sites reporting this linking back to Bit-tech.

You assumption about the sexcore if flawed.

We will see, I just made a prediction which may be correct or incorrect I would not suggest people base any purchasing decisions based on your/my ramblings.

And lastly the i5 platform gets 32nm cpus before the i7 platform so although the first launch i5 cpus may well be slower than the i7 counterparts, the 32nm certainly may not be and may overclock much better hence Intel has a crossover on their hands with a cheaper, mid range cpu outperforming their top end cpus which is not good for them.

Possibly yes, although until 32nm parts are available and benched against what ever the i7 range consists of at the time it is very difficult to tell one way or the other.

VoG · 29 May 2009 at 09:46

Greebo said:
The question is though, will you be able to afford a sexcore at £700-£900?

surely the more relevant question would be do you actually have a use for a sexcore cpu, those that genuinley do have a use for them will pay the price premium, purely & simply because it will allow them to be more productive. so it'll pretty much pay for its self in the long term.

Greebo · 29 May 2009 at 09:49

nightmare99 said:
It is out on sunday, distribution already have stock.

You are indeed correct. Bit-tech quotes as follows: "while one source suggested that the as-yet-unreleased Core i7 950 would also probably get the chop a bit later" which means the 950 will be here until 1st September but maybe not much longer after that.

nightmare99 said:
I would not put it past Intel to replace the 920 at a later date with a 925 or 930 keeping the platform as a three sku lineup.

They may will do. However, if the reasons behind them pulling the 920 and 940 are true as the i5 is so close in performance and crosses over then the same problem occurs with 925 and 930 cpus. And the articles states that Intel are doing it because they want the i7 platform to be high end/server territory and they need to do soemthing to encourage people to buy both platforms and differentiate between them. So if the article is true, I think it is unlikely we will see 925/930 cpus.

nightmare99 said:
I only see this reported at Bit-tech with all other sites reporting this linking back to Bit-tech.

So do I and it may all be untrue. However, it is worrying if you are about to buy an i7 rig when you might be better off in the long run buying an i5 rig for future affordable upgradability if the article does turn out to be true.

nightmare99 said:
We will see, I just made a prediction which may be correct or incorrect I would not suggest people base any purchasing decisions based on your/my ramblings.

To a certain point I agree with you. However I do think it is a factor to consider with reference to purchasing and now may not be a good time to buy an i7 setup and it may be wiser to hold off a few weeks to see what transpires. I have being considering i7 myself and almost bought one last week but I would be mightly peeved if I did and then found out 5 months later that the 920 cpu was the best cpu I would be able to afford for my mobo and then at some point next year, have to upgrade again to i5.

nightmare99 said:
Possibly yes, although until 32nm parts are available and benched against what ever the i7 range consists of at the time it is very difficult to tell one way or the other.

Difficult to guess but past performance is a good indication though. You only need compare 45nm quads to 65nm quads on both their released stock speeds (2.4Ghz max for the 65nm and 3ghz for the 45nm) due to their reduced die and their overclocking potential. My Q9650 will do 4.4Ghz whereas my old q6600 only did 3.85Ghz. It may not be the case with the die shrink i5 cpus, but in general every die shrink has brought faster stock speeds and better overclocking.

nightmare99 · 29 May 2009 at 10:11

which means the 950 will be here until 1st September but maybe not much longer after that.

I can't see the 950 only three months it would be a pointless releasing it.

Sure I'm not saying low end i7 and high end 775 customers won't go i5 some will.

However, if the reasons behind them pulling the 920 and 940

The 940 being replaced by the 950 was pre determined long ago and we have not had ANY confirmation that 920 is going anywhere only the rumour started by Bit-tech.

So do I and it may all be untrue. However, it is worrying if you are about to buy an i7 rig when you might be better off in the long run buying an i5 rig for future affordable upgradability if the article does turn out to be true.

As stated by somebody else it depends on your usage.

We still don't have 100% confirmation current X58 boards will run 32nm and/or six core cpus. The only statement I have seen from Intel (somebody feel free to correct me) mentioned that the X58 chipset itself will support 32nm six core chips not necessarily the current X58 boards themselves.

I have being considering i7 myself and almost bought one last week but I would be mightly peeved if I did and then found out 5 months later that the 920 cpu was the best cpu I would be able to afford for my mobo and then at some point next year, have to upgrade again to i5.

Everybody is different, personally I never buy a board/cpu/ram expecting any kind of future upgradability that way I never end up getting dissapointed. I normally migrate my old board/cpu/ram as a set.

You only need compare 45nm quads to 65nm quads on both their released stock speeds (2.4Ghz max for the 65nm and 3ghz for the 45nm) due to their reduced die and their overclocking potential.

Yes but it is not the same is it we also have dual vs tri channel ram and DMI vs QPI to take into account. Although yes i5 does look quite close clock for clock if those leaked bench marks turn out to be accurate.