Intel’s Core i7 CPU – sophisticated processor built ever

Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 6:35
Technology
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Intel has announced the availability of its latest Core i7 CPU, a member of the Nehalem family. The chipmaker says it is the most sophisticated processor built ever. The Core i7 brags of accelerating intensive apps such as immersive games, video editing, and Internet & computing activities by up to 40 percent. The Core i7 boasts of delivering immensely superior performance likened to the earlier generation of Intel processors.

Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president of Intel’s Digital Entertainment group, was quoted as saying:

“This is the fastest processor on the planet. We are passing a threshold for killer new apps. “

The CPU makes use of Intel Turbo Boost Technology to speed up performance in order to cater the needs and workload of a computer user. The built-in on-die power controller unit makes use of a new power gate transistor to automatically adjust the CPU clock speed for one or more of the CPU cores. Power saving technology lets the CPU enter sleep states with power consumption levels generally only available to notebooks.

The Core i7 processor also brags of doubling the memory bandwidth of prior Intel “Extreme” platforms, accelerating the transfer of PC bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology.
Power management has been brought about in such a way that for double or single threaded software, two cores will shut down whilst the others overclock, or turbo boost themselves, without boosting power consumption.

Three Core i7 parts are made available with the most remarkable being the Intel Core i7-956 Extreme Edition with a clock speed of 3.20 GHz at $999. Besides, it also comes with the Core i7-940 running 2.93 GHz and the Core i7-920 running 2.66 GHz. Gateway & Dell have already come up with the systems utilizing the latest chip. Those two processors will be sold with the price tag of $562 and $284 correspondingly.