Intel Core i7 965EE, i7 940, i7 920 Review :: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition, 940 and 920 Features

• Hyper-Threading
• Turbo Boost
• 8MB Intel Smart Cache
• Integrated Memory Controller with support for 3 channels of DDR3-1066MHz memory
• Intel QuickPath interconnect to Intel X58 Express Chipset
• Intel X58 Express Chipset
• PCI Express 2.0 discrete graphics flexibility for multiple graphics card configurations
• Intel HD Audio Support for 6 SATA p'
• 6 SATA ports at 1.5Gbps and 3Gbps speeds and 12 USB 2.0 ports with 2 independent EHCI controllers

Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition

• 3.2GHz Clock Speed
• 6.4GT/second QPI speed
• 8MB L3 cache
• DDR3-1066
• 3 channel support
• TDP 130W
• Overspeed Protection Removed Yes
• 45 nanometer process
• Nehalem core

Intel Core i7-940

• 2.93GHz Clock Speed
• 4.8GT/second QPI speed
• 8MB L3 cache
• DDR3-1066
• 3 channel support
• TDP 130W
• Overspeed Protection Removed No
• 45 nanometer process
• Nehalem core

Intel Core i7-920

• 2.66GHz Clock Speed
• 4.8GT/second QPI speed
• 8MB L3 cache
• DDR3-1066
• 3 channel support
• TDP 130W
• Overspeed Protection Removed No
• 45 nanometer process
• Nehalem core

Today Intel is launching three processors in a new family called Nehalem, the first of a new architecture that has more changes since the debut of the Pentium Pro. Intel has changed their branding calling the new CPUs Core i7 which is the successor to the Core 2 family. The new processor family is built on Intel's 45 nanometer process with over 731 million transistors, meaning that it has fewer transistors than Yorkfield.

The first CPU in the family is the Core i7-955 Extreme Edition. This processor has a clock speed of 3.2GHz, the highest of three announced today retailing for $999. The Core i7-940 has a reduced clock speed of 2.93GHz selling for $562, and the final new CPU is the Core i7-920 which has a clock speed of 2.66GHz retailing for $284. Note that the main differences between the three CPUs are: Overspeed Protection, the transfer rates of the Quick Path Interface and the clock speed, as otherwise the three CPUs are identical.

The Core i7 920 has a multiplier of 20 and a base frequency of 133.3MHz. This gives a total clock speed of 2666MHz. The Core i7 940 has a multiplier of 22 with the same base frequency meaning a clock speed of 2.93GHz. The last CPU on the launch is the Core i7 965 Extreme Editions. The multiplier on this CPU is unlocked but is set to 24, with a 133MHz frequency, meaning the 965 Extreme Editions has a clock speed of 3.2GHz, the fastest on the market.

Overspeed protection is the bus locks that are placed on non Extreme Edition CPUs that allow the user to overclock the CPU by both multiplier locks and base clock frequency. The 965 Extreme Editions can therefore use both the multiplier and frequency while the 940 and 920 CPUs can only use the frequency to overclock the CPU. This gives the 965 Extreme Edition more flexibility for overclockers, but also comes at a much higher price tag.

The Core i7 has support for DDR3 memory up to DDR3-1066. Intel has implemented the memory controller on the CPU with Nehalem, meaning that it is no longer on the SB. Intel's solution should produce higher memory bandwidths on the same memory speed or even faster. Triple channel memory bandwidth should provide the Core i7 CPUs with about 25.6GB/second of memory bandwidth. Intel has re-introduced Hyper Threading with the Nehalem family. Hyper Threading allows the processor to operate on two threads at the same time. Windows sees eight processor cores. The newest version of CPUZ has the correct information on the CPUs including the codename Bloomfield, the interface, the core voltage, and the cache information.

The new CPU is interesting in the way the cache structure is organized. Each core has 32KB of L1 Data cache, 32KB of L1 Instruction cache, 256KB of L2 cache and new to the Intel desktop CPUs, 8MB of shared L3 cache. Total L1 cache is 128KB Data, 128KB Instruction, 1MB L2 and 8MB L3. The previous generation Yorkfield had 32KB of L1 Data and Instruction cache, and 12MB of L2 cache. It should be interesting to see the performance metric of the cache.

The Core i7 CPUs have support for the Socket B interface which changes the interface between the CPU and motherboard from the Socket T interface that was introduced in 2004 with the Prescott CPUs. LGA stands for Land Grid Array. The LGA interface differs from AMD's Socket AM2 interface in that instead of holes to plug the CPU into, LGA has pins that touch the bottom of the CPU. Intel states that the TDP (Thermal Dissipated Power) maximum of the new CPUs is 135W making it much more power hungry than the Yorkfield CPUs that this new family replaces.

The Nehalem core has QuickPath Interconnect which replaces the FSB that has been in use for Intel CPUs for a long time. QPI is the competitor to AMD's HyperTransport and consists of two 20-bit point-to-point links one in each direction, with a separate clock in each direction for a total of 42 signals. Intel says that the QPI performance should be 6.4Gigatransfers per second on the 965 Extreme Edition and 4.8 Gigatransfers/second on the 940 or 920 CPUs. This results in a bandwidth to either 12 or 16GB/second depending on the processor model. Turbo Boost is a new feature that turns off processor cores if the application is not multi-threaded and adds speed to the cores that are active. In other words, if a game is single threaded processor cores 3 and 4 may be disabled and the clock speed of processor cores will be increased to provide higher performance of the two cores. It's a great feature designed to optimize the performance of the cores active during running an application.