Intel launches ‘fastest processor on the planet’
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 18, 2008 at 11:13am
Intel has introduced what it says is its most advanced desktop processor ever, the Intel Core i7 processor. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput, the company says.
The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption, according to Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group. The processor holds a new world record of 117 for the SPECint_base_rate2006 benchmark test that measures the performance of a processor. This is the first time ever for any single processor to exceed a score of 100 points, Gelsinger says.
The Core i7 sports Intel’sTurbo Boost Technology. Through an on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.
The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers eight-threaded performance.
The Intel Core i7 processor also offers performance for immersive 3-D games that’s over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU physics and AI tests, industry computer benchmarks that measure gaming performance. The Extreme Edition uses eight threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to make games act and feel real.
The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
