INTEL CORE i7

Pramiti Sharma

What is Intel Core i7?

Intel Core i7 is Intel s brand name for several families of desktop and laptop 64-bit x 86-64 processors using the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture. It is a successor to the Intel core 2 brand

The Past
The initial Core i7 processors released were codenamed Bloomfield. Lynnfield is the second processor sold under the core i7 brand. Clarksfield is the mobile version of Lynnfield and available under the Core i7 mobile brand. Sandy Bridge is the second generation Intel Core i7 series processor. It was released on 9th January 2011.

About i7
The Core i7 integrates four cores into a single chip, brings the memory controller onboard, and introduces a low-latency point-to-point interconnect called QuickPath to replace the front-side bus. The memory subsystem and cache hierarchy have been redesigned, and simultaneous multithreading better known by its marketing name, Hyper-Threading makes its return, as well.

The Core i7 die and major components

 Nehalem's four cores are readily apparent across the center of the chip in the image above, as are the other components (Intel calls these, collectively, the "uncore") around the periphery. The uncore occupies a substantial portion of the die area, most of which goes to the large, shared L3 cache. With the memory controller onboard, the Core i7 communicates with the rest of the system via the QuickPath interconnect, or QPI. QuickPath is Intel's answer to HyperTransport, a high-speed, narrow, packet-based, point-to-point interconnect between the processor and the I/O chip (or other CPUs in multi-socket systems.)

A block diagram of the Core i7 system architecture

Features and benefits

Intel Turbo Boost Technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload-more performance when you need it the most. Intel HT Technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multi-tasking becomes even easier. Intel Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry leading multi-threaded games. Intel QuickPath Interconnect is designed for increased bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the Extreme Edition processor.

Features and benefits

Integrated memory controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller's lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications. Intel HD Boost significantly improves a broad range of multimedia and compute-intensive applications. The 128bit SSE instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new level of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications. AES-NI Encryption/Decryption Acceleration provides 6 new processor instructions that help to improve performance for AES encryption and decryption algorithms.

Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and K series

A comparision .

Core i3 series
Intel's Core i3 processor line has always been a budget option. These processors remain dual-core, unlike the rest of the Core line, which is made up of quad core processors. Intel's Core i3 processors also have many features restricted. The main feature that is kept from the Core i3 processors is Turbo Boost, the dynamic overclocking available on most Intel processors. One feature that Core i3 has -is hyper-threading. This is Intel's logic-core duplication technology which allows each physical core to be used as two logic cores. The result of this is that Windows will display a dual-core Core i3 processor as if it were a quad-core.

Core i5 Series
All Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors are quadcore processors, they all have Turbo Boost, and they all lack Hyper-Threading. Most of the Core i5 processors, besides the K series use the same 2000 series IGP with a maximum clock speed of 1100 MHz and six execution cores.

Core i7
These processors are virtually identical to the Core i5. They have a 100 MHz higher base clock speed than Core i5. The real feature difference is the addition of hyper-threading on the Core i7, which means that the processor will appear as an 8-core processor in Windows. This improves threaded performance and can result in a substantial boost if you're using a program that is able to take advantage of 8 threads. The IGP on Core i7 processors can also reach a higher maximum clock speed of 1350 MHz.

The K series processor

Intel has kept this line of products alive with the new Sandy Bridge architecture by introducing a K series Core i5 and i7 processor. As before, these processors have unlocked multipliers. However, they also have a new feature - better integrated graphics processors. This comes in the form of the 3000 series IGP, which has 12 execution cores instead of 6. The maximum clock speed remains limited by the processor brand - the Core i5 K is limited to 1100 MHz, while the Core i7 K can reach 1350 MHz. The additional execution cores can result in better performance in games

Core i5 vs. Core i7: the Difference

A Unified Socket and Chipset Perhaps the best news to come out of Intel's new line of i5 and i7 processors is introduction of a single socket for all Sandy Bridge Core i3/i5/i7 processors. Difference in Hyper-Threading All Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors have hyperthreading disabled, and all Sandy Bridge Core i7 processors have hyper-threading enabled.

Where is intel core i7 lagging behind?

For several years, Intel was unable to keep the energy requirements of its processors low. In order to remedy this situation, Intel recently introduced a new stepping of its Core 2 processors. According to the chipmaker, the new socalled L2 stepping is able to reduce the processors' power draw to a maximum of 12 watts when idle - only half of what the previous stepping used. So far the newer stepping is only found in the lower-clocked Core 2 models. It would seem that implementing the power-saving features in the bigger, faster models is proving more difficult. Thus more power saving and energy efficient i7 processors should be designed and manufactured.

So far the best .

The Core i7-965 Extreme is, by far, the fastest processor ever been tested, and it seems clear the Core i7 architecture brings with it a general performance increase over the 45nm Core 2 processors it succeeds. We've seen that increase in everyday desktop applications, including the WorldBench suite and several of the latest games. In part, the Core i7's performance gains come from higher clock frequencies due to the "Turbo mode" mechanism. Although its peak power draw is higher, the Core i7 can use less energy to complete a given task. And the new system architecture established by the Core i7 will likely be the basis for Intel systems for the next five years, at least. On all fronts, progress.

Thank you!