Intel Core i7 Extreme Processor
Core i7 Gets A Speed Bump
When the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture was announced in November 2008, Intel unleashed pure ownage into the processor market. The Intel Core i7 series consisted of just three processors, the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, i7-940, and i7-920. When these processors were paired with the brand new Intel X58 Express chipset you had a performance monster under your thumb as the advantages of the new microarchitecture and triple-channel memory requirement blew any and all competitors out of the water. It's hard to believe that more than half a year has passed, but it has, and it is time to give the Core i7 series a refresh!
Being replaced are the Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition that runs at 3.20 GHz and the Core i7-940 that runs at 2.93 GHz. Replacing them is the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition, which will operate at a frequency of 3.33 GHz and the Core i7-950 that runs at 3.06 GHz. The speed bump is a modest 133 MHz on each processor thanks to each part having its multiplier value increased by x1. Both the Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition and the i7-950 will be based on the much desired D0 stepping, which the Core i7 920 has also been transitioned to over the past several months. By the end of summer all of the C0/C1 stepping Core i7 series processors should be off store shelves and the new D0 steppings should be available across the board. The new Core i7 D0 steppings have some minor tweaks that were done to the memory controller on the chip allowing for higher DDR3 memory overclocking and improved thermals from what we have been told by Intel.
Core i7 Gets A Speed Bump
When the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture was announced in November 2008, Intel unleashed pure ownage into the processor market. The Intel Core i7 series consisted of just three processors, the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, i7-940, and i7-920. When these processors were paired with the brand new Intel X58 Express chipset you had a performance monster under your thumb as the advantages of the new microarchitecture and triple-channel memory requirement blew any and all competitors out of the water. It's hard to believe that more than half a year has passed, but it has, and it is time to give the Core i7 series a refresh!
Being replaced are the Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition that runs at 3.20 GHz and the Core i7-940 that runs at 2.93 GHz. Replacing them is the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition, which will operate at a frequency of 3.33 GHz and the Core i7-950 that runs at 3.06 GHz. The speed bump is a modest 133 MHz on each processor thanks to each part having its multiplier value increased by x1. Both the Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition and the i7-950 will be based on the much desired D0 stepping, which the Core i7 920 has also been transitioned to over the past several months. By the end of summer all of the C0/C1 stepping Core i7 series processors should be off store shelves and the new D0 steppings should be available across the board. The new Core i7 D0 steppings have some minor tweaks that were done to the memory controller on the chip allowing for higher DDR3 memory overclocking and improved thermals from what we have been told by Intel.
