Star Intel's Core i7: In-Depth Reviews
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 13th Nov 2008 13:32 UTC
Intel Not too long ago, Intel unleashed Nehalem, or Core i7, upon the world. The new Core i7 chips are not just new processors; they also introduce an entirely new platform, and this combination produces some impressive performance figures, according to Ars Technica. "The new performance gap between Nehalem and pretty much everything else of comparable cost is the result of upgrades to both the CPUs core architecture and the platform on which the multicore chip now runs." Respected in-depth review sites AnandTech and Tom's Hardware agree with Ars' findings.
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MamiyaOtaru
Member since:
2005-11-11

"Apparently, Intel is not so happy that buyers are purchasing inexpensive yet highly overclockable CPUs instead of the higher priced and faster models. To put a stop to the practice, Intel has ensured that only the $1,000 high-end model will operate beyond the TDP barrier of 130 W (110 A). The less expensive Core i7 versions - the 920 and 940 - will begin throttling back their clock speeds once they reach this threshold."

I'm afraid that's going to strike Intel out in the eyes of many

Anandtech follows up:
The concern was that because of these TDP and current draw limitations, you would not be able to take lower end Core i7 processors and overclock them. The $999 Core i7-965 Extreme Edition doesn't have this problem as you can manually configure both the max TDP and current draw values, just like you can adjust its clock multiplier.

It turns out that the concerns are unfounded - all X58 motherboards should ship with a BIOS setting that tells the CPU to ignore its TDP/current limits.

- http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3453&p=2

Of course, it's possible that cheaper mobos won't have that setting, but all the Nehalem mobos so far seem to.

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