The Future and Core i5?

[jamiesalter]

Looking for a bit of help here

I'm just about starting to think about my next big upgrade and am slightly, or actually very, confused. As I understand it, Core i7 is currently top of everyone's dream list and the Core i5 chips to be released are filling the mid range gap below it. So this being the case, when i5 is released will all the chips be slower than the i7's? And the new motherboards being released (the P55's I think), are these also less advanced, but cheaper, than the X58's currently out?

Ignoring my above lack of knowledge, I guess the question I really want answered is in the future (I mean in, say, less than a year) will Intel have released a next generation of Core i7's or will the Core i5's become 'better' than the current i7's? Within my head, i'm planning to wait for i7 to pass, then buy the 'next' best thing - hoping that by this stage DD3 memory will be as cheap as chips (sorry for the pun) and AMD will be more competitive, resulting in cheaper Intel hardware. Is this wise? And has Intel released their roadmap of the future - does it look promising?

Sorry for the complete lack of structure of this message!

Cheers.

[AdvWar]

1. All i5s will not be slower than all the i7s, but they will in general be lower end chips than the i7s.
2. P55 boards will be cheaper than x58, potentially much cheaper.
3. As far as I can tell, Intel plan to develop both i7 and i5 in the future, just moving i7 into higher ground than it currently operates on, with i5 filling in the upper-midrange.
4. For now, the Lynnfield (i5) chips and P55 boards will use DDR3 memory, but in a dual channel configuration, which may be cheaper/ more expensive, depending on how you look at it.

[Infinite]

Intel's next "big" thing on their roadmap is just a revision of their current i7 range, with a die shrink and more cores (hex-core and/or octo-core). First batch should be out late Q4/ early Q1 2010 with the rest of the range coming slightly later on. Intel actually has no motivation to actually rush anything brand spanking new out, AMD have only really just caught up to Core2 (duo and quad) so in terms of performance, like 2 years behind Intel.

[FRISH]

i7 will be more for the higher end market while i5 will be more in the budget

anyway the 920 and 940s are meant to be discontinued so if ur wanting a 920 u might not have much too time left to get

[scaryjim]

I'd add that while i5 is *theoretically* more of a budget range than i7, it's still not going to be *cheap* - it's generally bandied about as a £150ish cpu. Whether something even cheaper (dual-core i5?) comes in below I don't know, but it looks kinda like Intel is abandoning the entry-level to AMD at the minute...

Clock for clock i5 should have slightly less performance than i7, but I suspect that high-end core i5 chips may well outperform low-end i7.

As you say, AMD are (hopefully) going to be more competitive in the future - so why not wait until all this shakes out and then decide whether you want i5, i7, or whatever AMD put out next. After all, there's no guarantee (with the Phenom II architecture getting closer to i7 performance) that i5 will outperform Phenom II at then same price point - AMDs processors provide excellent performance at their price points (The top end 955 BE is currently £185 on Scan) and as they have a top-to-bottom range on the same socket they also provide a better upgrade path than choosing between i5 and i7...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'd add that while i5 is *theoretically* more of a budget range than i7, it's still not going to be *cheap* - it's generally bandied about as a £150ish cpu. Whether something even cheaper (dual-core i5?) comes in below I don't know, but it looks kinda like Intel is abandoning the entry-level to AMD at the minute...

Clock for clock i5 should have slightly less performance than i7, but I suspect that high-end core i5 chips may well outperform low-end i7.

As you say, AMD are (hopefully) going to be more competitive in the future - so why not wait until all this shakes out and then decide whether you want i5, i7, or whatever AMD put out next. After all, there's no guarantee (with the Phenom II architecture getting closer to i7 performance) that i5 will outperform Phenom II at then same price point - AMDs processors provide excellent performance at their price points (The top end 955 BE is currently £185 on Scan) and as they have a top-to-bottom range on the same socket they also provide a better upgrade path than choosing between i5 and i7...

Yep!! I agree with what is said here and I would wait until the Core i5 is out before making any decisions. Nobody expected the Phenom II to be so competitive in the first place TBH so it is best to wait and see.

[cobhc]

I've not looked into the i5's much, and sorry to hijack the thread here, but are they still quad core/eight thread chips, or not?

[Phage]

There's a very good article on this at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=3570

Right now I'm looking at either a top end i5 vs overclocked i7 920, as the sweet spot. It will all depend on your use of the machine.

[kalniel]

I've not looked into the i5's much, and sorry to hijack the thread here, but are they still quad core/eight thread chips, or not?

The lower end models are 4 cores/ 4 threads. The higher end are 4 cores/ 8 threads.

[cobhc]

I'm assuming higher end is going to be higher in price than the 920? As per the usual situations where you miss out if you don't have the money at that time.

[kalniel]

I'm assuming higher end is going to be higher in price than the 920? As per the usual situations where you miss out if you don't have the money at that time.

Chip to chip, yes, probably. But system to system and the core i5 will be cheaper.

[Phage]

Looking at the table in the middle of this page

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3570&p=3

I would agree with you. Top end would be more expensive than the 920. However, if you're on the cheap or in the mid-market, it's significantly cheaper and has a very good bang/buck ratio.

[jamiesalter]

Thanks for the wealth of information given.

The below table taken from AnandTech is very interesting:

Name 		Manufacturing Process 	Cores 	Target Market 		Release
Gulftown 		32nm 		6 	High End Desktop 	1H 2010
Core i7 (Bloomfield) 	45nm 		4 	High End Desktop 	Q4 2008
Lynnfield 		45nm 		4 	Performance Desktop 	Q3 2009
Clarksfield 		45nm 		4 	High End Mobile 	Q3 2009
Clarkdale 		32nm 		2 	Mainstream Desktop 	Q4 2009
Arrandale 		32nm 		2 	Mobile 			Q4 2009

So it seems that if I were to wait for some high performance 32nm processors I'd be waiting till 2010 - for some reason though they were bringing out 32nm quadcores later this year . So providing AMD don't suddenly blast Intel out the water, high end Core i5 or low end new Core i7's will be a decent upgrade plan and good value. Are the X58 and P55 motherboards compatible will both i7 and i5?

[kalniel]

Are the X58 and P55 motherboards compatible will both i7 and i5?

No, you need X58 for i7, and *55/57 for i5. The two chips have completely different methods of talking with the rest of the motherboard and graphics cards.

[Infinite]

6-core Gulftown gonna be awesome Q.Q

[ezekiel 08]

Well I'm buying the i7 soon as it will still be around in the future and there is no better time to hop on the "920 train" than now.

The i5 is a cut down version of the i7. What are Intel thinking?