Lynnfield Pricing and Specs

From Intel’s first disclosure of Nehalem we knew that the architecture, albeit optimized for quad-core processors, would scale up to 8 cores and down to 2:

Lynnfield, however, does not scale Nehalem’s core count in any direction. The eight-core derivative is Nehalem-EX and the two-core versions will appear later this year in 32nm mobile form. Lynnfield is a direct replacement for the quad-core Penryn CPUs that have dominated the market for the past year and a half.

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

 

A few places have published rumored Intel roadmaps for Lynnfield, indicating that three Lynnfield chips will be launched in the second half of this year:

Model Number Clock Speed Cores / Threads Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency TDP Price
? 2.93GHz 4 / 8 3.60GHz 95W $562
? 2.80GHz 4 / 8 3.46GHz 95W $284
? 2.66GHz 4 / 4 3.20GHz 95W $196

 

All of the processors are quad-core Nehalems with the same cache sizes as the Core i7. The only crippled beast is the entry level Lynnfield that has Hyper Threading disabled. Note the ridiculously high turbo frequencies which are, I believe, Lynnfield’s secret weapon.

Processor Price
Intel Core i7-940 (2.93GHz) $562
Intel Lynnfield 2.93GHz $562
Intel Core i7-920 (2.66GHz) $284
Intel Lynnfield 2.80GHz $284
Intel Lynnfield 2.66GHz $196
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.00GHz) $316
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz) $266
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 (2.66GHz) $213
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 (2.66GHz) $183
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33GHz) $163

 

With a 2.66GHz Lynnfield and a $100 P55 motherboard you now have the ability to deliver a good quad-core system at around $150 - $200 cheaper than the cheapest Core i7. Price-wise the 2.66GHz Lynnfield would be priced cheaper than today's Core 2 Quad Q9400, and as you'll see Lynnfield is clearly a faster bet.

The 2.80GHz Lynnfield should also be able to outperform the i7-920 without a problem, at a lower total system cost as well.

Making Nehalem Affordable: LGA-1156 Lynnfield’s Secret? Turbo Mode
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  • Depeche - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Man thats ancient ... ya I would defiantly wait for the Core i5s. To get a Core i7 just doesn't seem worth it now with the Core i5's coming out.
  • Samus - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    i7 still makes sense if you plan on

    a) SLI/CF

    b) dual-CPU

    c) memory bandwidth intensive tasks (seeding torrents, folding@home, etc) where triple channel makes some sense

    d) the need for 6 memory slots

    e) something currently purchasable

    I also suspect the release of "i5" chips will drive down prices of i7, specifically the i7-920, the most desirable i7. Keeping in mind the i7-920's overclocking ability, it is still much more capable than the "i5" even if you assume the "i5" overclocks as well, because the i7 has Jackson technology active across its entire lineup.
  • DJMiggy - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link

    I swear I read that the i7 doesn't support dual CPUs. Maybe that has changed with xeons though or I might just be insane. Probably the latter.
  • wifiwolf - Sunday, May 31, 2009 - link

    i7 system is too expensive, cpu is also expensive but system is too overpriced.
  • Jabbernyx - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    ^ This, although for me personally (b) isn't important and I've effectively nerfed (d) by using an EX58-UD3R :P

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