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
Comments Locked

95 Comments

View All Comments

  • ssj4Gogeta - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    There's always the dual-core Nehalem Clarkdale for the mainstream market. And I think they'll launch lower clock Lynnfields too, like Anand said.

    I think Intel did a good job by separating its high-end processors from the mainstream ones and launching them as a different series. So now instead of having one $1200 extreme part, we have 3 high-end parts, with the lowest priced one a very affordable option for geeks who are on a budget.
  • ssj4Gogeta - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Congratulations Intel, you've created a beast.

    What is AMD going to do now? I don't think they have any new cores ready for launch this year. If Lynnfield offers the same performance as i7 920 for Phenom II prices, AMD will either have to bump up their clock speeds ridiculously, or lower their prices yet again. Things aren't looking good for AMD. Lynnfield turns out to be better than I expected.


    And I HATE Intel and their tick-tock. Actually I can't decided whether to hate or like it. It's good that they're advancing our planet's technology at a really fast pace so we'll be prepared when aliens attack. But which damn processor do I buy??? They launch a new series every year, and a new stepping every few months. Which one to buy? WHEN to buy??? My parents won't buy me processors every 6 months!
  • MadMan007 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    You could always do what people did back in the day - upgrade when your current hardware no longer does what you need it to do. I know, crazy right!?
  • Griswold - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Its only a crazy concept if daddy is paying for those upgrades all the time - you and the rest of us know its the right thing to do. :]
  • Jaramin - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Looking at AMD's roadmap, I fear this is going to hurt a lot :( If the pricing is good, it could confine AMD into the lower mainstream segment.
  • Hyperion1400 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    That remains to be seen. Don't Istanbul heading for market at around the same time as Core-i5. There has been little information leaked about Istanbul and no performance numbers have come to light. So, as of now, it is impossible to predict how competitive AMD's offerings will be. Not to mention we have Magny Cours to look forward too in 1H 2010.
  • ssj4Gogeta - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    But Istanbul is just a 6-core Opteron. In other words, a server chip.
  • Hyperion1400 - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - link

    As was Barcelona and Shanghai. But, that didn't seem to stop them from releasing them on the main stream market.
  • Spoelie - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - link

    but costs would be too prohibitive
    PhII is already similar in die size as bloomfield, and is forced to be priced lower for competitive reasons.
    You think AMD won't be hurting if it sells an even larger die to compete with a smaller-than-bloomfield die, in a market where having more than 6 cores is questionable value at best?

    No, only thing amd can do is crank up clock speeds, try to get 3.4 and 3.6ghz models out the door
  • Spoelie - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - link

    Oh and up the uncore clock on them as well, preferably 2.4ghz, but might make them look worse in power consumption comparisons

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now