Intel's Core i7 870 & i5 750, Lynnfield: Harder, Better, Faster Stronger
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 8, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Intel is on the verge of transitioning to 32nm. We'll see the first parts this year. What do you do with your 45nm fabs when you start moving volume away from them? Make really cheap quad-core Nehalems of course:
I'm talking $196. I'm talking faster than AMD's entire lineup. I'm talking about arguably the best processor of 2009. I'm talking about Lynnfield, and here's its backside:
Mmm
I spent much of the past year harping on AMD selling Nehalem-sized Phenom IIs for less than Intel sold Nehalems. With Lynnfield, Intel actually made Nehalem even bigger all while driving prices down. Like I said, what do you do when you're still making boatloads of money in a recession and are about to start emptying your 45nm fabs?
I should clear things up before we progress much further. Lynnfield is the codename for mainstream 45nm quad-core Nehalem, while Bloomfield refers to the first Nehalem launched at the end of 2008:
| Processor | Manufacturing Process | Die Size | Transistor Count | Socket |
| Bloomfield | 45nm | 263 mm2 | 731M | LGA-1366 |
| Lynnfield | 45nm | 296 mm2 | 774M | LGA-1156 |
Despite being cheaper, Lynnfield is larger than Bloomfield. The larger die is due to one major addition: an on-die PCIe controller.
Bloomfield, The First Nehalem, circa 2008
Lynnfield, Nehalem for All, circa 2009
The pink block to the right of the die is the PCIe controller, that's 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes coming right off the chip. Say hello to ultra low latency GPU communication. You'd think that Intel was about to enter the graphics market or something with a design like this.
Sacrifices were made to reduce CPU, socket and board complexity. Gone are the two QPI links that each provided 25.6GB/s of bandwidth to other CPUs or chips on the motherboard. We also lose one of the three 64-bit DDR3 memory channels, Lynnfield only has two like a normal processor (silly overachieving Bloomfield).
Intel's Bloomfield Platform (X58 + LGA-1366)
The sum is that Lynnfield is exclusively single-socket; there will be no LGA-1156 Skulltrail. While the dual-channel memory controller isn't really a limitation for quad-core parts, six and eight core designs may be better suited for LGA-1366.
Intel's Lynnfield Platform (P55 + LGA-1156)
The loss of QPI means that Lynnfield doesn't have a super fast connection to the rest of the system, but with an on-die PCIe controller it doesn't matter: the GPU is fed right off the CPU.
The Lineup
We get three Lynnfield CPUs today: the Core i7 870, Core i7 860 and the Core i5 750. Intel's branding folks told us that the naming would make sense one we saw the rest of the "Core" parts introduced; yeah that was pretty much a lie. At least there aren't any overlapping part numbers (e.g. Core i5 860 and Core i7 860).
The i7 in this case denotes four cores + Hyper Threading, the i5 means four cores but no Hyper Threading. The rules get more complicated as you bring notebooks into the fray but let's momentarily bask in marginal simplicity.
| Processor | Clock Speed | Cores / Threads | Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency | TDP | Price |
| Intel Core i7-975 Extreme | 3.33GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.60GHz | 130W | $999 |
| Intel Core i7 965 Extreme | 3.20GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.46GHz | 130W | $999 |
| Intel Core i7 940 | 2.93GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.20GHz | 130W | $562 |
| Intel Core i7 920 | 2.66GHz | 4 / 8 | 2.93GHz | 130W | $284 |
| Intel Core i7 870 | 2.93GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.60GHz | 95W | $562 |
| Intel Core i7 860 | 2.80GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.46GHz | 95W | $284 |
| Intel Core i5 750 | 2.66GHz | 4 / 4 | 3.20GHz | 95W | $196 |
Keeping Hyper Threading off of the Core i5 is purely done to limit performance. There aren't any yield reasons why HT couldn't be enabled.
Intel was very careful with both pricing and performance of its Lynnfield processors. I'm going to go ahead and say it right now, there's no need for any LGA-1366 processors slower than a Core i7 965:
This is only one benchmark, but it's representative of what you're about to see. The Core i7 870 (LGA-1156) is as fast, if not faster, than every single LGA-1366 processor except for the ones that cost $999. Its pricing is competitive as well:
For $196 you're getting a processor that's faster than the Core i7 920. I'm not taking into account motherboard prices either, which are anywhere from $50 - $100 cheaper for LGA-1156 boards. I don't believe LGA-1366 is dead, but there's absolutely no reason to buy anything slower than a 965 if you're going that route.
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tajmahal - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
You fail to mention that Microcenter prices are for IN STORE PURCHASE ONLY. If you live about 6 driving hours away from a Microcenter like i do, then you're screwed.Chlorus - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
Shhh! Don't spoil his self-righteous post with your troublesome facts!strikeback03 - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
Does Microcenter have a limit on how many processors people can buy? If not, why isn't anyone buying these things and reselling them for less than the ~$280 that Newegg (and every other online retailer) do?Solema - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
Anand,I know those prices you quoted are per-unit prices from Intel, but they are much more expensive than actual CPU costs. Given that I can get the following from Micro Center, and that I plan to overclock and run two 8800GTS 512's in SLI, what would you recommend?
i5 750 - $179
i7 920 - $199
i7 860 - $229
It still seems to me that the additional overclocking flexibility of the 920 (especially on stock voltage), coupled with the better multi-GPU performance would make that the best CPU to purchase, no? Given that P55 motherboards currently only retail for about $50 cheaper than many x58 boards, wouldn't the extra $70 cost for x58+i7 920 over a P55+i5 750 be worth it? You get better multi-GPU performance, better overclocking, better RAM performance, and future upgradeability to 6-core CPU's. What am I missing that would tip the scales in favor of the i5?
Pneumothorax - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
the 920 for sure as you get a HT CPU for even cheaper than the 860. Both should overclock the same.dman - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
So, do they support Hardware Virtualization? And don't give slack about not targeted at that market, specifically, does this support Windows 7 virtualization mode?I searched and didn't see it covered. I've read that the i5 and lower do not support vt-d, but, I'm not sure how that translates to Windows 7 "XP mode" support... I do need to review a bit more, would be nice if this was covered in the review.
I do know that this IS something that the Phenom family does support.
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/07/intel-core-...">http://www.virtualization.info/2009/07/...core-i3-...
ash9 - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
No Virtalization!! That maybe huge for corporate setups,how did I miss that.
It should have been reported
has407 - Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - link
VT-x != VT-d. You want, and may need, VT-x. Most people don't need VT-d, much less know what to do with it or have a system that can make use of it--if you do, you're very unlikely to be using one of these CPUs.VT-x is Intel's name for processor virtualization features; it is part of the processor. All Core iX CPUs support it. VT-x is required for some hypervisors, (e.g., MSFT HYperV), but not all, although most (all?) require it for running 64-bit guests.
VT-d is Intels name for for IO virtualization (specifically "directed IO"); it is, or has been, part of the northbridge. For VT-d to be useful, you need a chipset that supports it; a MB/BIOS that supports it; and a hypervisor that knows how to use it. VT-d is primarily of interest to VM's that want to dedicate direct access to hardware by guests, and avoid the overhead of the hypervisor for that IO.
When you see "CPU X supports vT-d", it means the chipset for CPU X supports VT-d (the P55 supports VT-d). Whether MB/BIOS vendors choose to support it is another matter. Moreover, support for VT-d isn't simply yes or no; support varies by chipset (e.g., the P55, like the rest, support virtualizating a subset of interfaces).
In short:
1. Based on Core iX chipset capabilities (e.g., P55, X58), VT-d support is an MB vendor decision--not a function of the CPU model.
2. Which vendors support VT-d, and to what extent, is more often than not clear as mud, and the topic of much discussion in some threads.
3. If VT-d is important to you, you're probably running a heavy virtualized workload on an MP system with 10Gbe or very fast DAS--certainly not a Core iX. (Only exception of interest to others might be for access to GPU's by VMs)
What the new processors throw into the mix is an integrated PCIe controller, which also means an integrated DMA controller (at least I hope it does). Whether that supports VT-d is unknown (I haven't been able to find a definitive answer).
Gary Key - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
VT-d is enabled on the i7/870-860. It is not enabled on the i5/750, just VT-x is available on it. I am working on Windows 7 XP mode as we speak.Jakall78 - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
Reading this site for years, but there is something wrong going on here. Besides some slideshow pictures from Intel and 2-3 tests... there is nothing. That is not the way reviews are done. Look at the SSD reviews, THAT is a review(both of them actually). Now please look at this reviewhttp://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&...">http://translate.google.com/translate?p...mp;sl=ro...
and say it`s not better...
* I`m not making any false advertising here, I just found a better review.