Latest Softwares,Software Download,Rapidshare

Intel Core i7 is a family of three Intel desktop x86-64 processors, the first processors released using the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture and the successor to the Intel Core 2 family. All three models are quad-core processors. The Core i7 identifier applies to the initial family of processors codenamed Bloomfield. Intel representatives state that the moniker Core i7 does not have any deeper meaning. The name continues the use of the successful Core brand. Core i7, first assembled in Costa Rica, was officially launched on November 17, 2008 and is manufactured in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon, though the Oregon plant is moving to the next generation 32 nm process.

Features

The Nehalem architecture has many new features, some of which are present in the Core i7. The ones that represent significant changes from the Core 2 include:

* The new LGA 1366 socket is incompatible with earlier processors.
* On-die memory controller: the memory is directly connected to the processor.
o Three channel memory: each channel can support one or two DDR3 DIMMs. Motherboards for Core i7 have four (3+1) or six DIMM slots instead of two or four, and DIMMs should be installed in sets of three, not two.
o Support for DDR3 only.
o No ECC support.
* The front side bus is replaced by QuickPath interface. Motherboards must use a chipset that supports QuickPath.
* The following caches:
o 32 KB L1 instruction and 32 KB L1 data cache per core
o 256 KB L2 cache (combined instruction and data) per core
o 8 MB L3 (combined instruction and data) "inclusive", shared by all cores
* Single-die device: all four cores, the memory controller, and all cache are on a single die.
* "Turbo Boost" technology allows all active cores to intelligently clock themselves up in steps of 133 MHz over the design clock rate as long as the CPU's predetermined thermal and electrical requirements are still met.
* Re-implemented Hyper-threading. Each of the four cores can process up to two threads simultaneously, so the processor appears to the OS as eight CPUs. This feature was present in the older NetBurst architecture but was dropped in Core.
* Only one QuickPath interface: not intended for multi-processor motherboards.
* 45nm process technology.
* 781M transistors for the quad core version.
* Sophisticated power management can place an unused core in a zero-power mode.
* Support for SSE4.2 & SSE4.1 instruction sets.

Processor cores

* The clock rates listed here are as specified by Intel for normal mode. "Turbo boost" can increase the rate on active cores in steps of 133 MHz (Or in steps of the FSB used if overclocked) up to a predetermined limit for short periods when required, which can be useful with single threaded applications.
* The 965 XE has separate unlocked multipliers for memory and cores.
o Core clock above those in the table are not guaranteed by Intel. Rates above 5GHz have been reported.
o Memory rates above those in the table are not guaranteed by Intel. Rates above DDR3-2000 have been reported.
* The processor has a Thermal Design Power of 130W and will slow itself down if this power is exceeded. This feature can be disabled from an option in most of the new motherboards' BIOS.
* Prices are per unit in lots of 1,000 in USD.

Performance

* The Inquirer managed to get a 965 engineering sample to a core clock speed of up 4GHz with fan cooling and Turbo Boost alone.
* IT OC Taiwan overclocked an engineering sample of the 965, to 4.20 GHz with a QPI speed of 200 MHz and a multiplier value of 21.0x. A vCore setting of 1.72V was used, which is far higher than the stock of 1.25V.
* A Core i7 940 system running at stock speeds has obtained a 3DMark Vantage benchmark CPU score of 17,966. A Core i7 920 system scored 16,294 running at stock speeds. An Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, a very expensive member of the previous generation of Intel processors (costing over four times the price of the 920 at its launch), scored 13,182 also running at stock speeds.

* AnandTech tested the Intel QuickPath Interconnect (4.8 GT/s version) and found the copy bandwidth using triple-channel 1066 MHz DDR3 was 12.0 GB/s. A 3.0 GHz Core 2 Quad system using dual-channel 1066 MHz DDR3 achieved 6.9 GB/s.

Overclocking

The process of overclocking the Core i7 architecture is similar to that of the AMD architecture due to the on-die MCH. Over-clocking will be possible with the 900 series and a motherboard equipped with the X58 chipset. In early October 2008, reports surfaced that it will not be possible to use "performance" DDR3 DIMMs that require voltages higher than 1.65v, because the integrated memory controller within the Core i7 will be damaged. Some tests, however, have demonstrated that the voltage limit does not apply, like on a MSI board, and manufacturers can choose to bond CPU voltage to memory or not. By the end of the month, performance memory vendors had announced 1.65v DDR3 memory kits with clock rates up to 2GHz.

The Core i7 has three memory channels, and the channel bandwidth can be selected by setting the memory multiplier. However, in early benchmarks, when the clock rate is set higher than a threshold (1333 for the 965XE) the processor will only access two memory channels simultaneously. A 965XE has higher memory throughput with 3xDDR3-1333 than with 3xDDR3-1600, and 2xDDR3-1600 has almost identical throughput to 3xDDR3-1600.

Drawbacks

The Core i7 does not support error-correcting memory. Some high-end motherboards that support the Core i7 advertise support for ECC memory, for example Supermicro's C7X58 and X8SAX (for example, see , Supermicro's X8SAX page), however, in the same motherboard manuals, it is made clear that ECC is only supported if the CPU has the feature enabled.

Some early articles suggested that i7's design is not ideal for gaming performance. In a test done on leaked hardware, a Core i7 940 compared to a QX9770 shows the Core i7 is slower than Yorkfield clock for clock in 2 while being faster in the other two. The difference in all cases is small, and is due to the significantly smaller sized L2 cache on the processor cores, with each core able to access its own 256 kB of L2 cache. In contrast, the most recent Yorkfields have up to 12 MB of L2 cache. To help compensate, the Core i7 also has a new L3 cache of 8 MB, shared among all four cores, similar to AMD's "Barcelona" processors. This is due to the trend of games making use of more threads, and with HT (Hyperthreading) the Core i7 can scale more than 4x faster, such as in cinebench tests. However, more recent testing done on all clock rates of official hardware with final drivers and BIOS revisions show that Core i7 at the very least beats Yorkfield clock-for-clock, and in most cases exceeds it by an average of about 17%. But when it comes to high-end multi-GPU environments (Nvidia 3-way SLI and ATI Crossfire X), the i7 is revealed to be much faster than Yorkfield (QX9770) in clock-for-clock.