The Core i7 effect

Intel’s brand new processors hit retail this month and their radical new design has enthusiasts salivating at the prospect of Core i7 and what it’ll be able to do. It marks a significant change in the way Intel has designed processors in the past and at its base level the Core i7 looks more akin to an Athlon 64 than a Core 2.

At launch we’ve got three new CPU’s to drool over. The Core i7-920 running at 2.66 Ghz, the Core i7-940 at 2.93 GHz and the cream of the crop, the Core i7-965 running at 3.2 GHz.
But what does this mean for PC Gamers? Are the changes that Intel are ringing mean any performance boost for games or are we only looking at multithreaded applications running away with Intel’s cream of the crop?

Core i7 turned up to 11

The truth is that Core i7 simply blows the competition away with all the force of a BFG 9000. Both AMD’s top chip, the Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition and Intel’s top Core 2 chip, the Core 2 Extreme QX9770, were left in the dust once the first benchmarks were revealed.
The reason for this mauling lies within the architecture of the Core i7 processor and from the outset it’s plain to see that Intel have changed many significant attributes of their latest creation. Firstly the four cores have been moved onto a single die – all previous iterations from Intel have been 2 dual core processors gaffa-taped together – making the Core i7 a native quad-core chip. Because of this change the External Memory controller, needed for communication between both sets of dual cores, has been binned.

While that aspect of the chip has been carted off to the recycle centre, another significant change is the inclusion of an integrated memory controller. This eliminates the need for the Front-Side-Bus which handles communications between the CPU and the Motherboard and the RAM. This means a big drop in latency than you’d find in Intel’s previous Pentium 4 and Core 2 CPUs. As the IMC resides directly on the core instead of being outside the CPU it means signals have to travel only millimetres rather than inches, and any data having to travel on the PCB is subject to speeds similar to the M25 on a Friday evening.

This may be new for Intel, but any AMD fans out there will know that an IMC isn’t exactly an innovation with the Athlon 64 being the first chip to incorporate the technology. The difference this time, according to Intel, is that they know how to do it better.

The Hyper-Thread Returns

Making a return from the Pentium 4 wasteland is our old friend – Hyper-Threading. This technique partitioned the CPU’s resources so multiple threads could be run at the same time, meaning that the P4 would appear to the computer as having 2 cores rather than just the 1. The problem was that very few applications supported this concept and although Hyper-Threading smoothed out multitasking it was never the success first envisioned.
Now before everyone runs away screaming at this inclusion to the Core i7, Intel believe that you can expect an increase of 10-30% with Hyper-Threading turned on. We’re sceptical about such high numbers and if you’re not a fan then the option is there to turn it off in the BIOS.
That’s enough tech-nerd for the moment so instead let’s look at the really important stuff – what difference does this make to applications and games?

Breaking Benchmarks

Compared to AMD’s Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition, the Core i7 smokes it by over hundred percent in some benchmarks and it’s clear that AMD’s current set of CPUs are nowhere near comparable to Intel’s new baby. Next year will see a 45nm CPU from AMD and we can only hope it gets closer to the beast that is Core i7, otherwise Intel will have the runaway success it’s been dining out on for another few years.
A more suitable match is Intel’s own Core 2 Extreme QX9770 running at 3.2 Ghz, but even this high-end chip still failed to dent the Core i7’s trail of fire with the new CPU clocking 15-20% faster in most benchmarks.
So far these results are for the high-end Extreme Core i7 chip which will retail for a gut-bursting £900 (approx). Obviously this isn’t going to be economical viable for anyone but the filthy rich – however the lower-end chip, the Core i7-920, will retail for around £250 and will gleefully overclock to 4Ghz with a little know-how.
Even at its stock speeds the Core i7-920 still out-performs any previous chip on the market although its lower clock speed of 2.66 GHz will see the high end Core 2 Extreme CPUs get pretty close to it.

The Bad News

So that new LGA 775 Motherboard you bought is eagerly awaiting the arrival of your Core i7-985 then? Well you’re going to have to think again. As the new CPU has moved the memory controller inside the core a whole host of new pins have been shoved on the die, which means… A new socket size and consequently a new Motherboard.
Not only that, but due to the larger size of the CPU it’s likely that the cool, neon-lit, super-cooler you’ve got on your Core 2 is worthless too, unless 3rd party manufacturers start coming out with new upgraded mounts. Another required purchase might well be new RAM. If you’re at the cutting edge already then it’s likely that you’ll have DDR3 but for everyone else it means upgrading that too. That shopping basket is looking pretty expensive now, eh?

Worth Upgrading?

Buying new technology always comes at a stiff and painful price and these three new CPUs are no exception with the Extreme Edition coming in at £900. For that price alone you could build a powerful Core 2 Duo system and have money left over for pizza and beer.
But now that Intel has released the Core i7 it’s unlikely that any additions will be made the Core 2 range, so if you’re concerned about future upgrades or staying on the cutting edge then Core i7 is the way to go.
Over the next 6 months the Core 2 platform should see big reductions in price and will be a rich hunting ground for anyone building a budget system that will still be capable of playing most, if not all games, at high detail levels.
Our advice? We would suggest locking your credit card in your wallet for the moment, despite the temptation that all PC gamers face with such technological advances. Core i7 CPUs will continue to be unveiled next year and the first 45nm CPUs from AMD will be making an appearance soon. With the potential for price cuts in the future and a graphics card war being fought between ATI and Nvidia at the moment, there’s never been a better time to grab a bargain and wait before switching to Core i7.