What Is the Core i7?

Intel's new processors bring revolutionary changes to CPU architecture.

Intel’s Core i7 processors are based on the Penryn manufacturing process the company introduced last year, but otherwise there are few similarities with the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Core 2 Extreme lines.

To begin with, Core i7 processors won’t fit in familiar LGA775 motherboard chip sockets—the kind that have been the Intel norm for years now. Core i7 chips require the new, larger LGA1366 socket, which means, yes, you’ll need another motherboard. (At the time the Core i7 CPU debuted, only Intel’s own X58 chipset supported the chips.) Plus, Core i7 doesn’t support DDR2 memory—it’s DDR3 or nothing. And the memory’s voltage should top out at 1.65 volts; anything higher may damage the processor.

While these may seem like inconveniences, they don’t come without benefits. Intel crams some 731 million transistors into each of these chips, but that’s only the first of the key new features Core i7 processors introduce:

• Whereas the memory controller, the element that governs memory I/O, used to be on a separate chip, it’s now located directly on the processor itself, thus improving communications between those two key components.
• That memory controller no longer supports two channels of memory—it supports three. So instead of using two DIMMs to get a dual-channel performance boost, you’ll now need three to derive the benefits of triple-channel memory technology.
• The memory controller, all four processing cores, and all caches (including an 8MB shared L3 cache) are located on one die.
• Not up to overclocking a processor on your own? Let the chip do it for you! If you don’t need to use all of the processing cores at any given time, the ones you don’t need will turn off, reducing heat outlay, and automatically bump up the remaining cores’ potential.

Also new to Core i7 is the elimination of the front-side bus (FSB). Core i7 processors employ a new technology, the Intel QuickPath Interconnect, for increased bandwidth and reduced latency. Hyper-Threading has also been reintroduced into the line, so each core can process two threads simultaneously—making eight-core processing a reality. And in case that’s not enough multiprocessing for you, the technology can support as many as eight physical cores, meaning that 16-core processing might not be that far away.

Read our Core i7 reviews...