[wanoennogs]

After reading various posts and websites I am a bit confused. 1) Is the i5 a crap version of the i7? 2) Is Intel going to phase out the i7 once the i5 is released? 3) Is the i7 better at overclocking than the i5? I have seen posts where people have been able to overclock the i7 extreme to between 4.5 and 5.5 Ghz with water cooling. From what I have read the i5 will be coming out in 2.66GHz, 2.80GHz, and 2.93GHz versions and Intel say you should be able to overclock the 2.93 version to 3.4 which isn’t much really. 4) Can you get Sata 3 motherboards for the i7? 5) Should I get an i7 extreme before they get phased out? Here are some of the comments I have seen “A Core7 IS the Ferrari of CPUs, A Core5 is a BMW” “Dam, I was going to get a i7 920 in like 2 weeks, does this mean Ihave to wait until September to get a worse CPU for more money?Or should I just buy a 920, and hope it doesn't break?”

I bet that the i5 will not overclock as well as the i7, due to its rumored higher BCLK of 250 MHz, hope I'm wrong”

“The added knowledge that the cheap i5 boards get Sata3. I guess early adapters must feel very angry now with their expensive i7 motherboards. And why do we need another socket for the i5”

“Spec wise the i5 look virtually identical to i7. They have a tad lower QPI I believe though, and perhaps less instruction sets? Is the motherboard going to be the main distinguishing factor b/t the two?”

“I'm guessing they are going to put clock controls on these chips to limit how high they can go? Also they seem to be more or less the same price as the i'7's! same price for a lesser chip?”

“You'll find it MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to clock-double an integrated northbridge and CPU. Either the Northbridge won’t handle it, or it will send your PCI/PCIe slots out of whack.”

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...PU-specs/News/

[Carbon]

1. this is kind of a meaningless question, what does it even mean? if you think 300-500mhz lower is "crap" i don't know what to tell you
2. No, as according to the chart the "i7" brand is going to remain as what appears to be a slightly higher clocked i5. either way, lynnfield will have "i7"
3. the i5 isn't out yet, so that's not known. intel is not going to tell anyone what it can be overclocked to.
4. SATA 3 is going to be useless for anything other than SSDs, so it probably shouldn't be a concern. p55 will almost certainly have sata 3 though.
5. No, because there's no reason to buy an i7, a LGA-1366 processor, or an i7 extreme at this point despite arbitrary XXXXTREME GAMERZ who don't know what they're talking about making comparisons to cars. it's like someone trying to sell you a ham sandwich instead of a turkey one by comparing the ham one to a Maserati and the turkey to a Toyota - there's no actual basis for comparison other than the fact that they said there was one

all the commenters have no idea what they're talking about, to be quite honest. here are the facts:

1. lga-1366 is a workstation socket that is going to die an early death. it is a dead socket. if you enjoy paying $500 for CPU upgrades in a year, go ahead and buy a X58 motherboard, but the reasonable choice will likely be anything on LGA-1156.
2. there is nothing special about 'i7'. it is a name and nothing more.
3. since i5 has not been released, no comparisons can be made

of course, take all those charts with a grain of salt anyway as I haven't seen them mirrored anywhere reliable like anandtech. my advice is to just chill out until lynnfield is out and check out the price/performance then.

[cheesepuff]

wait, there is going to be an SATA 3!? 0_0