About the Company: Intel

Intel Corporation is the world's largest semiconductor company founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names.

Intel pushes the boundaries of innovation so our work can make people's lives more exciting, fulfilling, and manageable. And our work never stops. We never stop looking for the next leap ahead-in technology, education, culture, manufacturing, and social responsibility. And we never stop striving to deliver solutions with greater benefits for everyone. Intel is making PCs more accessible and affordable through innovative PC purchase programs. Through public and private collaboration, Intel has worked closely with government and industry leaders to develop more than 200 programs in 60 countries. With the onslaught of wireless broadband communication technologies like WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and 3G and wireline ADSL and cable, Intel in collaboration with local governments is connecting more people in more places than ever before-no matter how remote.

Intel is committed to improving education on a global scale. With an ongoing focus on students and teachers, we're making an impact with technology solutions that support the development of 21st Century skills, including digital literacy, problem solving, and critical thinking. As citizens use the Internet, the need to create localized content is the key. Intel-sponsored programs provide localized content and services to connect technologies to villages, suburbs, and cities around the world to deliver access to community information, education, and healthcare.

Intel Core i7-920

On November 3, Benchmark Reviews had the pleasure of publishing our first in a series of articles and reviews covering Intel's newest processor series, the Core i7. As we alluded to in that article the time frame from receiving our review kit to publishing the finished product was only a matter of days, so something had to give. We opted to stick with the basics and present a general overview of the entire product. As a result we had to omit many of the extras we would have normally included in a feature article of this type. Since the release of that article we have had a number of our readers request future articles in our series that deal more with with the specifics of each processor. The same group was somewhat adamant that we showcase both performance tuning and the overclocking capabilities of each product.

Today we are releasing the third review in our Core i7 series which focuses on the features and performance of the Intel Core i7-920. The Core i7-920 is considered to be the processor for the mainstream consumer primarily because of its price to performance ratio. The i7-920 doesn't have the unlocked multipliers that its more mature sibling does, but it is still a quite capable chip with its 2.66 GHz factory clock. We intend to share all of our findings and hope after reading this review you will have a much better understanding of the Core i7 family in general and the i7-920 in specific. We also plan to go into as complete of a discussion as possible on everything you can do to enhance capabilities this processor brings to the table. Unfortunately we don't have a QX9770, Intel's previous "King of the Hill", to compare the i7-920 to; but we should note that in all the test results we've seen the i7-920 outperforms the QX9770 in all processor dependant tasks. So the only true competition for the i7-920 are the other members of the Core i7 family which we will be testing for comparison purposes.

In our first article, Intel Core i7 CPU & DX58SO X58 Platform we covered most of the available information regarding both the Nehalem Technology and the architecture used with the Intel Core i7 Processor family. We will therefore not repeat that discussion, instead; our goal today is to spend most of our energy concentrating on those features and performance aspects of the Intel Core i7-920 (model BX80601920) that have led it and its other i7 kin to be dubbed "The Fastest Processor on the Planet" by Intel.

Intel Core i7-920 Final Thoughts

Benchmark Analysis
When looking at our benchmarking results there is no doubt that the entire Core i7 family of processors literally trounces the previous Core 2 generation of processors. Even though we didn't have Intel's fastest Core 2 Extreme processor, the QX9770 to compare these behemoths against we emulated a comparable processor by overclocking our X3350 45nm processor to 3.2 GHz. In every test excluding the gaming benchmarks we anywhere from a 40% to greater than 50% improvement from the Core i7 family of processors. In our gaming benchmarks we intentionally used two games that are not overly CPU dependant just to see what the added performance would bring to the table. All of our test were within a few FPS of each other. To be fair had we used a Game such as Far Cry 2 which actually utilizes the quad core capabilities of all our processors tested, we would have probably gotten a better idea of what the gaming arena can expect from this literally smoking family of products.
Remembering that this is a review specific to the Intel Core i7-920 we next need to look at the differences between it and its siblings. The Core i7-920 is unquestionably the slowest of its elder, higher clocked kin. On all tests aside from gaming we see an average performance decrease in the 10% - 15% range when comparing the i7-920 to the i7-965XE at stock speeds. The gap narrows to about roughly half that variance when comparing the i7-920 to the i7-940, again at stock speeds. When we compare the i7-920 overclocked to 3.6 GHz to the i7-965 overclocked to 4.035 GHz to we see very nice scalability on the part of both processors. Along with that scalability we see the gap between the two narrowed considerably with only a 2% - 4% performance improvement noted for the Core i7-965XE.
TM i7-965 Extreme Edition" src="http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/articles/Intel_Core-i7_OC/Core%20i7%20image_new.jpg" width=600>
Other Thoughts
There is no doubt that Intel did their homework before bringing the Core i7 family of processors to the consumer market. The runt of the pack, the Core i7-920 is truly one of the three fastest processor currently on the planet, and brings a huge amount of new features that should be very enticing to virtually any potential consumer. Before making a scoring this processor we would certainly be remiss if we didn't cover all of the potential considerations a budding consumer should consider:
The Intel Core i7-920 does not have and unlocked multiplier and will only improve the multiplier with turbo boost enabled. Standard overclocking can only be achieved by raising the system's core clock and adjusting the VCore accordingly.
The MSRP of the Core i7-920 is $284.00 makes the purchase of this processor much more palatable
The Core i7-920 is only currently supported by Intel X58 based motherboards so that expense needs to be added into consideration as well
Unless you have a minimum of three sticks of DDR-3 that are fully functional at <>

Intel Core i7-920

Up until this juncture we have talked about features and specifications that generally apply to the entire Intel Core i7 Processor family. It's now time to focus solely on the i7-920 and look at the features this processor brings to the table that cause it to be called the Extreme Edition. The Core i7-920 derives its 2.66 GHz clock rate by multiplying the system's 133MHz base clock by the i7-920's standard multiplier of 20. Unfortunately the i7-920 has a locked multiplier the only exception is when turbo mode is activated and the conditions are right; in this case turbomode will automatically boost the base clock multiplier of 20 to 21, giving the you essentially 133 MHz of extra processing power without ever touching the first setting.

Photos: Intel forum in review--from Atom to Tolapai

Update with Dunnington and Core i7 photos, text.
The latest and greatest silicon and derivative products is what the Intel Developer Forum is all about. Moorestown, Tolapai, and Canmore are just a few of the chips detailed at IDF this week, while UrbanMax, new netbooks, and the first laptops based on the quad-core mobile processor were among showcased products.

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett delivers the IDF keynote. Barrett criticized America's K-12 educational system and said great technology still can't take the place of great teachers.(Credit: Brooke Crothers)
Intel Chairman Barrett brought out Carnegie Mellon University's Johnny Chung Lee, who demonstrated how cheap, off-the-shelf technology--in this case a makeshift whiteboard--can go a long way. "To be interesting today, technology has to be the fastest, the best, the brightest, the lightest, but here you can see if you sacrifice a little bit of capability and performance for dramatic savings in cost, you can have a pretty dramatic impact," Chung said.
One of the more novel devices demonstrated was the 10-inch Intel UrbanMax a computer that can switch between a laptop and tablet. This by itself isn't groundbreaking because tablet PCs from Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba already do this. The novelty is the size and design: it is smaller than an ultraportable--like the Toshiba Portege--yet is designed like an oversize mobile Internet device such as Compal JAX 10. When configured as a tablet, the keyboard is hidden but can morph into a laptop by sliding out the keyboard, which tilts the screen.

Intel UrbanMax concept design has a 10-inch screen and uses special low-power Centrino 2 processors(Credit: Intel)

Intel Core i7 chip reviews arrive--yes, it's fast

Updatd on November 3 at 9:00 a.m. with additional information about Dell Core i7 systems.
Intel's Core i7 processor will first appear in fast gaming desktop PCs, as reviews arrive confirming its speed advantage over the Core 2 architecture.
The first comprehensive reviews hit Monday leaving little doubt that Intel's Nehalem chip architecture will greatly surpass anything Intel offers now.
Reviews cover the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition used with Intel's "SmackOver" motherboard, aka the DX58SO Extreme.
Core i7 processors expected to launch later this month include 2.66GHz (Core i7-920) and 3.20GHz (Core i7-965) versions. Prices will range roughly between $285 and just under $1,000.
Dell said Monday it is expecting to launch four desktops that include the new Core i7 Intel processor technology. These desktops will range in price depending on the accompanying technology, starting at $949. Timing will be tied to Intel's official launch of Core i7.
Other PC makers expected to bring out boxes include Gateway and Hewlett-Packard.
What is Nehalem/Core i7 exactly? The architecture will scale from two to eight processor cores, have faster chip-to-chip communication (Intel calls this technology QuickPath), do a better job of adjusting performance levels to suit power needs, and have a higher level of integration (more logic will be built directly onto the processor die).
Other salient features include more scalable memory (each processor will have its own dedicated memory), the ability to do more stuff simultaneously (up to 16 threads with simultaneous multi-threading), and new instructions to increase efficiency (called SSE4.2 instructions).
And who's going to buy i7 systems initially? Here's what CNET Reviews editor Rich Brown says: "We don't expect mainstream users will adopt Core i7...at first, at least until the motherboard prices come down."
Brown continues: "In the short term, it will benefit gamers and digital media types. The initial systems will be gaming oriented." (See these ExtremeTech gaming benchmarks.)
"We ran our own tests and found the flagship $999 Core i7-965 Extreme chip is the new fastest game in town," CNET Reviews said.
The i7 identifier will apply to the first crop of high-end desktop processors. Other identifiers will come later that will complement the i7. There will be a separate black logo for the highest-end offering called the Extreme Edition. Model numbers will differentiate each chip.

Intel's AMD Antitrust Rebuttal

AMD has used "out-of-context snippets ... to create the impression that Intel engaged in misconduct," Intel said its response. AMD's lawsuit also represents "a case study in legal dissonance. Although AMD has purportedly brought its complaint to promote competition, its true aim is the opposite. Under the cover of competitive law, AMD seeks to shield itself from competition."
Intel claims in its response that AMD is seeking to blame Intel for its own "many business failures ... that have determined its position in the marketplace." AMD's position in the marketplace "reflects its uneven track record, and its repeated failure to deliver on its promises."
Specifically, Intel points to AMD's "playing it safe ... with anemic investment in manufacturing capacity, leaving Intel to shoulder the burden of investment to enhance the usefulness of computers and enhance the market." In addition, Intel claims AMD has been "dogged" by a reputation of being unreliable as a supplier, has traditionally lagged in innovation, and has seen products delayed well beyond original launch dates.

Intel's AMD Antitrust Rebuttal: We're Not Bad, You're Just Stupid

Intel fired back at AMD in rebutting its antitrust lawsuit, saying the company has only itself to blame for not being competitive as a microprocessor supplier, with an inability to ship products on time, which helped to earn the company a bad reputation as a supplier with a poor track record of manufacturing investments:
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s failure to compete effectively with Intel in the microprocessor market is a "direct result of AMD's own actions or inaction," and weren't caused by any illegal actions by Intel, the microprocessor market leader said in court documents filed Thursday.
The filing in U.S. District Court was Intel's first formal response to AMD's lawsuit filed in June that charged Intel with using bribery and coercion of computer makers and retailers to limit the use of AMD processors.

INTEL BIKE

Speaking of engineer eye candy, Intel had this nice bike in the convention center lobby.