Comments on: Intel gets official with new Core i7, mobile chips

Chipmaker updates its price list with a bevy of new processors, including new Core i7 and Core 2 mobile chips.

[ikramerica--2008]

I don't believe the slow ULV chips are nearly as anticipated as chips like the Core i5 mobile and mainstream consumer chips coming soon.

[tim_54321]

This is a very ambiguous and inaccurate statement. Hyperthreading doesn't come close to doubling the performance of a core.

"For the uninitiated, threads effectively double the number of tasks a processor can do"

[poly_pusher]

This article is very inaccurate. In addition to the previous statement by tim:

"Many gamers have been waiting for the update of the "Nehalem" Core i7, which was introduced last November."

Wrong...

Upgrading from a Core 2 will not yield any significant gains in gaming performance. Certainly not when compared to an upgrade of Graphics hardware. Modern games are far more reliant on the Gpu than the Cpu.

If you had read any of the reviews and benchmarks for the Core i7 you would know this.

The Core i7 is an excellent processor. However, we need software developers to start moving back towards software based renderers before we see gaming significantly affected by Cpu upgrades. For more info search for the interview with Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games.

[rrod182]

Threads do not double the tasks a processor can do. Threads merely allow the developer to schedule operations to execute in "parallel". Hyper-threading decreases the number of context switches that have to be performed by the OS when switching from one thread to the next because it thinks there are two physical CPU cores and can schedule as such. HT aware OSes can further optimize on this eliminating dead cycles. Multi-threaded games actually benefit considerably from HT.

A CPU cores can execute one and one instruction at a time and therefore only be executing in one thread at a time, even with HT, still only one thing at a time. True parallel execution requires multiples CPUs or Cores.

[Mr. Dee]

3.33GHz - I think I will wait until the price drops and Windows 8.

[plbyrd]

Right. In 3 years you'll be saying "I think I will wait until the price drops and Windows 9". Why even bother. I'm sure 3 years ago you said "I think I will wait until the price drops and Windows 7". 6 years ago you were probably like "I will wait until the price drops and that kick-ass new Longhorn comes out because XP sucks so bad."

[pcrepairdude]

I think in this economy the core i7 is just a bad idea and add in the high price of DDR3 and I have a feeling that i7 will remain a niche. As a PC builder and an Intel customer since the P3 I actually went Phenom with my latest personal build simply because in this economy it was better to get the best "bang for the buck" than it was to get top of the line. Most of my customers are having me build them Phenoms or Pentium Dual Core simply because they just can't justify the extra expense when most of the time their PC will be twiddling its thumbs waiting for them. Even the bottom of the line Pentium duals and AMD X2s simply are nuclear overkill compared to the uses the average Joe has for them.

Even in gaming the duals have passed "good enough" awhile back and as another poster pointed out is more GPU and RAM bound than CPU anymore. So I have a feeling that a lot of these i7 chips will be sitting in a warehouse while my customers keep asking me about "bang for the buck" and those "baby laptops" (Netbooks).

[sticks1839]

It will be a niche product until it becomes the mainstream product. The economy might have a small effect on how long this takes, but the processor cycle is pretty inevitable. New processors come out and are adopted by gamers, technophiles, computer intensive professionals, and those who can afford them (this last group may be "slightly" smaller because of the economy). Next year, prices drop software progresses and the i7 starts to replace the Core2Duo in the mainstream, and relegates those older processors to the budget aisle. Rinse, repeat as the next line of processors come out.

People need to stop throwing "in this economy" into every argument that gets said. Netbook adoption has less to do with "this economy" than it does with changing computing needs and consumer behavior. The economy has played a relatively minor role in all of this...

[Maclover1]

Who builds custom PC's anymore????? Notebooks out sell Desktops. Desktop sales are declining year over year. Big corporations keep the desktop market from single digit numbers and even they are moving to VDI solutions and replacing desktops with cheaper, longer lasting, lower power, smaller Thin devices.

PC gaming continues to shrink and as someone has mentioned its about the GPU for PC games. If you want to PC game buy a cheap Dell desktop for $499 and add a video card for another $100, which is cheaper than any custom built PC and way more convenient .

My desktop at home has been a VMware server for a few years now. The i7 wold be a nice upgrade for a home VM server.

[poly_pusher]

Actually, I just built a system for a buddy that was 500 incl. a new purchase of Windows. You can still build a system with higher quality components than dell at a lower price.

My Core i7 at home, "not taking into account my obnoxious overclock" would cost approx 2000 - 2500. I built it for under 1200... Take into account my overclock and an equivalent system would go into the 4k range.

Also somebody mentioned high ddr3 prices. Not the case anymore. You can get 6 gigs of ddr3 for as low as 50 bucks. That's cheap...

[tipoo_]

Pooh, the title made me think mobile-Nehalems were on the way.

[darkxeno]

Damn I read the title and thought wow they are making a i7 for laptops that's going to be a lot of cash for that sucker. Come to find out they are not, as I thought not even the fanboys are that crazy about a great chip being crippled into a laptop design. They are nice chips just too pricey for me right now.