Intel D-0 Stepping Core i7-920

In February Intel indicated that it’s initiating a C-0 to D-0 stepping conversion for the Intel Core i7-920 processor.


The overclocking performance of D-0 Core i7-920 is superior to that of C0/C1 stepping. New stepping Core i7-920 features a few changes including S-Spec from SLBCH to SLBEJ, and the CPU ID from 0×000106A4 to 0×000106A5, so a BIOS update is required. Besides, the Ink Swatch number has been also removed.

D0 Core i7-920 has hit retail at AKIBA at price tag of Yen 30780 which is about $306.


Source: [AKIBA]

Intels 65W Core 2 Quad cpu up for pre-order

Intels lower-power Core 2 Quad processors are now propping up at various retailers. Two of the three new 65W parts - the Core 2 Quad Q8200s and Core 2 Quad Q9550s - are available to pre-order from Scan.co.uk, but at a notable premium. Here is how pricing compares for 65W equivalents of existing 95W

Processor	Core 2 Quad Q9550s	Core 2 Quad Q9550	Core 2 Quad Q8200s	Core 2 Quad Q8200
CPU speed	2.83GHz	2.83GHz	2.33GHz	2.33GHz
FSB	1,333MHz	1,333MHz	1,333MHz	1,333MHz
L2 cache	12MB	12MB	4MB	4MB
Manufacturing process	45nm	45nm	45nm	45nm
TDP	65W	95W	65W	95W
Price	£339.04	£231.12	£220.79	£146.61

Were sure there are users to whom each degree in temperature makes all the difference, but a price hike of £108 and £74, respectively, currently make both the Q9550s and Q8200s seem far too pricey.

They might be out of reach for the everyday consumer, but 65W quad-core chips are a welcome addition to Intels line-up and wed expect them to appear in numerous systems in the coming weeks - and perhaps in a refreshed iMac, too.

3.5GHz Core 2 Duo E8700 on sale

Intel will soon launch its fastest dual-core to date, the Core 2 Duo E8700 clocked at 3.5GHz. €259 in Belgium

Many of these 45nm parts will end up overclocked, and we're sure gamers will appreciate them. The price however, is another issue. At €259 the E8700 is no bargain, and you can get a pretty good quad core for less. It's still the highest clocked Intel desktop CPU out there, and this fact alone means it's worth mentioning. Like the E8600, the 3.5GHz E8700 has a 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2-cache and has a rather good 65W TDP.

You can find the listing here.

Intel to release energy-efficient quads and cut CPU prices

Intel was planning the release of the Core 2 Quad Q8200s, Q9400s and Q9550s, its first Core 2 Quad CPUs to have a TDP of just 65W for this month. The launch is slated for Sunday, January 18 and it will also see to the introduction of two new low-cost dual-cores, the E7500 and E5400. Moreover, Intel will cut the price of six models, the Q8200 (features a 95W TDP), the E7400, E5300, E5200, E2220 and E1400.


All info regarding the January 18 changes can be seen in this chart. Intel is also rumored to be cutting prices of the rest of its Core 2 Quad line-up later on, this month.

Intel plans 'Merom' Core 2 CPU phase out

Intel has been adding 65nm processors to the phase out list recently with the latest 'damned' being quite a few 'Merom' Core 2 mobile processors. As just announced, the chip company is preparing to phase out both the tray and boxed versions of the 2.80 GHz Core 2 Extreme X7900 and the 2.60 GHz T7800, 2.40 GHz T7700, 2.0 GHz T7300, 1.8 GHz L7700 and 1.4 GHz L7300 Core 2 Duo processors.The discontinuance schedule will see Intel taking orders for the mentioned CPUs until April 3rd (2009) and deliver the box and tray products until July 3rd 2009 and June 4th 2010 respectively.

via tcmagazine.com

Intel phases out first 45 nm processors

Intel announced the immediate phasing out of the first 45nm processors, along with several 65nm models. These include Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Duo Mobile and one Core 2 Quad CPU. In addition, due to migration to the Santa Rosa platform and NAND flash technology, Intel has also discounted its 1GB Turbo Memory used in ReadyBoost.


Three 45nm products discontinued

According to Intel, "Market demand ... has shifted to higher performance Intel processors." When discontinuing a product, Intel typically gives its vendors several months to determine future needs and to place orders. Intel will be taking orders for CPUs this round until January 9, 2009, and will continue manufacturing and shipping products as late as May 7, 2010. Turbo memory orders will be taken until March 27, 2009 and shipped until June 26, 2009.

Intel first released 45nm products earlier this year in January. Already they are phasing out both PGA and BGA versions of three 45nm products including:

Q9450 (2.66 GHz 1333 MT/s, quad-core, 95 watt, LGA775, Yorkfield 45nm)
E8200 (2.66 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Wolfdale 45nm)
E8190 (2.66 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Wolfdale 45nm)


Mobile and desktop 65nm products being discontinued include:

E6850 (3.00 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Conroe 65nm)
E6750 (2.66 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Conroe 65nm)
E6550 (2.33 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Conroe 65nm)
E6540 (2.33 GHz 1333 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Conroe 65nm)
E4600 (2.40 GHz 800 MT/s, dual-core, 65 watt, LGA775, Allendale 65nm)

T7400 (2.16 GHz 667 MT/s, mobile dual-core, 34 watt, Socket-M, Merom 65nm)
Celeron-M 530 (1.73 GHz mobile, 533 MT/s, single-core, 30 watt, Socket-M, Merom-1024 65nm)


1GB Turbo Memory and solid state drives

Intel first introduced Turbo Memory as a way to help PCs boot faster. During a demonstrating at Fall IDF 2005, a notebook was shown to be nearly instant-on with the technology. It was also rolled into OS technologies like Microsoft's ReadyDrive and ReadyBoost for Vista.Products first arrived in May, 2007. Intel later extended this technology with version 2.0 in July, 2008. Yesterday, Intel announced it will discontinue all 1GB modules. Intel originally introduced 512MB and 1GB modules.
via tgdaily

New Core 2 Duo E7400 released

Today Intel company will present the dual core 45 nm processor core 2 Duo e7400 (2.8 GHz) with 1066 MHz system bus and 3 mb cache in the second level, and also reduce the prices of some other processors models. R0 stepping is the analog of E0 for 45 nm processors with the reduced to 3 mb volume cache . The processor core 2 Duo e7400 (2.8 GHz) exactly relates to R0 stepping:

New Core 2 Duo E7400 released

The Intel Core 2 Duo E7000 series has brought in great performance at a low price point. They are basically current 45nm Wolfdale core based processors with 3 MB of L2 cache and 1066 MHz FSB. What it also means that it comes with higher FSB multiplier values to achieve the designated clock speeds. For applications that aren't cache intensive, and for users with appropriate tweaking skills, the E7000 series is a boon. Sources claim that on October 19th, Intel will release the Core 2 Duo E7400 processor, a successor to the current E7300. The release also affects prices across its segment.

Core 2 Duo E7400 released

Two core operate at 2.8 GHz, they support 1066 MHz bus . The TDP Level does not exceed 45 W. The E7400 is priced at $133 so it has pushed the 2.66 GHz E7300 down to $113.

Intel Q8200 reviewed

Intel Q8200 reviewed

Test setup
CPU	Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (LGA775, 2.3G, 4096K SmartCache L2) 333x7= 2333MHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (LGA775, 2.5G, 6144K SmartCache L2) 333x705= 2500MHz AMD Phenom 9850 (Socket AM2+, 2.5GHz, 4096K L2, 2048K L3) 200Mhz×12.5＝2500MHz
MB	Intel P35+ICH9R AMD 790FX+SB600
DRAM	PNY DDR2-1066 1GB x 2 (DDR2 800)
HDD	Seagate ST33206620AS
VGA	nVIDIA GeForce 8800U

Software
OS	Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 + DirectX 10.0
Drivers	nVidia ForceWare 177.79
Software	PCMark Vantage WinRAR Benchmark WPrime Fritz TMPGENc 4.0 xPress H.264 Encoder X-Men 3 Van Helsing 3DMark Vantage CineBench R10 Pov-Ray Unreal Tournament 3 Demo Serious Sam 2 Crysis Lost Planet Extreme Condition World in Conflict

Intel Q8200 reviewed

Intel Q8200 reviewed Crysis:

Intel Q8200 reviewed 3dMarka Vantage

Intel Q8200 reviewed PcMark Vantage

New low-cost CPU from INTEL

New Intel low-cost quad-core and Core 2 Duo desktop processors. A new Celeron D model was also listed.

Intel lists the Q8200 at $224, one of the most inexpensive quad-core chips that Intel now offers. The venerable Q6600 is the only Core 2 Quad that is less expensive.

Intel Core 2 QuadThe 45-nanometer processor has a core clock speed of 2.33GHz and 4MB of cache memory. This is a relatively small amount of cache memory as most Intel desktop quads offered now come with 6MB, 8MB, or 12MB of cache memory. Generally, the more cache memory the better the performance.

The chip has a front-side bus speed of 1333 MHz. The front-side bus carries data between the processor and other silicon.

Intel also shows a new E series Core 2 Duo processor. The E5200 is priced at $84, the lowest-cost Core 2 Duo chip on the list. It has a core clock speed of 2.5GHz, 2MB of cache memory, and an 800MHz front-side bus.

Intel also lists a new Celeron D processor for $53. The 450 slots in above the current 440. The 450 runs at 2.2GHz, has 512K of cache memory, and an 800MHz front-side bus.

Sale of Atom exceeds all expectations

Forget any talk of shortages or competitive pressure from VIA, Intel's Atom processors are thriving amid the recent Netbook and Mobile Internet Device (MID) movement. "Atom is off to a very, very rapid start, far exceeding our expectations when we started the year," CFO Stacy Smith said in an interview Tuesday. "It's the perfect recession product to have in the marketplace."The success of its Atom processor has helped Intel achieve a 25 percent rise in quarterly profit despite a weak global economy, with Smith maintaining an overall revenue forecast in the third quarter between $10.0 and $10.6 billion.

Yields are good too. According to Smith, Intel gets about 2,500 Atom processors per silicon wafer, and while that's not quite as good as on a Core or Xeon chip, it's enough to ensure strong profitability on Atom CPUs. Still, Intel remains cautiously optimistic.

"We'll know kind of in six months how much of this demand (for Atom) is real and how much is customers thinking they're going to win in the market place and double-ordering," Smith said. "It seems to be growing the market rather than cannibalizing existing PC sales."

Will Intel's Atom chips continue to exceed expectations now that Centrino 2 platforms are starting to trickle out?

Intel intros four more CPUs, slashes Q9550 price by 40%

Core i7 builder Intel Corporation has officially made some quite long-awaited changes to its Core 2 line-up. Intel's first move was to cut the price tag of its Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83 GHz) by a massive 40% from $530 to $316 (in 1000-unit tray quantities) followed by the introduction of four more processors.

Starting off small, the dual-core E7300, which has a core clock of 2.66 GHz and 3MB of L2 cache, has taken the $133 price point while the fastest dual-core around, the 3.33 GHz E8600 (1333 MHz FSB, 6MB L2 cache) entered the CPU battlefield carrying a $266 price tag. Also pirced ay $266 is the Q9400, a (45nm) quad-core CPU with a frequency of 2.66 GHz which features a 1333 MHz FSB and 6MB of L2 cache. Last but not least, the Q9650, which has a core clock of 3.0 GHz and 12MB of L2 cache, is sold by Intel for $316.

Later this month Intel should also release the 2.33 GHz Q8200 CPU.

Features and benefits

The high end just got higher. Introducing the latest additions to the Core 2 Quad family built using Intel's 45nm technology and hafnium-infused circuitry. These new processors deliver amazing performance and power efficiency. Whether it's encoding, rendering, editing, or streaming, make the most of your professional-grade multimedia applications with a PC powered by the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor. With four processing cores and up to 12MB of shared L2 cache¹ and up to 1333 MHz Front Side Bus, more intensive entertainment and more multitasking can bring a multimedia powerhouse to your house.
Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution, enabling delivery of more instructions per clock cycle to improve execution time and energy efficiency

Intel® Intelligent Power Capability, designed to deliver more energy-efficient performance

Intel® Smart Memory Access, improving system performance by optimizing the use of the available data bandwidth

Intel® Advanced Smart Cache, providing a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for multi-core and dual-core processors

Intel® Advanced Digital Media Boost, accelerating a broad range of applications, including video, speech and image, photo processing, encryption, financial, engineering and scientific applications. Now improved even further on 45nm versions with Intel® HD Boost utilizing new SSE4 instructions for even better multimedia performance

Make highly threaded applications happy. Get in on the increasing number of highly threaded programs with quad-core technology from Intel. With four processing cores, an Intel Core 2 Quad processor-based PC will fuel more intensive entertainment and more media multitasking than ever.
source:intel.com

Intel to start delivering E-0 stepping Q9550 CPUs next week

As the Core i7 quad-core processors are closing in Intel is set to move its Core 2 Quad Q9550 parts from the current C-1 to the E-0 stepping. The first E-1 Q9950 CPUs will start shipping on August 22nd and they will feature Halide free packages, new SSpec and MM numbers and a fresh CPUID - 0x1067A (the C-1 ID is 0x10677).

Apart from those above, the new stepping will not include any other changes but a BIOS update is required to ensure full support for the E-0 CPUs.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 drops below $200

The sub-$200 quad-core era has finally arrived to Intel's Santa Clara HQ as the company's latest round of price cuts has seen the 1000 tray unit cost of the 65nm-built Core 2 Quad Q6600 drop 14%, from $224 to $193. In addition to making its most popular quad-core CPU cheaper, Intel has also slashed the prices of three 45nm dual-cores, the E8500, E8400 and E7200.

The 3.16 GHz-clocked Core 2 Duo E8500 has seen its price tag go down 31%, from $266 to $183 so as to leave room for the 3.33 GHz E8600 while the E8400 and E7200 went down 11% and 15% to settle at $163 and $113 respectively.

Interestingly enough, Intel's documents don't mention the E8600 or the Q9650 although they have being to appear in stores.

Intel nudges Centrino 2 debut back

Intel's next major Centrino revamp - dubbed 'Centrino 2' - isn't coming until the end of June, and not this month, as the company's executives have stated in the past.

According to whispers coming out of Taiwan's notebook manufacturers, the chip giant will release the X9100, T9600, T9400, P9500, P8600 and P8400 'Montevina'-oriented processors in that post-Computex timeframe.

They'll be priced at $851, $530, $348, $316, $241 and $209, respectively, we understand. They're all dual-core, and they'll all be fabbed at 45nm.

The 'P' chips have a maximum power draw of 25W, the 'T's 35W. The 2.4GHz P8600 has 3MB of L2, as does the 2.26GHz P8400. The P9500, like the T9600 and T9400, has 6MB of L2. Those three are clocked at 2.53GHz, 2.80GHz and 2.53GHz, respectively. All five CPUs sit on a 1066MHz frontside bus (FSB).

The X9100's FSB is 1066MHz too, but it'll draw 45W, be clocked to 3.06GHz and pack in 6MB of L2.

Centrino 2's late-June arrival gets it just into the H1 2008 launch window announced by Intel in the past. In September 2007, CEO Paul Otellini let slip that Centrino 2 would arrive in May 2008.

Once Centrino 2's out of the way, Intel can focus on its key Q3 launch: the first mobile quad-core chip. The $1038 QX9300 contains 12MB of L2 - 6MB per core pair - and sit on a 1066MHz FSB. Its clock speed has been said in the past to be 2.53GHz.

Q4 will see the debut of the four-core Q9100, but its speeds and feeds remain unknown
© The Register.

Intel Cuts Power Consumption Rating Of "Skulltrail Xeon"

Santa Clara (CA) - Intel is transitioning all of its 45 nm Xeon DP processors from the C-O to the E-0 stepping. There are no changes in the feature set of the Harpertown quad-core CPUs and Wolfdale dual-core processors, with the exception of the flagship model, which is the sister model of the company’s Skulltrail processor Core 2 Extreme QX9775. The thermal design power (TDP) rating of the Xeon X5482 drops by 20%.

According to a product change notification sent to Intel customers yesterday, all 18 current 45 nm Xeon processors are transitioned to the new stepping with first samples expected to become available on July 3. The updated processors are scheduled to begin shipping on October 6 and Intel asks its customers to be prepared to receive these CPUs by October 20 of this year.

Since there are no new features and (almost) no specification changes, Intel says that only "minimal re-qualification" will be required on the system builder side. However, the new chips will require a BIOS update.

The only CPU that does see specification change is the Xeon DP X5482: According to Intel, the 3.2 GHz chips carries a 120 watt TDP rating in the E-O stepping, compared to a 150 watt rating in the C-O version. The current Skulltrail processor Core 2 Extreme QX9775 is also clocked at 3.2 GHz and rated at a 150 watt TDP.

We don’t know whether the power consumption of the processor in fact drops, or if the new TDP rating is simply a bit closer to reality. According to a review posted by Tom’s Hardware, a Core 2 Extreme QX9775 consumes a maximum of 114 watts at 3.2 GHz. The power consumption climbs to about 138 watts when overclocked to 3.6 GHz and 176 watts at 4 GHz.

But enthusiasts who are interested in building a Skulltrail PC should have a closer look at Harpertwon processors - and not just because of the upcoming stepping update: Even the pricey X5482, which currently lists for a tray-price of $1279 per piece and sells for about $1400 in retail, is substantially cheaper than the QX9775, which has a tray-price of $1499 and sells for closer to $1700 per CPU in retail. Even if you are sinking more than $10,000 into a Skulltrail PC, a few hundred dollars of savings aren’t bad.

Intel: future iPhone to be Atom powered

An Intel executive has apparently claimed a future iPhone will be based upon the chip giant's Atom processor.

Speaking in Germany, one Hannes Schwaderer, Intel's MD for Central Europe, made the claim, according to a German-language ZDNet report.

Sachwderer also promised a raft of Atom-based devices in the next 12 months, all of them "a bit bigger than the iPhone".

Of course, what one Intel executive claims and what Apple will actually do are two separate things. More to the point, the current generation of Atom isn't sufficiently power efficient for device as small as the iPhone.

The 'Silverthorne' Atoms, launched last month, are aimed at what Intel calls Mobile Internet Devices. Yes, that's a term that could be applied to the iPhone, but what the chip maker has in mind are larger, more tablet-like devices not gadgets like phones.

For that, we have to wait until 2009-2010 when 'Moorestown', the next generation of Atom, complete with on-board graphics and a power consumption characteristic suitable for phones, is due to ship.

Even then, will Apple shift from the ARM chip the iPhone currently uses? It could. The current iPhone Software Development Kit already includes an iPhone emulator. Since that code runs on Intel's x86 architecture and is, therefore, fully compatible with Atom, running iPhone emulation on a future, Atom-based handset isn't beyond the bounds of possibility.

Emulation would be essential to allow Apple to carry forward all the third-party development work done on iPhone software up to that point.

We shall see...

Alun Taylor contributed to this report

Intel P45 boards said to have CrossFire problems

Now, this is the kind of rumor that may never be confirmed or denied but apparently, current Intel P45 boards don't play very nice with CrossFire setups, the only multi-GPU solution supported by them.

With the drivers now available for both the motherboard and AMD graphics cards the CrossFire setups have noticeable display issues. There's no indication as to where the problem is coming from but new driver version or BIOS revisions may solve the problem before the P45 motherboards make officially introduced, early next month.

Intel said to feed Google solid state disks

Intel is working its close ties to Google for solid state storage drive sales, according to a report.

Sources have told Digitimes that Google plans to test out SSD storage in an effort to lower power consumption at its vast data centers. The ad broker-cum-search engine will turn to Intel for the SSD gear. And, if true, that's great news for Intel, which hopes to make a run at turning SSDs into a big business.
As the report tells it, Intel will supply flash memory, while Marvell will provide the controllers.

For what it's worth, our sources tell us that Digitimes report is flat out wrong.

Still, it's interesting to speculate about Google paying for the more expensive SSDs on the data center scale. Like many service providers, Google is finding that lowering energy costs is its top priority.

Of course, there are performance implications as well.

Given the secretive nature of Google, it's rather hard for outsiders to tell what the company is up to. It's also damn hard to tell if the company's supposed data center magic really lives up to its billing or if the company just blows tons of cash and time designing its own systems.

Anyway, the report goes on to cite memory makers grumbling about a potential shortage of NAND flash chips due to increased server-side interest in SSDs.
Google and Intel enjoy a very tight relationship with Intel making custom motherboards for its chum. Intel's server chip customers have taken notice of this arrangement
©THE REGISTER