Core i7's to get 'Turbo Mode'

[TopSecret]

Intel shares more info on the new processors at the IDF.

Read the full article here, where there is also a link to the Intel webcast.

 

[PP Mguire]

Lol Turbo. Bringing back the ol 486 huh?

 

[Mr. Smith]

Crap.

Also I was reading about the overclocking which said changing the fsb led to instability and the multi is locked so you can't change that...

Hang on

At an Intel briefing today, we learned a lot more about what to expect when benchmarking Nehalem, and much of it answered the exact questions that have been lingering in my mind for some time. If you read our overview on Nehalem already, then you know the benefits of the tri-channel memory, but what about overclocking?

First and foremost, while the 'ideal' memory configuration for a high-end Yorkfield is 2x1GB DDR3-1600, the ideal solution for Nehalem will be 3x1GB DDR3-1066. Seems weak, but if you read my article last night (and I do recommend it), then you'd know that it's far from being the weak link here. It effectively removes any potential bottleneck, and in most regards, the I/O becomes the new bottleneck (one that's not really seen with RAID'ing multiple SSD though!).

How will you overclock memory on Nehalem, or the CPU for that matter? Well, I'll admit I still don't totally understand how memory is overclocked, or how the frequency is even calculated, but Intel stresses that the skies the limit. The chipset and CPU shouldn't be the weak link, rather it would be the modules themselves.

Going beyond DDR3-2000 speeds should be entirely possible. You might run into weird issues which will likely not be visible with regards to strange dividers, but the overall performance really wouldn't reflect it. That's something we'll specifically have to test once the chip hits the lab.

Contrary to what I mentioned in yesterday's article (oops), the Turbo Mode -does- have something to do with CPU overclocking, but it's a bit odd to explain. Turbo Mode will not be activated in the traditional state during an overclock, but in the BIOS, there will be a Turbo Mode that allows you to increase the figure to increase the overclock. Increasing the Turbo Mode will supposedly be an unlimited affair, but I'm still unsure what exactly that number is going to be based on, but I can definitely say that it's nothing to do with the QPI.

QPI is another thing. It can be overclocked, but Intel highly recommends to not adjust the 133MHz figure, and as far as I'm aware, motherboard vendors are asked to make it clear that adjusting it is dangerous. Even Intel themselves are unsure of what could happen with a highly overclocked QPI over time, but the results are apparently not representative of an ideal system.

There are still a lot of questions hovering around overclocking on Nehalem, and they won't likely be fully answered without real hands-on time with a machine. What I can state with extreme confidence is that Nehalem will be highly overclockable, and enthusiast overclockers will have little to complain about. I've seen ES Extreme Edition samples running at 4.0GHz on a modest air cooler, and I feel rather confident that production samples will act similarly.

Source

 

[Zoot]

Crap.

Also I was reading about the overclocking which said changing the fsb led to instability and the multi is locked so you can't change that...

Hang on

I read that yesterday, at that rate of goin you'd have to get the "extreme version" to safely overclock.

 

[Mr. Smith]

AND, have you read this?

Nehalem is about improving HPC, Database, and virtualization performance, and much less about gaming performance

i7 is looking less and less appealing to me...

 

[Zoot]

Yup I read that too.

X2 on it looking less and less appealing. Methinks I'll stick with Yorkfield for another year or two...

 

[Mr. Smith]

Yup I read that too.

X2 on it looking less and less appealing. Methinks I'll stick with Yorkfield for another year or two...

I don't know what I'm going to do... Upgrade or sack it off...

 

[Zoot]

I also read that the motherboards are going to be pretty costly. Apparently they're going to have a 12 layer PCB, so that'll make them pretty expensive to make. Plus the whole hassle with the nForce 200 chip...

 

[Warzone]

TURBO MODE...ENGAGE!

Honestly...lol.

But reading above...makes you start to wonder what AMD is doing with their new architecture.

 

[Rastalovich]

As an enthusiast, it `sounds` like u`ll be better off buying the best 48/45 chipsets that are available for as long as they`re available. And investing in a `best u can buy` cpu.

I don`t know about this new socket being as bad as perhaps people are making out. But we do also have to remember that the cpus we have are pretty much bottoming out performance wize, and as we probably feared - the emphasis may well be efficiency/power/costing.

Arguement should be tho, how is this moving technology forward ?

It is ofc possible that there are too many alarmist opinions on small scale issues that exist in a lab, that could be gone in so many months.

People got scared about the mobo people introducing automatic oc`ing in the bios - and the desire to want to do it all manually - and ofc they were just options.

.. and on the flip side of this, these manufacturers will want to churn out all their 775 stocks as soon as possible. A few alarmist words in the media could cause some panic sales.