FPSLabs : The verdict is in on Nehalem

Posted by Thomas Gribble in November 3rd, 2008

Reviews of Intel’s brand-spanking-new processors hit the web today. Nehalem, officially known as Core i7, will be available starting November 17th. There will be three models available at launch: The Core i7-920 at 2.67GHz, Core i7-930 at 2.93GHz, and the range-topping Core i7-965 Extreme Edition at 3.2GHz. It would not be outlandish to say that Intel has rewritten the books with its new series of processors.

Reviews posted to the web today are unanimously positive. This is not surprising, as early leaked benchmarks of the processors have been floating around the web for quite some time. We have previously written about our concerns that Intel would be cannibalizing a large portion of its Core 2 Quad product line with Core i7. However, the official pricing of the three different processors foretells a slightly different story. The slowest and cheapest Core i7 at launch will be the i7-920 at 2.66GHz $284. At this price, Intel seems to be targeting both newcomers to Intel’s ever-expanding product line, as well as enticing current Q9450/Q9550 owners to make the jump to the new platform. The two faster, more expensive processors are clearly targeted for only the heaviest power users out there. In light of the pricing, it is still extremely difficult to predict the success of i7 processors, given the still very impressive performance (and pricing) of Intel’s Core 2 Quad series.

We will be posting our own comprehensive evaluation of Core i7 and its impact on the hardware world in the near future. For now, check out some of the excellent reviews that were published today. If you don’t want to read through all of the reviews, a good summary would be that i7 offers a good 20% improvement across the board; though by far the most heralded aspect of the processor is its innovative new features (you’ll have to read to find out what those are ;)).

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