Intel released their first Wolfdale processor recently and to be quite honest I'm not sure exactly when it came out as it seems to be a silent release with no headlines whatsoever. The processor is 45nm has an upgraded 6mb of L2 cache. Running stock at 3.0Ghz, this processor seems quite the steal for $220. The only problem with this processor is that it's only dual-core, meaning who cares about the price because you shouldn't be upgrading to a dual-core proc at all with the quad-core offerings currently on the table.
For those that have been outta the loop, Intel was slated to release two new families of processors over winter break; Wolfdale and Yorkfield. This may seen obvious by now- but the families were not released. Both are 45nm and sport a front side bus of 1333mhz*. The main difference between the two are that the Yorkfield's are quad-core and the Wolfdale's are dual-core (exactly why Intel is even releasing high end dual-core processors anymore is unbeknownst to me). To date, only two processors from either family have been released. Those being the E8400 Wolfdale, and the Q9650 Yorkfield. The Q9650 is bobbing around $1,000 and the E8400 at $220. It would seem the releasing of the entire lines of processors both families have to offer has been delayed due to a lack of ANY competition from AMD (of course Intel denies this). Now for the funny part, despite a difference of $780 between the two processors, both run at 3.0Ghz.
*It is confirmed that some of the processors released will have 1600mhz fsb, it is still unclear so to exactly which will and which won't however.
Well, what does it all mean Bazzle? Don't buy the E8400, wait for a similarly priced Yorkfield proc to come out which should be soon. That involves waiting however, so if you are looking to buy now, then get a Q6600 for $255 (if your going to overclock, which you should, your going to want to make sure you get a revised proc with the new g0 stepping). Yes, that is right. You should be getting an older quad-core processor that doesn't even sport the new 1333fsb. This is simply because it is the most affordable quad-core processor there is and can easily be overclocked to 3.0ghz. Can you get a similarly prices dual-core processor running stock at 3.0Ghz? yes. I used to say only gamers should go that route, but now with the UT3 engine and the Crytek engine released, both supporting quad-core processors, even gamers should be setting their sites on a quad-core proc. This why is it so surprising to me that Intel did not update the q6600 to a q6650 with 1333fsb, when they rolled out their 1333fsb updated processors which u can differentiate by their xx50 name. They even updated most dual-core processors for 1333fsb..
Intel should not be putting their dual-core processors at rock bottom prices.. They should price them similarly to the quad-core equivalents they offer, except make the quad-core proc's cheaper then the dual-core ones. This would push adoption of the new quad-core standard and bolster/force software innovation of quad-core enabled applications due to customer demand. If anything however, the pricing of the E8400 is a sneak peak of what we have to look forward to when the Yorkfield family is finally released.
I know many of you will argue about the real benefit of quad-core at this point in computing. Well all I have to say, is that this E8400 will going to go the way of the AMD FX-57. Also fuck Intel for pricing the E8400 @ $220 and the Yorkfield 3.0 processor at $1grand.... way to help the industry you D_bags.
CHEAT SHEET -
Headline is true, don't buy the processor though unless you plan on upgrading it again in 3 months.
45nm basically means the processor runs cooler on less power and will have a slight performance increase over a 65nm processor clocked at the same speed. This also means you can overclock it more.
1333fsb advantage is about 1-2frames per second, may help loading times a bit but the benefit of a insane front side bus is really not that great, the front side bus is scheduled to become obsolete anyways in late 2008 when the
Nehalem comes out with an onboard memory controller. Nehalem will be the first "true" quadcore proc from intel.
The codenames and brandnames of processors can be confusing even for a tech-head so let me break it down.
.
1. First you have the
microarchitecture such as Penryn, Nehalem and Core.
2. Within these you get the
code names of the processor families such as Yorkfield, Wolfdale,
Conroe, Kentsfield.
3. Within those you get the
brand names such as Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2
Extreme
4. Now we finally get the individual processors
model number such as Q6600,
E8400 and QX9650.
The word "family" is tossed around loosley to represent any of these groups, you could say the penryn family or the yorkfield family...
There are many pictures, graphs, charts, etc showing this in a easier to understand visual form such as
here,
here and
here. Also
wikipedia is your friend for this one : )
Intel has adopted a tick, tock/left jab, hail mary strategy for processor releases. This means that once a year they will release a entirely new architecture (this is the tock/hail mary). Then in the other half of the year they will do a die shrink with minor architecture revisions and updates based on the new architecture previously released (the tick/left jab). The last "tock" was the release of the core 2 duo line, the "tick" would be the upcoming Penryn family followed by another tock in late 2008 with the debut of Nehalem.
To know which core2duo/quad processors are newer, look for the ones with xx50 in their name indicating the stepping update and 1333fsb revision. ex:Q6850 versus the older Q6800.
UPDATE: It seems the Qx9770 Yorkfield processor has been released, however I cannot find any *legitimate place to purchase it. *There are 2 places I found under google however both have it priced at ~$1600 which indicates that the processor came out, but was then pulled from shelves. I will keep posting here as I find out more information. atm though this processor most definately seems to be a paper tiger despite the flurry of reviews it has received, their useless if you have no place to buy it..
