P55 is Coming
So Intel is readying a new chipset and processor, based on the Nehalem core. This is not exactly a secret. What’s not currently public is when the new CPU, code-named Lynnfield, will ship, or what its pricing will be.
It’s coming soon, though. Apparently the Core i5 750 was briefly for sale at Fry’s Electronics. Meanwhile, Lynnfield prices may have leaked.
So Lynnfield and P55 motherboards will ship soon. What does this mean for users? What about all those people who went out and bought or built Core i7 systems based on X58 chipsets? and what will it mean for Intel’s completion?
I recently had the pleasure of attending a event jointly sponsored by motherboard maker Gigabyte and memory manufacturer Kingston, where they talked up the new P55 boards from Gigabyte. Dan Snyder and Francois Piednoel from Intel were also present. I can’t really talk about most of the sessions, but there are a few interesting tidbits that came out that are worth sharing.
There are three factors most DIY system builders consider when buying a CPU and motherboard combination; two include performance and price. The third one, that’s more important to those of us who build our own PCs than people who buy off-the-shelf systems, is compatibility. Inherent in the compatibility consideration is future expansion. If I buy a motherboard today, what’s the likelihood that I can just drop in a faster CPU a year or two down the road?
AMD has played this game very well over the past couple of years. With socket AM3 boards and, to a lesser extent, older AM2+ motherboards, you could drop in a Phenom when those (finally) shipped. When the 45nm Phenom II’s arrived, you could pop on into almost any socket AM3 board.
Despite the fact that socket 775 has had a fairly long lifespan, the same attention to compatibility wasn’t generally true with Intel CPUs. For example, while a few, higher end P965 boards could accept 45nm Penryn processors, many couldn’t. Most of that were due to voltage regulation issues, but a little better guidance from Intel to their OEMs on what to expect with Penryn might have helped maintain forward compatibility.
So now Intel is coming up with a completely different socket, which will be the home for Lynnfield CPUs: socket 1156.
There are some valid reasons for new sockets. On a purely technical level, socket 1156 makes sense. Electrically, Lynnfield boards only need to support dual channel DDR3. The new socket’s mechanical structure and clamping mechanism has been improved. Of course, this will likely mean new heat sink mounts, though that’s still a little unclear to me.
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3 comments
Markeyse says:
August 22, 2009 at 4:12 am (UTC -7 )
I believe the 1366 is for people like me that needs raw power, expecially for content creation. The 1156 is for people that want good performance for less. So this means that the i5 is for mainstream and i7 is for performance.
Loyd Case says:
August 22, 2009 at 10:48 am (UTC -7 )
Sure, but the vast majority of people — even gamers and power users doing interesting work — don’t benefit from the additional memory bandwidth. When you can push Lynnfield to the same clock speeds as Core i7 triple channel, you’ll see similar performance for most apps. Of course, the stock clock speeds for Lynnfield will be a little lower, most likely.
The Jedi says:
August 30, 2009 at 8:17 am (UTC -7 )
Good motherboards cost money, so I’m skeptical as to the cost savings that will be seen with P55/1156. The i7/1366 is basically a server chip with an enthusiast platform so it results in some higher quality motherboard designs. Enthusiast class mobo’s will still likely be over $200, as was for example the nForce 680i/780i/790i. Online feedback on MSI’s first $180 X58 ATX board was pretty frightening as to indications of the quality of that board.
Another thing is that early adopters will want a nicer (more expensive) board that’s upgradeable, considering as far as clock speed, Socket 1156 may scale further than Socket 1366 in the long run. The Turbo Mode max of 3.6 GHz may indicate that. Now I guess IF the 1156 chips are all held at 95W max with 1366 being the ongoing high performance line, that may be a different story and the two sockets might even coexist.
Just my $0.02.