Saturday, December 19, 2009

Intel Releases Details of New Processors: Core i3, Core i5, Integrated Graphics




Intel today released a few official details about some of what it intends to unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the first week of January.

The 17 new processors Intel plans to introduce will extend the Nehalem microarchitecture
through the desktop and laptop PC lines, with the Core i3 CPUs the new
entry-level family, and Core i5 christened as the midrange. Core i7
will remain the high-end CPU option.

The Core i5 CPUs will support Turbo Boost, which allows for dynamically overclocking the CPU's clock speed if there's the proper headroom to do so, and Hyper-Threading, the ability to run more than one thread per core, for increased performance.

Also of particular note is that the Core i3 and Core i5 processors will
contain Intel HD Graphics—the first time Intel has included integrated
graphics on the processor instead of in a separate chip. (Core i7 CPUs,
intended more for gamers and enthusiasts who will need or want discrete
graphics, will not include integrated video.)

The new graphics capabilities can decode two HD streams in hardware.
The accompanying "GMCH" chipset can also decode Dolby True HD and
DTS-HD sounds, including support for the 7.1 surround sound found in
Blu-ray discs.

Stephen Smith, Intel's vice president and director of PC clients and
enabling, said at a press conference on Thursday that the HD audio and
video in the chipsets are "[g]ood enough that a home theater vendor
would use them for their high end consumer products."

Prices, clock speeds, and details about OEMs using the new processors were not announced today.


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