Core i7 CPUs
Intel’s follow-up to the Core 2 range has arrived – and every Core i7 chip (as they’re known) will be quad core. Also, hyper-threading is back, so Windows will think you’ve got eight cores. Don’t expect eight-core performance, but do expect a boost in games that support it. Unlike most current quadders (essentially two dual-cores stuck together) all the cores are on a single die, which will notch the performance up.
Downsides are the price – the X-25M is around $700 (£500) for 128Gb – and that cheaper models suffer from huge performance spikes. The average read speed might be awesome, but if you pick up one of the earlier-gen drives you’ll find sporadic slowdowns. 2009 should see the X-25M’s price drop and its improvements spread to cheaper rivals.
Intel Larrabee
With Intel stronger than ever since Core 2 Duo, they can afford to turn their attention to additional fronts. Specifically: graphics cards, something they’ve hitherto only dabbled with in low-power, oft-reviled integrated chips. With Larrabee, they’re going full-pelt for an add-in card designed to kick sand in the face of the GeForces and Radeons. It’s built on significantly different principles: as much on CPUs as on GPUs.
As well as playing to Intel’s strengths, this is also part of the nVidia/Intel war for the future of all processing. In theory, a Larrabee card is enough to run Windows itself; there’s even talk of a modified version that’ll drop into a CPU socket. Initially though, it’ll be a graphics card, with 24, 32 or 48 cores – touted as more than enough to run games such as Gears of War and HL2: Episode Two at 60fps at 1600x1200. Larrabee should strut its stuff early this year. Just what we need: 3D card buying options getting even more complicated.
Jan 29, 2009
