Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 Explained

[Benoni]

There has been quiet a bit of speculation and mis-information about the new I series Intel cores over the past months. So here are links that should answer any questions you have.

But here is a short summary:

The Core i3 500 series products are dual cores and they do have hyper-threading, but they do not have Turbo Boost
the i3 500 series compairs to low end Core 2 Quads.



The Core i5 600 series products are dual cores which have hyperthreading, Turbo Boost, virtualization, and the AES instruction set. The performance of the Core i5 600 series processors is roughly on par with mid-range Core 2 Quads and high-end Phenom II processors.



The Core i5 700 series processors are quad core processors.

They do NOT have hyperthreading but they do have Turbo Boost and they do support virtualization. Their performance is roughly on par or somewhat better than high end Core 2 Quad and Phenom II processors.


The Core i7 800 series processors are quad cores which include hyper-threading, Turbo Boost, and virtualization. The performance of these processors is among the best of any processor made by Intel or AMD.



The Core i7 900 series processors are quad cores which include hyper-threading, Turbo Boost, and virtualization

These are the fastest processors Intel has available and they include an unlocked multiplier which allows for easier overclocking.

All Core i7 900 series processors use the LGA1366 socket. This is only found on motherboards using the X58 chipset.


Core i3 vs i5 vs i7: A Summary of Intel Processors

Core i3 vs i5 : Whats the difference


Core i5 vs i7 : Whats the difference


Champion vs Rookie: Core 2 Duo vs Core i3 : Laptops


Mobile Core i3 vs i5 vs i7: Showdown In Your Laptop