Not so long ago, Intel announced the existence of Core i7 Quad Core processors for new high-end notebooks. These processors under the code name Clarksfied equipped with quad-core mobile processor to replaces their previous. Technically, Clarksfield is a desktop CPU with low clock speed but has a built-in ability to over-clock. Mobile Core i7 processor developed from the 45 nanometer Intel architecture (Lynnfield) and is the first quad-core processor for notebooks. The previous CPU Core 2 Quad consistsed of two Core 2 Duo CPUs in a single chip.

The biggest innovation in this Clarksfield is the existence of a memory controller which is integrated in the processor. This memory controller function is driving the DDR3 memory modules. Because the controller is in the processor, the communication between the CPU memory is expected to increase significantly compared to CPU Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Quad. According to Intel, increasing system memory bandwidth now reaches more than twice the performance compared to earlier when tested using the SiSoft Sandra 2009.

Another advantage of this architecture is that there is an option to disable or enable parts of processors (cores, caches, I / O, system memory) dynamically and separately. This will enable better notebook save power when idle or during low load conditions (consider there is no current leakage in the disabled section).

Role of Turbo-Boost

Because i7 CPU running at lower clock speed (between 1.6 to 2.0 GHz), Turbo Boost technology that has been introduced in the Core 2 Duo CPU now plays a more important role. By depending on the amount of load and temperature, a single core CPU can be overclocked separately. For example, if only one core used to complete the job (and if adequate cooling system), Core i7-820QM processor can be overclocked from 1,73 GHz to 3.06 GHz. Because of this automatic overclocking capabilities, i7 processors with lower clock speed can achieve higher performance when running older applications (such as various old games), which usually uses one core only. Not surprisingly, the i7 processors performance exceeded Core 2 Duo processors when running various such ‘old’ applications.

The Return of Hyper-threading era

Hyper-Threading technology, which has been introduced in the era of Pentium 4 (Northwood), is now reused by Intel Core i7. If the processors’ core are not fully utilized (ie only executing one floating point operation), Hyper-Threading technology will run a second thread to increase the utilization of the processor core. Because of the presence of Hyper-Threading technology, this seems to have 8 core processor that can work 25 percent faster.

The use of an integrated memory controller and quad core design also resulted in changes in the structure of the i7 cache. Multi-level shared cache is no longer just rely exclusively to the lagre Level-2 cache, but also taking advantage of Level-3 cache. This change is expected to pump performance, particularly when running multithreaded applications.

More Electricity Saving

Because the memory controller integrated in the processor, i7 system design has become simpler. When compared to the use of three chips in the Core 2 Duo system (CPU, Northbridge chip, and Southbridge), i7 core processor chipset requires only one assistant, who handles PCI-E connections, USB, SATA, LAN connections, and voice. One example of this is the PM55 chipset (Ibex Peak), with the ability to handle 14 USB 2.0 ports, 6 ports SATA 3 GB / s, and 8 PCIe 2.0 x1 connections (with a capacity of 2.5 GT). Because it does not contain a memory controller, PM55 chipset will only drains 3.5 W TDP power (compared to 7 W power drawn by the previous PM45 chipset).

With such specifications, it is not surprising that the total power consumption is 45 watts (which sucked by the Clarksfield) plus 3.5 watts (which is drawn by the chipset PM55), still considered better than the power used by the Core 2 Quad (45 watts) + chipset PM45 (7 watts) + chipset ICH9M (2.5 watts) in total.

Performance

According to Intel, this new architecture is promised to be achieved satisfactory performance when running nearly all applications, compared with the previous Core 2 Duo processor. For example, compared with Quad-Core QX9300 processor, the processor i7 920XM performance recorded an increase of 10 to 80 percent. And because it has been equipped with automatic overclocking facilities, i7 also noted a high achievement, both in single mode applications or application thread multithread mode. QX9300 only superior when in certain situations where the overclocking process can not be done automatically by i7.

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