Monday, September 7th 2009
LGA-1156 CPU and Motherboard US Pricing Surfaces
Ahead of a formal launch, pricing of socket LGA-1156 processors, an untimely leak from Newegg.com that was updating its site, spilled pricing details of a broad range of socket LGA-1156 processors and motherboards. These prices give us an indication of what prices will finally look like, in the US market, and more or less match speculated prices doing rounds for quite some time now.
To begin with, Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 models 860 and 870 are priced at $209.99, $299.99, and $579, respectively, close to the 1000 unit prices that surfaced weeks ahead. At $209.99, the 2.66 GHz Core i5 750 will be highly competitive with AMD's Phenom II X4 BE offerings in that price range. The 2.80 GHz Core i7 860 is expected to perform on par, or better than the Core i7 920, while being priced a notch higher. The Core i7 870 2.93 GHz only holds premium value at $579, since it ends up being the fastest socket LGA-1156 processor money can buy.
On the motherboards front, there are three clear sub-divisions seen, to denote motherboards with a particular kind of feature-set. There's a sub-$150 group that is characterized by basic features the platform provides, with one or two PCI-E x16 slots (with usual lane arrangement of x16, x4). Notable products in the group include MSI P55-CD53 ($119.99), ASUS P7P55D LE ($134.99), Gigabyte P55-UD3R ($139.99), and Biostar TP55 ($119.99). Products in the next group are priced between $150 and $200, and offer mid-range features including two or rarely three PCI-Express slots (usually x8, x8, x4 (if available)), and better overclocking features. Notable products include MSI P55-GD65 ($159.99), ASUS P7P55D EVO ($194.99), ASUS P7P55D Pro ($169.99), Gigabyte P55-UD4P ($169.99), Biostar TPower i55 ($184.99), and EVGA 123-LF-E655-KR (169.99). Finally, the >$200 segment is where the premium fun starts, with high-end, overclocker-grade, or simply feature-packed products. Notable ones include ASUS Maximus III Formula ($249.99), Gigabyte P55-UD6 ($249.99), and EVGA P55 FTW ($229.99). These boards may include three or more PCI-E slots. Some of these up the order could even feature additional PCI-E bridge chips for better interconnect bandwidth.
The so-advertised "P55-compatible" DDR3 memory kits have also made it, and are fairly on-par with standard prices. Manufacturers dropped in some heatspreader/cooler, density, and speed innovations to bring up premium SKUs. The new lineup of processors and compatible motherboards will be made available in this week.
To begin with, Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 models 860 and 870 are priced at $209.99, $299.99, and $579, respectively, close to the 1000 unit prices that surfaced weeks ahead. At $209.99, the 2.66 GHz Core i5 750 will be highly competitive with AMD's Phenom II X4 BE offerings in that price range. The 2.80 GHz Core i7 860 is expected to perform on par, or better than the Core i7 920, while being priced a notch higher. The Core i7 870 2.93 GHz only holds premium value at $579, since it ends up being the fastest socket LGA-1156 processor money can buy.
On the motherboards front, there are three clear sub-divisions seen, to denote motherboards with a particular kind of feature-set. There's a sub-$150 group that is characterized by basic features the platform provides, with one or two PCI-E x16 slots (with usual lane arrangement of x16, x4). Notable products in the group include MSI P55-CD53 ($119.99), ASUS P7P55D LE ($134.99), Gigabyte P55-UD3R ($139.99), and Biostar TP55 ($119.99). Products in the next group are priced between $150 and $200, and offer mid-range features including two or rarely three PCI-Express slots (usually x8, x8, x4 (if available)), and better overclocking features. Notable products include MSI P55-GD65 ($159.99), ASUS P7P55D EVO ($194.99), ASUS P7P55D Pro ($169.99), Gigabyte P55-UD4P ($169.99), Biostar TPower i55 ($184.99), and EVGA 123-LF-E655-KR (169.99). Finally, the >$200 segment is where the premium fun starts, with high-end, overclocker-grade, or simply feature-packed products. Notable ones include ASUS Maximus III Formula ($249.99), Gigabyte P55-UD6 ($249.99), and EVGA P55 FTW ($229.99). These boards may include three or more PCI-E slots. Some of these up the order could even feature additional PCI-E bridge chips for better interconnect bandwidth.
The so-advertised "P55-compatible" DDR3 memory kits have also made it, and are fairly on-par with standard prices. Manufacturers dropped in some heatspreader/cooler, density, and speed innovations to bring up premium SKUs. The new lineup of processors and compatible motherboards will be made available in this week.
28 Comments on LGA-1156 CPU and Motherboard US Pricing Surfaces
Many Thanks to Eli Ded for the info.
lynfield was supposed to be cheap but is really expensive.
what is intel thinking? if lynnfield is a crippled core i7.
just my two cents.
Just check the below 2 links and you will understand who will pay that extra 279$ ;)
www.hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i7_860
www.hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i7_870
I understand the i7 870 is indeed higher binned and see your point, but even so, buying one will not guarantee better OC then i7 860. I still maintain my opinion that Intel is pretty much beginning to capitalize on Nehalem's success and bring the prices to not-justifiable limits. I remember AMD did the same with their Athlons... omg, first 1GHz CPU... let's make it 1000$ and proceed just like Intel.
These should only be the flagship processors. The king of the montain for the 1156 socket. The cost effective and lower priced chips will follow soon. All of these are quads too, so expect to see some dual core variations of the 1156 in the next month or so.
And before you say, "But when they are at the same clock speed", while that argument is perfectly valid, the change in clock speed will void the warrant and change the Thermal Power of the CPU. Not to mention you would then be comparing an OC'ed product to a stock one.
Real World, i7 in price range, better, but not 40% better.
www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=825&p=5
www.hardcoreware.net/amd-phenom-ii-x4-955-black-edition-review/6/
so is encrypting GTA IV www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,672004/GTA-4-PC-Intel-Core-i7-far-ahead-of-Core-2-Quad-in-CPU-benchmarks/Reviews/
And as far as Lynfield...the i5 as i said should behave much like a Phenom II/Core2Quad 12M in the best of cases i5@ 2.66=C2Q/PII@2.8-3.0
Prices are ok too for a change.
Now I have to redesign my friends rig with an i5 750 because it now has the bang for your buck title. Thus putting AMD in a really bad position again. They need to do something unique and stunning real soon or they are going to lose the little ground they have made up thus far.
P.S. The i7 800 series should not have been named thus because it is a 1156 chip. This will create marketing and ad confusion. Now we have two differet sets of i7 processors with different sockets, different memory control systems, etc. They should have named it i6 or something. They are killing the point of the "i" naming system. Why make things "simply" to only mess it all up again.
i3 = dual core
i5 = quad core, no HT
i7 = quad core w/ HT
i9 = six cores - with or without HT i dont know
each i series has a different number of threads, as far as i can tell. correct me if i'm wrong.
the boxes for the CPU's clearly state which socket they're for, so retail confusion will be limited.
I can guarantee you guys and TPU get a bunch of questions related to the different between i5, i7, and i7 800 vs. 900, but I guess that is kinda the point huh.
Dont see why i5 and i7 couldnt have been the platforms, and HT CPU's only be released on "i7" (aka 1336)
It's all explained well right here: www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634