Intel to Cannibalize Core i7 920 / 940

[qwerty_lesh]

Kinda gald now that I have a 920. It makes some sense why Intel would be doing this, since they have already had to delay the i5 release dates because of parner excess iventory (does that make sense??).
But what sucks is I wont be able to pay about the same price as i did for my 920 to get a better CPU, i'll have to in future look at paying a silly amount for a processing improvement.
Oh HaZe303, guess what happens if our 920's break and theres no inventory for them anymore, Free upgrade much??
there are some upsides for existing owners, but theres no upside for those planning on going i7 and have not done so yet.

 

[LittleLizard]

it makes a lot of sense that intel do this and luckily for me, i never got high end, just low end

 

[n-ster]

OMG that means if I buy i7 I won't have an upgrade path?!? So I'm getting screwed? They better make some affordable good Xeon lga 1366 processors or I'll assassinate someone... In mid-June I'm buying Assassin's i7 system.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[DaveK]

So If I want Core i7 I have to buy the 950 or the 965 for €999, fucking bullshit.

 

[Soylent Joe]

When the i5's hit the market, I wonder if all the C2D's and C2Q's will lower in price. If so, when are the i5's supposed to be coming out, because if it's soon, I might hold of on buying a CPU for my new build.

 

[n-ster]

C2Qs and C2D's will not be manufactured anymore, so I'd guess it won't change in price since people who don't want to upgrade their mobo/RAM will jump on them?

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Confused

Why is everyone so shocked. I saw this coming a mile away. Just wait, several of the higher end Core 2 Quads will be killed off soon as well.

This is just bad for the consumers all around. 3 different sockets, no interchangeability among them, no clue as to which will be continued in the future, and overlapping performance removing good products from the market.

I will be honest, my next upgrade will be AMD 955, but I am not a fanboy so I will not start a defense rant here. The i7 920 was a great product with just about perfect price point. i7's only real weakness was the expense of the Intel chipsets and the random lawsuit mess with Nvidia about their i7 solution. Between the crap they started with Nvidia and the i5 were just bad decisions in my opinion. An i5 is little more than a deliberately crippled i7, so why change the socket? I was going with an i7 920 for a while, but after all that mess, I just can't help them dick people.

 

[btarunr]

There's reason to cheer (for those planning to buy an i7 setup). Anandtech found out that Lynnfield 2.66 GHz is almost as fast as an i7 920. http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3570&p=2

What's more, the i5 chip will sell for under $200 ($196 to be precise). P55 motherboards shouldn't be as expensive as X58, and dual-channel DDR3 is cheaper anyway.

 

[n-ster]

WHAT DO YOU GUYS NOT UNDERSTAND? i5 was and is supposed to replace Core 2 in general... of course "several of the higher end Core 2 Quads will be killed off soon as well" since all Core 2s will

saw this coming a mile away

I doubt that

 

[TheMailMan78]

There's reason to cheer (for those planning to buy an i7 setup). Anandtech found out that Lynnfield 2.66 GHz is almost as fast as an i7 920. http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3570&p=2

What's more, the i5 chip will sell for under $200 ($196 to be precise). P55 motherboards shouldn't be as expensive as X58, and dual-channel DDR3 is cheaper anyway.

But if you took the lead and bought an i7 your "screwed" for an upgrade path. Correct?

But honestly guys if I had bought an i7 I would be extremely happy still. Even if I lost an upgrade path. Why? Because the i7 is so damn fast by the time you NEED to upgrade it will be time for a whole new system anyway.

I wouldnt sweat this news. I rocked a 939 less than a year ago. It still runs great and runs every game on the market.........AMD FTW!

 

[Binge]

Taiwanese motherboard guys talk about Intel making a drastic move. I hope a lot of folks panic just because people other than Intel make a bold statement. That article says enough to get people making decisions but not enough to validate this or lead me to believe Intel will discontinue the server/workstation (Xeon) i7 cpus.

 

[dccmadams]

I think i7 was the test/beta platform. The i7 will be the socket left out down the road.

 

[soryuuha]

Will Core i5 mobo have SLI ?

Iianm the SLI license only for X58..

 

[btarunr]

But if you took the lead and bought an i7 your "screwed" for an upgrade path. Correct?

Incorrect. If you want to upgrade from a Core i7 920, you still have the $650 i7 950, and the Extreme Edition chips. The upgrade path for existing i7 920 users won't be affected a big deal.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Incorrect. If you want to upgrade from a Core i7 920, you still have the $650 i7 950, and the Extreme Edition chips. The upgrade path for existing i7 920 users won't be affected a big deal.

The i5 is a different socket?

 

[btarunr]

The i5 is a different socket?

i5 is going to be there, so are 'expensive' i7 chips.

Earlier you were going from your existing $280 i7 920 to a $550 i7 940 or the $1000 i7 965XE. Now the next upgrade will be to $650 (950), and the $1000 (975 XE), and beyond. So you see, the upgrade path isn't badly affected. 920 is awesome. If I already have a 920, I wouldn't spend another ~$400 moving to another chip that still has locked bus multiplier albeit a few notches higher. The elusive ~$1000 Extreme Edition is always there. If you want to go i7 and have already saved $270+, at least buy the chip and hoard it till you can buy memory and motherboard later. Otherwise, go Core i5. For $200, get nearly what i7 920 offers. The upgrade path however, ends at the 2.93 GHz ~$600 chip.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

This i5/i7 foolery is exactly what a company in an almost monopoly position does. Why not charge extra so that you can say that you run the very "best"? This attitude has existed with Intel for some time and is the reason that they spend so much time in court. What if it latter comes out that the i7 is really no better than i5? Remember, the i5 chip that was tested was crippled. Can you say class action lawsuit? If you're going to change sockets, just do it. i5 is going to have a cloud over it of "what am I limiting myself to?" while the i7 has a cloud over it of "am I just paying extra for entrance to the "club"?". From an inventory stand point, having two platforms makes no sense.

 

[TheMailMan78]

i5 is going to be there, so are 'expensive' i7 chips.

Earlier you were going from your existing $280 i7 920 to a $550 i7 940. Now the next upgrade will be to $650 (950), and the $999 (975 XE), and beyond. So you see, the upgrade path isn't badly affected. 920 is awesome. If I already have a 920, I wouldn't spend another ~$400 moving to another chip that still has locked bus multiplier albeit a few notches higher. The elusive ~$1000 Extreme Edition is always there.

Then it does make sense. I'm not so sure I like the idea of multi-platforms but what you said isn't as bad as some have you believe. As always thanks for the education!

 

[Soylent Joe]

Now I feel bad that I'm getting a C2D for my new gaming PC.

 

[a_ump]

what puzzles me is that intel doesn't want i5 to be near i7, so they're simply removing the entry i7's. Yet with c2d E7500 and E7600 could usually overclock as much or more than the E8400, with performance right on it's ass or better if the oc was better yet the E75/76 are priced $20/30 cheaper. Guess i7 is important to not get it's territory disturbed by i5 so they just shorten their line up to the $600 and $1000 cpu. lol i7 sales good bye, but i bet i5 is gonna boom, esp the 2.66ghz one. If that chip performs with games and in general like it did in the cinemark benchmark that anandtech posted, intel is goin to make some nice cash, not to mention i thk it'll hurt AMD's PII sales

 

[Binge]

Anybody bothered read the bit at the end about how the i7s OC in comparison to the Lynnfield?

 

[btarunr]

Anybody bothered read the bit at the end about how the i7s OC in comparison to the Lynnfield?

I did, and I will wait for people to actually buy and OC it. Before its release, the press wrote-off i7's OC capabilities the same way. If i5 sucked at overclocking, there would've been no way Gigabyte designed a 24-phase (redundant) motherboard, or some even designing boards with digital PWM. They would know before hand, and hence know what kinds of motherboards to design.

 

[n-ster]

IMO the 200$ chip won't go over 4ghz easily

 

[thebluebumblebee]

and if i5 doesn't overclock, they play right into AMD's hands, who is boasting about their overclocking. If Intel is found to be artificially limiting the overclocking on the i5, it will make for bad press at the least and a law suit at the worst. To the leader goes the spoils. AMD sold the FX-60 for $1000 in it's day even as Intel caught up.

 

[Kantastic]

Heh, looks like my dream of buying an i7 in 2 years when they become the dual cores of today are gone. ^_^ oh well!