Intel's Core i7 has proven to be a fitting successor to Intel's higher-end Core 2 series processors, and is the fastest series of microprocessors the industry has to offer. Introduced in three variants: models 920 (2.66 GHz), 940 (2.93 GHz) and 965 XE (3.20 GHz), Intel targeted the sub-$300, sub-$600, and sub-$1100 segments. Due to the reasonably good overclocking potential the chips offer, 920 has been a successful variant due to its price, while 965 XE sold due to the sheer fact that it's a high-end chip with bus multipliers unlocked. The 940, however seems to have fallen in a tough spot, where buyers have to pay almost twice the price of 920 for a small increase in speeds.

To provide a better deal for the sub-$600 segment, Intel is in the works of phasing-out the Core i7 940. In its place, Intel will introduce the Core i7 950. This chip first surfaced in February. Its specifications include clock-speed increased to 3.06 GHz, while retaining the 4.8 GT/s QPI speed. This chip widens the gap between itself and the 920, providing the incentive of a significantly higher bus multiplier (23 x 133 MHz). An increased multiplier value will have its impact on the overclocking potential. As for 940, the company will continue taking orders from channel vendors till September 4th, in both tray and boxed forms, which will be delivered by November 5th and December 4th, respectively.

Earlier this month, news surfaced of Intel working on a new Extreme Edition (XE) Core i7 chip, model 975, that displaces the existing Core i7 965 XE from its existing price-point to grab the $999 in 1,000 unit tray quantities price-point. The 975 XE is to be accompanied by another new SKU in the making: the Core i7 950.

The new chip is bound to displace the Core i7 940 from its existing price point of $562. It features higher clock speed, bus multiplier value and is built on the newer D0 revision of the Bloomfield core. The chip will feature a clock speed of 3.06 GHz. It achieves this speed using a multiplier value of 23X. The new chip is expected to be introduced sometime in Q2, 2009.

Alienware introduced its fleet of high-performance gaming PCs based on Intel's newest Core i7 processors. The range is branded as Area 51 X-58. Its range starts from US $1,349, with the base model using the Core i7 920 processor, which is configurable to Core i7 940 and the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition. Memory options go up to 12 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, and base graphics card being the ATI Radeon HD 4870, configurable up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 SLI or Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX.

There are options for up to 2 TB of storage, or the option to pick performance over storage, with two WD VelociRaptor 300 GB drives in RAID 0. Parallel to this brand is Alienware's other brand, the ALX X-58. The ALX comes with the same base CPU and memory, but ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 or two GeForce 9800 GTX, 2 TB of storage, along with the option of a Blu-Ray burner. The ALX X-58 starts at $3,699. These systems come equipped with 700, 1000 or 1200W power supplies depending on the hardware opted for.

As the computer enthusiast community gears up for Nehalem November, with reports suggesting a series of product launches for both Intel's Core i7 processors and compatible motherboards, Industry observer PC Online.cn have already published an in-depth review of the Core i7 940 2.93 GHz processor. The processor is based on the Bloomfield core, and essentially the Nehalem architecture that has been making news for over an year now. PC Online went right to the heart of the matter, evaluating the 192-bit wide (tri-channel) memory interface, and the advantage of HyperThreading on four physical cores. In the tests, the 2.93 GHz Bloomfield chip was pitted against a Core 2 Extreme QX9770 operating at both its reference speed of 3.20 GHz, and underclocked to 2.93 GHz, so a clock to clock comparison could be brought about.

The evaluation found that the performance increments tri-channel offers over dual-channel memory, in real world applications and games, are just about insignificant. Super Pi Mod 1.4 shows only a fractional lead for tri-channel over dual-channel, and the trend continued with Everest Memory Benchmark. On the brighter side, the integrated memory controller does offer improvements over the previous generation setup, with the northbridge handling memory. Even in games such as Call of Duty 4 and Crysis, tri-channel memory did not shine.