# Core i9 Engineering Sample Shows 6-Core Power



## topgear (Nov 26, 2009)

Early Gulftown engineering sample previewed.

Polish computer site PCLab managed to secure an engineering sample of an Intel chip manufactured on the Westmere 32nm process, containing six-cores and 12MB of L3. Yes, it certainly looks like Gulftown – the codename for what likely will end up being marketed as Core i9.

Despite Gulftown not being officially supported yet the testers managed to get Gulftown to work on three boards: Gigabyte EX58-Extreme, ASUS Rampage II Gene and ASUS P6T SE, thanks to the chip using LGA 1366 socket. Of course, the BIOSes for the motherboards weren't optimized for Gulftown just yet, so there were some performance issues – particularly in the memory department.

Overall, test results showed that Gulftown performs as many would hope it would with an extra two Hyperthreaded cores. Multithreaded applications saw impressive gains thanks to the bump in 50 percent greater number of cores.

The early benchmarks show a very impressive chip from the Westmere family that we'll be seeing in 2010. Check out PCLab for the full preview.

*media.bestofmicro.com/K/Z/231443/original/vantage_cpu.png

*media.bestofmicro.com/L/0/231444/original/power_load.png

*media.bestofmicro.com/K/Y/231442/original/temp_load.png

*pclab.pl/art39718.html

*www.tomshardware.com/news/gulftown-core-i9-benchmarks-tests,9152.html


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## desiibond (Nov 26, 2009)

goddamn it. three times the power of Phenom II at only 15W extra load. Insanely cool


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## tarzan007 (Nov 26, 2009)

damn awesome, cant wait to get my hands on it


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## asingh (Nov 26, 2009)

And now the i7 - 1366 is OLD. 
Heck.......!


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## desiibond (Nov 26, 2009)

how many pins will i9 have? My wild guess is "2012" 

if I am right this core i9 should work with X58  and LGA1366


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## asingh (Nov 26, 2009)

Well I guess this is a good summary. Yes the i9, will be the 1366 socket/X58 chipset. (Hopefully). Great upgrade path for the i7.

Interestingly look at the 32nm process, with a whooping 12MB cache.

*www.newtechnology.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/intel-core-i.jpg*www.newtechnology.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/intel-core-i.jpg
**Image courtesy Overclock.net*

*www.overclock.net/picture.php?albumid=1198&pictureid=8436
**Image courtesy Overclock.net*

6x2 threads can go in at the same time for processing. Is that hyper threading or crazy threading....!!!! 

Hope the 2xQPI does not start to bottleneck.


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## topgear (Nov 27, 2009)

Intel is going to stay as the performance monster .....

I think core i5 will obsolete pretty soon if intel is going to cut down the prices of core i7 after the release of core i9.


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## tkin (Nov 27, 2009)

topgear said:


> Intel is going to stay as the performance monster .....
> 
> I think core i5 will obsolete pretty soon if intel is going to cut down the prices of core i7 after the release of core i9.


The review is removed from the source site, apparently intel wants to hold the reviews back, the retail CPU may provide even better results.


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## asingh (Nov 27, 2009)

^^ The 32nm wafers should OC like crazy. 

Yea...!


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## tkin (Nov 27, 2009)

asigh said:


> ^^ The 32nm wafers should OC like crazy.
> 
> Yea...!


Where's the world at?? nVidia and AMD struggling to get by 40nm(with less than 50% yields fro TSMC, and Global foundries doing 65nm or stuff) and Intel has working 32nm ready, if I was AMD then instead of getting the 1b dollar from Intel I would get their 45nm/32nm process tech.


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## asingh (Nov 27, 2009)

^^ Intel can really push it. Seriously. No matter how much we rant and criticize the marketing practices of Intel. Hats off to them, for bringing better and newer technology to our door steps so quickly. 

How has Intel managed to get good yields, and not the GPU companies. Of course the chip design is different. But I still wonder...


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## tkin (Nov 27, 2009)

asigh said:


> ^^ Intel can really push it. Seriously. No matter how much we rant and criticize the marketing practices of Intel. Hats off to them, for bringing better and newer technology to our door steps so quickly.
> 
> How has Intel managed to get good yields, and not the GPU companies. Of course the chip design is different. But I still wonder...


Well the reason is surely the intel Fabs, currently the only two Fabs that nVidia/AMD can use is TSMC and GF, GF is stuck @ 65nm till 2012 when they jump to 32nm instead, and TSMC's whole 40nm node is POS, yields are less that 50%, thanks to them 5970,5870 and even 5850 has turned into a paper launch in US where the demand is high, if intel bought nVidia then no doubt Fermi would hit the shelves Q1 2009, and prototype boards would have come to attention as early as 2008, just like Gulftown.


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## asingh (Nov 27, 2009)

^^
You mean Intel has it owns plants to diffuse the cores..?


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## tkin (Nov 27, 2009)

asigh said:


> ^^
> You mean Intel has it owns plants to diffuse the cores..?


Of coarse, they produce their own cores, while AMD, nVidia is fabless and relies on TSMC or other fabs.
From Intel:


> *How many factories do you have worldwide, where are they located and what percentage of your workforce do they employ?*
> Intel has 15 wafer fabs in production worldwide at nine locations. Fab production sites within the United States are located in Chandler, Ariz.; Santa Clara, Calif.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Hudson, Mass.; Rio Rancho, N.M.; and Hillsboro, Ore.; and outside the United States in Leixlip, Ireland; Jerusalem, Israel; and Kiryal Gat, Israel. Two new fabs are under construction at existing sites in Arizona and Israel.
> 
> The company has six assembly and test sites worldwide and is building a seventh, all of them outside the U.S. Assembly and test sites outside the United States are located in Shanghai, China; Chengdu, China; San Jose, Costa Rica; Kulim, Malaysia; Penang, Malaysia; and Cavite, Philippines. An assembly and testing site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is under construction. There is one testing facility and one assembly development facility inside the U.S.
> ...


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## asingh (Nov 27, 2009)

^^
Gosh. Never knew this. Wow. Thanks *Tkin*. 
This clearly shows the advantage Intel has over other SC companies. Shoot....!


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## tkin (Nov 27, 2009)

asigh said:


> ^^
> Gosh. Never knew this. Wow. Thanks *Tkin*.
> This clearly shows the advantage Intel has over other SC companies. Shoot....!


Not really, except nVidia and AMD all most all have fabs, Toshiba and samsung trail intel closely behind.

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_sales_leaders_by_year


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Nov 27, 2009)

tkin said:


> , GF is stuck @ 65nm till 2012 when they jump to 32nm instead,



ok how are u sayin this?
give me a source... cuz the last time i checked GF is doing 45 nm( heard of Phenom II CPU's) & they plan to do mass production of 32/28 nm in 2010.. go check out there website

dude just dont say whatever that comes to your mind


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## tkin (Nov 28, 2009)

ssk_the_gr8 said:


> ok how are u sayin this?
> give me a source... cuz the last time i checked GF is doing 45 nm( heard of Phenom II CPU's) & they plan to do mass production of 32/28 nm in 2010.. go check out there website
> 
> dude just dont say whatever that comes to your mind


I always check my sources:



> Fabrication facilities
> Fab 1
> 
> Fab 1, located in Dresden, Germany is a 364,512 m² plant. When transferred to Globalfoundries in its inception, Fab 36 and Fab 38 were renamed Module 1 and Module 2, respectively. Each module can produce 25,000 wafers per month. [2]
> ...



The fab 1, as currently operating has two modules, one is in transition phase and the other in production of 65 and 45nm parts, according to some reports the working module produces the large amount of 45nm parts(aka Phenom) but bear in mind amd still produces chipsets and they are 65nm nodes. Although some chipset production(790G) is done on TSMC rather than glofo.

That last post was a typo, I admit but the point I was trying to make was in terms of process tech, intel is one gen ahead of amd(glofo).


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Nov 28, 2009)

790fx.... and all the 7 series chipsets are 55nm.... i guess the 600 series must be 65nm
anyway glofo plan to do 32 nm in 2010 in dresden itself..not in 2012

and where's the link to the source?


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## topgear (Nov 28, 2009)

tkin said:


> The review is removed from the source site, apparently intel wants to hold the reviews back, the retail CPU may provide even better results.



Yup, I know that the review was removed from the source site - actually got to know before posting in here while I was checking every link 

I second your prediction - the retail cpu will provide better results  and I think intel will introduce a new chipset along with their 32nm performance monster say x68 - anyone ?


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## tkin (Nov 28, 2009)

ssk_the_gr8 said:


> 790fx.... and all the 7 series chipsets are 55nm.... i guess the 600 series must be 65nm
> anyway glofo plan to do 32 nm in 2010 in dresden itself..not in 2012
> 
> and where's the link to the source?


Wikipaedia, look up global foundries, and amd 790 chipsets.

And yes, partly, 790FX, 790X, are 65nm, others from 790 and 785, 780 are 55nm all made in TSMC, I think some older 600 series is made in glofo.


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