Gulftown Core i9 reviewed

[Ci7]

Our friends from PClab.pl have managed to score a sample of Intel's upcoming Gulftown Core i9 processor. Intel's 32nm, 6-core beast was put through its paces on three motherboards and the PClab crew compared the results to Core i5, Core i7, Core 2 Quad and Phenom II parts.

As expected, the 6-core clocked at 2800MHz made short work of the competition in all multi-core optimized benchmarks, but clock-per-clock, core-per-core, the Gulftown is not much faster than Core i5 or Core i7 processors. Professional users stand to benefit a great deal from the additional 2 cores and Hyperthreading support, but this is clearly not a CPU for gamers and regular consumers.

One of the major upshots of the new 32nm process is a significant reduction in power consumption. In most scenarios, Gulftown uses less juice than Core i7 and Core 2 Quad parts, which means a great deal in server applications. At 42?C it was also the coolest CPU in the test. PClab did not complete their overclocking tests and claim they'll have another go at it. However, they managed to squeeze out 4.3GHz on air, without much effort.

Check it out here.

source

[Nagisan]

Very nice review....not surprised there was little to no improvement for games and clock-for-clock tests. The 6-core is obviously geared towards multi-threaded apps where it just shreds even the i7.

Chances are I will not be getting an i9 anytime soon after they release, but when I do decide to upgrade I will not have to replace my mobo, ram, or water block. :p

[_neutrino Veteran]

not really seeing myself noticing any difference if i were to get this due to the type of applications i run on my machine.

[Ci7]

the thing grabbed my attention is this

[Mannlich]

Quite impressive. I wonder what the price tag on these will be?

[ToneKnee]

When more and more applications/games become multi-threaded, we'll see the difference! :)

[ObiWanToby]

Intel's dominant position puts them in a position to milk profit.

Intead of pushing the i7 down in price to make it a higher end part, but still maintream, they create the i5. The i3 was also created. Intead of making 6 cores the high end of the regular mainstream i7 line, they create the i9.

I think we could be happy with the i5 and i7 system only.

[Julius Caro]

Core i9? Did I miss something?

[Ci7]

Core i9? Did I miss something?

yea ,

32nm CPU nextgen

6-core(12 thread) ===> the main difference from Ci7

[ThehAWKs]

this is what i was waiting for im going to build a dual cpu server using intels Gulftown DP server variants 12 core 24 threads.

[Snowl]

when can we expect i9's?

[Elliott]

Overheard at AMD, in reaction to this news: "...f***" :p

[DrDrrae]

These should start seeing the light of day in Q1 2010 for $900+.

[Ci7]

when can we expect i9's?

last i heard Q1 2010!

[Xerxes]

Overheard at AMD, in reaction to this news: "...f***" :p

More like "about time" :p AMD already have 6 core CPUs on the market (arbeit for servers). In terms of performace, yeah AMD have alot of catching up to do. Ever since the introduction of the Core 2 Intel have been wiping the floor with AMD, however, all it will take is Intel to start getting a bit cocky and make a mistake (or specifically get slack) all that might change ;) well that is my 2 cents, take with a grain of salt.

[Ci7]

More like "about time" :p AMD already have 6 core CPUs on the market (arbeit for servers). In terms of performace, yeah AMD have alot of catching up to do. Ever since the introduction of the Core 2 Intel have been wiping the floor with AMD, however, all it will take is Intel to start getting a bit cocky and make a mistake (or specifically get slack) all that might change ;) well that is my 2 cents, take with a grain of salt.

intel did have 6 core CPU for servers long before AMD

Xeon 7000 series since late last year

edit

[Xerxes]

intel did have 6 core server long before AMD

Xeon 7000 series since late last year

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

[Snowl]

These should start seeing the light of day in Q1 2010 for $900+.

I'll stick with i7, thank you very much.

[qdave]

Its a nice cpu, but of no use for me at this moment. Maybe in 3-4 years :)