The Lynnfield Preview: Rumblings of Revenge
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 29, 2009 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Lynnfield Pricing and Specs
From Intel’s first disclosure of Nehalem we knew that the architecture, albeit optimized for quad-core processors, would scale up to 8 cores and down to 2:
Lynnfield, however, does not scale Nehalem’s core count in any direction. The eight-core derivative is Nehalem-EX and the two-core versions will appear later this year in 32nm mobile form. Lynnfield is a direct replacement for the quad-core Penryn CPUs that have dominated the market for the past year and a half.
| Name | Manufacturing Process | Cores | Target Market | Release |
| Gulftown | 32nm | 6 | High End Desktop | 1H 2010 |
| Core i7 (Bloomfield) | 45nm | 4 | High End Desktop | Q4 2008 |
| Lynnfield | 45nm | 4 | Performance Desktop | Q3 2009 |
| Clarksfield | 45nm | 4 | High End Mobile | Q3 2009 |
| Clarkdale | 32nm | 2 | Mainstream Desktop | Q4 2009 |
| Arrandale | 32nm | 2 | Mobile | Q4 2009 |
A few places have published rumored Intel roadmaps for Lynnfield, indicating that three Lynnfield chips will be launched in the second half of this year:
| Model Number | Clock Speed | Cores / Threads | Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency | TDP | Price |
| ? | 2.93GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.60GHz | 95W | $562 |
| ? | 2.80GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.46GHz | 95W | $284 |
| ? | 2.66GHz | 4 / 4 | 3.20GHz | 95W | $196 |
All of the processors are quad-core Nehalems with the same cache sizes as the Core i7. The only crippled beast is the entry level Lynnfield that has Hyper Threading disabled. Note the ridiculously high turbo frequencies which are, I believe, Lynnfield’s secret weapon.
| Processor | Price |
| Intel Core i7-940 (2.93GHz) | $562 |
| Intel Lynnfield 2.93GHz | $562 |
| Intel Core i7-920 (2.66GHz) | $284 |
| Intel Lynnfield 2.80GHz | $284 |
| Intel Lynnfield 2.66GHz | $196 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.00GHz) | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz) | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 (2.66GHz) | $213 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 (2.66GHz) | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33GHz) | $163 |
With a 2.66GHz Lynnfield and a $100 P55 motherboard you now have the ability to deliver a good quad-core system at around $150 - $200 cheaper than the cheapest Core i7. Price-wise the 2.66GHz Lynnfield would be priced cheaper than today's Core 2 Quad Q9400, and as you'll see Lynnfield is clearly a faster bet.
The 2.80GHz Lynnfield should also be able to outperform the i7-920 without a problem, at a lower total system cost as well.
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Hyperion1400 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
*Presses imaginary edit button*"Don't forget, Istanbul is heading..."
MadMan007 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Awesome preview, too bad about HT.I think there's an error with the labelling for the first pass x264 encoding test on pg 7.
dwade123 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
i5 is perfect for ITX motherboard compared to i7. Can't wait!!!nubie - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
+1 they need to get an ITX motherboard for these immediately, if not sooner!One chip motherboard with integrated PCI-e x16 is perfect for ITX gaming system, should drive the cost of them way way down :)
Dual x8 PCI-e 2.0 is fine for Crossfire or SLi (not that I would ever plan to run them)
Is there any chance of an nVidia 9800/GTS250 integrated ITX motherboard? I would just about die if you could get one of those for around $200 ;)
Mr Perfect - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Absolutely! Can you imagine all that horsepower in such a small FF? Hopefully Zotac makes another mini-ITX with a x16 slot on it.Depeche - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
By the time I got the i7 the i5 comes out and when I finally get the i5 some other series comes out. I can't keep up :)Get these CPUs in the Bench Beta :P
A5 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
This kind of thing (and the motherboard round-ups that used to be here) were the reasons I came to AT. If this pans out, I'm definitely building a Lynnfield system to replace my aging Socket-939 rig.philosofool - Monday, August 3, 2009 - link
As a bonus, if you buy into LGA 1156 now, you will probably be able to get a considerable upgrade in 2 years just by replacing the CPU. The LGA 1156 socket should last awhile, at least as long as LGA 775, but maybe longer, because the memory controller was the big reason for a new socket.nuudles - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link
I agree, great article!I also have only an an old s939 rig (opteron 150 - so i am still in the single-core world), and I also suspect this is the one I have been waiting for:)
I initially thought I would wait a bit longer till the 32nm parts come out (damn Intel for their tick-tock), but since the first 32nm parts will be more mainstream (2C/4T) where the Lynnfields are high-end mainstream (or whatever its called) I think the 2.8 Lynnfield would suit me nicely for the next 3-4 years.
faxon - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link
yea i would wait man. i upgraded from my 939 rig to an e5200 and now i have a Q9650 @ 4GHz @ 1.296vcore. given the performance benchmarks, even a 3.7ghz lynnfield will probably outperform my 4GHZ quad in games