The Intel i5 and i7 processors, or central processing units, are the mid-range and top-level entries of Intel's flagship Core brand for desktop and laptop PCs. The Intel Core i7 made its debut in 2009 and the Intel Core i5 followed a year later. At the time of publication, the i5 and i7 processors are in the second generation of production.
Cores, Manufacture and Designations
The Intel Core i5 is designed as a dual- or quad-core processor, which means that each i5 CPU has two or four cores, or processing units. The Intel Core i7 offers a six-core choice as well. The older chips use the 45-nanometer manufacturing standard, which debuted in 2008, while the newer chips adhere to the smaller 32-nanometer lithographic node, which appeared in 2010. The chips installed on laptop PCs have the letter M as a suffix to their model numbers to distinguish them as mobile processors. Higher performing but low energy-efficient versions labeled Extreme Edition are also available.
Core Speed
The Intel Core i5 has a core speed range of 1.07 to 3.6 GHz, while the Intel Core i7's speed ranges from 1.6 to 3.46 GHz. The core speed -- also known as the processing speed -- is the rate at which the CPU performs its basic tasks. The Core i5 and i7 processors were some of the first CPUs to receive the Intel Turbo Boost, which significantly increased the core speed when the operating system demands its highest level of performance.
Sockets and Data Transfer
The sockets used by the Core i5 for connection with the motherboard are the LGA 1155 and 1156, as well as the micro-PGA 989. Intel adds sockets such as the LGA 1366, micro-PGA-988 and BGA-1288 for the i7. Most Core i5 and i7 CPUs have a data transfer speed of 2.5 gigatransfers (2.5 billion transfers) per second using Intel's Direct Media Interface. However, Intel introduced the QuickPath Interconnect technology to some Core i7 processors, increasing data transfer rates to as high as 6.4 gigatransfers per second.
Caches and Instruction Sets
Each Intel Core i5 and i7 processor has three caches. Referenced as Level 1 cache, Level 2 cache and Level 3 cache, they are small memory banks on the chip allowing the computer to access high-speed memory. Intel lists the storage space choices of the i5's L3 cache as 3 megabytes, 4 MB, 6 MB and 8 MB. The L3 cache choices of the i7 are 4 MB, 6 MB, 8 MB and 12 MB. In addition to being 64-bit processors, the Core i5 and i7 are backwards compatible with Intel's older instruction sets such as MMX and the first few generations of Streaming SIMD Extensions.
Tags: Intel Core, Level cache, cache Level, cache Level cache, Core processors, core speed, data transfer