Posted 11/15/08 at 06:40:20 PM by Justin Kerr

It may have been little more than a cruel mistake, but Newegg certainly got our hopes up by showing Core i7 CPU’s for sale a whole three days before the official launch. The offending links and advertisements were quickly pulled from the site and now, little more than a handful of screenshots exist as evidence.

Core i7 is currently slated for launch on November 17^th and it appears as though we’ll have to wait until then to place our orders. Normally, this incident wouldn’t classify as news, but the Newegg slip up does give us a pretty good idea of what the retail pricing will be on the three new SKU’s. The site was offering the 2.66GHz entry level part for $319.99, while the 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz models were priced at $599.99 and $1069.99 respectively. UK customers are seeing similar pricing and power users the world over are waiting with egger anticipation to embrace the new architecture.  This isn’t surprising given that early benchmarks have the entry level Core i7’s mopping the floor with pricier, and higher clocked Core 2’s.

 So are you going to buy a Core i7 on Monday?

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intel, hardware, Processors, Newegg, cpus, build a pc, x58, core i7, i7

Posted 11/03/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Gordon Mah Ung

Tick tock? More like ding-dong, mutha—shut your mouth. What baby? We’re talkin’ about Core i7.

Our apologies to Isaac Hayes, but if he were alive, we’re almost certain he would have been tapped to hammer out a theme song for Intel’s most significant CPU launch in, well, ever.

Why is this CPU more significant than the 8088, Pentium, or Pentium M? As the second new chip produced after a series of embarrassing losses to archrival AMD, the Core i7 will answer for the world whether Intel is prepared to ride the momentum of its Core 2 launch with another winning chip or if it’s content to rest on its laurels, as it did with the Pentium 4.

Core i7 also represents a major new direction for Intel, which has stubbornly clung to the ancient front-side-bus architecture and discrete memory controller for years. Indeed, with its triple-channel integrated DDR3 memory controller and chip-to-chip interconnect, the block map of a Core i7 looks more like an Athlon 64 than a Core 2 chip.

Intel actually has three quad-core Core i7 CPUs ready: the top-end 3.2GHz Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, the performance-oriented 2.93GHz Core i7-940, and the midrange 2.66GHz Core i7-920. For the most part, all three are exactly the same except for clock speeds, multiplier locking (only the Extreme is unlocked), and QuickPath Interconnect speed. See the chart on page 42 for details.

The bigger issue is how Core i7 performs. To find out, we ran the Extreme 965 against AMD’s fastest proc as well as Intel’s previous top gun in a gauntlet of benchmarks. Read on for the results.

Continue reading for our comprehensive review and benchmarks!

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intel, nehalem, benchmarks, hardware, Processors, cpus, features, build a pc, x58, core i7, i7

Posted 07/14/08 at 02:10:00 AM by David Murphy

And thus, the grand story of the Dream Machine 2008 comes to its final edition.  And do we have a reveal for you!  We're going to show you the ultra-secret case that encloses the mighty guts of our speedy Skulltrail machine.  We're also giving you a first-look at the not-quite-as-secret videocards powering the graphics of this hefty rig.  Before it catches ablaze, we'll also show you the cooling setup and what we used to rock out whilst checking the cooler for leaks.

That's right.  Today, you're getting the case, the graphics, the cooling and the sound--an epic conclusion to the most powerful rig we've ever built.  If you're just joining us, you'll want to check out the beginning of the story as well as the second edition of the Dream Machine saga, where we officially showed off this machine's spankin'-fast processors.

But enough small-talk.  Click that little "read more" link and prepare thyself for greatness.

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dream machine, optical drives, motherboards, Memory, hardware, blackbird, cpus, build a pc, rigs, 4870x2

Posted 07/07/08 at 11:45:48 AM by David Murphy

Here we go again!  It's time for our second look at what's going into the Maximum PC Dream Machine 2008!  If you're just joining us, here's the skinny: once a year, the Maximum PC staff descends to its underground lair.  After a number of bizarre and dark technological rituals (we sacrifice an iMac), the team emerges with a gift blessed by the Gods of Technology themselves: the Dream Machine.  It is, hands-down, the single-greatest computer you could ever hope to assemble based on the year's best (and sometimes unreleased) products!

This is an epic three-part series, and you're on step number two.  If you want to start from the beginning, check out our unveiling of the rig's keyboard, mouse, display and hard drive(s). If you're ready for more Dream Machine action, we're taking a look at the system's CPU(s), motherboard, optical drive, and memory this time around.

Grab a cold beverage and prepare to feast your eyes on splendor by clicking that little "Read More" link.

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dream machine, optical drives, motherboards, Memory, hardware, cpus, build a pc, rigs

Posted 01/16/08 at 01:30:07 PM by Tom Edwards

This week, we present an all-listener-mail edition of the podcast! Join Tom, Dave, Will, Gordon, and Jeremy as we tackle a load of tough tech questions. Of course, we'll bring you Gordon's rant of the week as well.

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337

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vista, gaming, No BS Podcast, doctor, cpus, rant