FSB of i3 i5 & i7

[AngelChau]

Hello,you can see that parameters relating to FSB no longer exist in i3, i5 &i7. Explain why this is the case, and discuss on the new feature(s) which replace FSB.

 

[jaquith]

Welcome to Tom's Forums!

FSB ~ Base Clock are essentially the same 'thing', the differences are the Frequencies. The Base Clock of the current Sandy Bridge, LGA 1155, is relatively 'fixed' at 100 MHz {98~105 MHz 'acceptable range'}. The CPU and RAM work off 'Multipliers' to yield the 'Speed' - e.g. CPU Multiplier 36 X 100 MHz = 3600 MHz or 3.6GHz; Memory Multiplier 16 X 100 MHz = 1600 MHz. The reason it's so 'fixed' is because Intel decided to bind the Base Clock to items like 'SATA, USB, PCI...' which are not tolerant to Base Clock adjustments, etc; see -> http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/07/22/intel-to-limit-sandy-bridge-overclocking/1

The upcoming 'SB-E' LGA 2011 seems to have reverted back to an 'unfixed' or variable approach as in past LGA variants {LGA 1156, 1366, etc}.

Prior LGA 1156 i3 i5 & i7 use a Base Clock often referred as 'BCLK' of 133 ⅓ MHz and is 'unfixed' or variable.

Article -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_multiplier