Gigabyte Unveils Core i5 Motherboard
Photo courtesy: EngadgetCore i5 isn't necessarily a new term floating around the Internet, however lately there's been quite a bit of talk about the "Core i7 lite," and now there's a motherboard to support it.
Earlier this week, we reported that P55 motherboards compatible with Intel's Lynnfield CPUs (aka Core i5) may actually start shipping in July, and sure enough, Gigabyte's GA-IBP made a grand appearance at CeBIT this afternoon, months ahead of June's Computex "big reveal" as we originally predicted. In comparison to the meatier Core i7, the Core i5 serves as a cheaper, "lite" alternative for consumers wanting plenty of power but need to pinch pennies.
According to Engadget, on-hand gigabyte representative were tight-lipped about the specifics of the GA-IBP motherboard, saying that many of the details were still under an NDA. Additionally, Intel's booth proved just as uninformative, claiming that no Core i5 prototypes were available at the show. Still, after recent reports circulating about possible Core i5 boards shipping soon, it's good to actually see the physical product.
Gigabyte actually did post a few details next to the motherboard at the show, revealing that the GA-IBP offers dual channel DDR3, ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI support, and Blu-ray playback supported by high quality 106dB SNR ALC8898 HD audio. Gigabyte's board also features an on-board 2-gigabyte Ethernet LAN connection with Teaming functionality as well as Power/Reset/Cir CMOS onboard buttons for easy workbench operations.
If all goes according to plan, look for both the processor and motherboard to hit the market in July.
Not really. Even on i7 RAM speed/bandwidth dosen't make difference in most (not ALL; server work loads benefit) real world applications. i5 should be good enough for every day users and most people who use C2D/C2Qs now,esp if OCed.
I am positive anything that would be housed in a NB could be mounted in the SB area,but the terms so far is "no northbridge" so most of the southrbridge functions,which don't take up my power anyways will stick on the motherboard.
I believe the speculation is that the northbridge functionality (memory and graphics) is moving into the CPU package and the cpu will communicate directly with the soutbridge to get to the drives and USB and such.
Or you could build your own and install leopard if you really wanted too for far far less? But then again I am guessing you just want the white box.
I think in terms of Price vs Performance this will most certainly happen.
if the CPU/mobo only lasts a year. Anybody who thinks a CPU can last longterm at those temps should have his/her head examined.
Really?!?! Using comments as an indicator of sales? I agree that $300 for a motherboard and DDR3 RAM is a detractor, but the premise for your argument is ridiculous.
You don't even have to own the product to comment, nor to have purchased it from newegg. In fact, so many of the reviews are so outlandish and stupid, it's difficult sometimes to take the reviews seriously.
I agree that Phenom is a decent choice and am not a fanboy of any sort, but that argument is silly.
In contrast to Hurom I do believe comments can indicate sales numbers, if only roughly. But for the rest of your post I can't say I agree.
Last week I was at my aunts place. She's got a prescott 3,4ghz running at approx 75-80C which has been doing fine really. The computer's running more or less constantly, and it still hasn't failed (except for the psu which I was there to replace). Also I've got a celeron 2,2ghz (478) that is run completely silent. No fans or anything. The diode below the socket does show 70C under a medium workload and peaks in the low 80s. Admittedly I'm not using it much, but it hasn't broken down, and last time I checked it could still do a 2 hour prime95.
And once in the old days before I frequented tomshardware I even ran into an athlon MP that operated at almost a hundred degrees (~93-102C) due to a questionable working enviroment. BUT IT KEPT WORKING.
I haven't cooked a c2d or i7 cpu to see how well it works, but my old e6600 (@ 3.4) does get past 60C under heavy workloads (because I haven't cleaned any fans or heatsinks since it was new), and it's still running too.
In short - 80C is going to last you longer than the warranty, so intel has no reason to worry about it even if enthusiasts generally shy away from operating temperatures in those ranges.
ps. a barton 2800 doesn't like too high temps - that's the only chip I fried in my time, and I don't remember how many years back that was. I hadn't clipped the heatsink on properly.
These old chips you mention are up around 130-90nm. The newer 45nm (and upcoming 32nm) chips should not be running that hot, they shouldn't be generating that much energy. High temps can cause breakdown, and with such small-scale architecture, you probably don't want to keep your brand new CPU at that temperature.
I'm not saying 80C is or isn't bad, I'm just saying the effects of 80C on 45nm will be different than 90nm.
These old chips you mention are up around 130-90nm. The newer 45nm (and upcoming 32nm) chips should not be running that hot, they shouldn't be generating that much energy. High temps can cause breakdown, and with such small-scale architecture, you probably don't want to keep your brand new CPU at that temperature.
I'm not saying 80C is or isn't bad, I'm just saying the effects of 80C on 45nm will be different than 90nm.