Gulftown Explained

Gulftown Explained

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Gulftown is here. Not called Core i9 as many expected, but the new six-core processor is positioned in the existing Core i7 900 series of processors. And that's where we feel it should be positioned.

Intel's Core i7 980X is as fast as its design implies. The move from four to six cores has translated into an almost perfectly linear increase in speed for those apps that can use multiple processors. Some simple facts first though, here's two of them:

• The new Core i7 980X CPU still carries a 130W TDP envelope, which is surprising considering we gained a lot of transistors and two additional cores over quad-core.
• The processor will work on existing LGA1366 motherboards. You won't need a new chipset, as it will work with X58, you will need an SBIOS (System BIOS) Firmware upgrade.

And that's just great news as the fastest processor on the globe with it's six cores clocked at 3.33 GHz does not consume absurd levels of current, AND you can use it on the existing X58 platform.

So before we dive into the architecture of Core i7 Gulftown, you probably want to know what processors are now racked up in Intel's socket 1366 line-up. Some Core i7 processors actually have gone EOL so it's just a fourfold of CPUs that remains. Let's have a peek:

• Core i7 930 at 284 USD (upper mainstream)
• Core i7 950 at 549 USD (performance)
• Core i7 975 Extreme at 999 USD (enthusiast)
• Core i7 980 Extreme at 999 USD (enthusiast)

Mind you, you can still find and purchase Core i7 920, 940, 960 and 965. But these are tagged End of Life and once stock empties they'll be hard to find. As you can see, the first 'entry' level product starts at 284 USD; the 930 recently replaced the 920, quite a lovely processor once you see what kind of performance it actually delivers. The Core i7 930 quad core processor is clocked at 2.80 GHz.

At the middle segment of the high-end level we spot the 3.06 GHz Core i7 950. At the top of the range we stumble into the Core i7 975, a 3.33 GHz quad core processor that still blows our mind. It is this processor that will get some competition from Gulftown / Core i7 980X and, though still tagged at a MSRP of 999 USD, we do think its price will drop soon.

Let's place some specifications in an overview: