Clarkdale and Arrandale Breakout, Reviews and Specs Available!
Just in time to one-up AMDs new Lenovo line-up, Intel has announced the early release of its Westmere architecture line of CPUs! Originally these chips were slated for a CES release, but you can buy them now if you have the cash for a thousand part tray. As I didn’t receive a test chip of my own, I can’t give you a personal walk through of the product, instead I’ll be giving a summary of the test results found on the websites listed at the end of this article. This article will focus on the Clarkdale line-up, as the only Clarkdale CPU sent out seems to have been the i5-661, this article will be mainly about that chip. Here is also the specs for the entire Clarkdale architecture line-up which was released today as well.
Touted as the possible heir to the highly successful Core 2 line which has been found in most on-the-shelf PC units for years, the benchmarks for the i5-661 Clarkdale processor have been released! The processor is a dual-core unit which is also using Intel Hyperthreading technology (an improvement over the older Core 2 line which don’t) allowing it to act essentially as a quad-core unit. This kick, as well as the new 32nm process allows the i5-661 to benchmark at about the same processing levels as a Core 2 Q8400. The interesting thing is, the price of this chip is about $40 higher than the quad core it was tested against. What are you getting for that additional $40?
Unlike the classic CPU which is the only thing found on the die, the Westmere line includes on the chip an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) in this case, the Express 5 Series IGP.
The processor itself, built on the new 32nm process, is located next to the much larger IGP, built on the 45nm process. The IGP has the memory and PCIe controllers built into it, possibly to improve its performance by bringing it closer. Unfortunately while it is better than the standard integrated graphics, the IGP on a Westmere chip is woefully underpowered compared to a standard $50 graphics card. If you’re thinking about gaming with just this chip, then think again. Even Intel suggests that this chip only be used with games such as Spore, or The Sims 3, games without intensive real-time 3d graphics. What it can do, however, is support native Blu-ray dual-stream and lossless 7.1 channel audio. This allows the CPU to nearly completely offload the intensive Blu-ray decoding task directly to the IGP, freeing up the cores and allowing for better multi-tasking while watching Blu-ray and full 1080p rendering. This does require a rewrite of the playback software (WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc) to take advantage of the new features. While this may not seem like much of a gain for the $196 i5-661, this is a coup for the i3-530 which at a paltry $113 makes for an ideal processor in your next HTPC (Home Theater PC)
As a gaming CPU alone, the i5-661 isn’t half bad, outperforming its pricier i7 counterparts by as much as ten FPS (Frames Per Second) in Far Cry 2 and holding its own in World in Conflict. This is apparently due to the higher clocking frequency attainable in a dual-core processor over a quad-core.
Shipping at the same time as the Westmere core is the new Intel chipsets to support the Clarkdale CPUs, the H57, H55, and Q57. Chipsets have been fairly vanilla for the past several years and these are no exception. Probably one of the biggest changes is the lack of support for breaking the x16 lanes into x8 lanes for SLI and Crossfire, making this chipset unusable for any multi-GPU setups. The other changes seem to be mainly concerned with improved security, quietness, and remote access.
The Clarkdale chips in my opinion will make great entry level chips and HTPCs. Otherwise they don’t bring much to the desktop world in the way of exciting features. Where the Westmere core will really shine is hopefully to be in the mobile Arrandale variants. If you’re looking to purchase these new CPU/GPU chips as soon as possible, Intel has been shipping these chips to the hardware companies as fast as they can, so you can expect to see them appear commercially any day now.
Lastly, what is an Intel chip story without a quip from AMD? Apparently in response to Intel’s release, AMD has announced that later this month their new Athlon II (X4 635, X3 440, and X2 255) and Phenom II (555 Black Edition) lines will be available. With claims of “Fastest ever dual-core CPU”, it will be an interesting grudge match between these two chip making power houses.
For the in-depth reviews, see:
Intel Core i5-661 Clarkdale Processor Review – PC Perspective
Intel Westmere 32nm & Clarkdale Core i5-661 Review – HardOCP
Intel Core i5 661 Review – Overclockers Club
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