What is the different between i3,i5 and i7?

[philipma1957]

there are no dual core i7?

there are dual core i7 in laptops


http://ark.intel.com/products/52231/Intel-Core-i7-2620M-Processor-(4M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz)

 

[paulcheung]

Check this link. only the first one which I have i7 2630qm has 4 cores and 8 threads the rest of them are 2 core and 4 threads, all of them are name i7s.
Cheers.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/52219,54618,54610,54645,27469

 

[AsusGuy]

i mean it's always essential to look at cores, clock speeds, HT or not, Turbo Boost, etc.. regardless of which company CPU you are using.. i agree that Intel is semi-confusing but each model i3,i5,i7 does something different, it's all in the numbers.. you can't just look at i5 and automatically assume it's worse than a i7, there are so many factors to look at, as is the case with most computer parts.

I agree with you, when I said "may people" I was referring to the average user. I hear people refer to Intel's CPU lineup in this manner and it really irritates me. For enthusiasts that enjoy reading about hardware and put a lot of time and effort into reading benchmarks and planning our builds this is no problem but it becomes more of an issue for the casual PC buyer who is just listening to what the salespeople and the big box PC store are telling them.

 

[snapptastic]

AsusGuy, about salespeople and what they tell the customer, I have an experience with that. I only recently became knowledgeable in regards to computer hardware. I've always had a decent understanding of software but the hardware was just basic.

I can't tell you how dumb the salespeople at Best Buy, Staples, and other electronics stores truly are.

They were telling me that for gaming I should get an AMD A6 over an Intel i5-2500 because the AMD processors are MUCH better for gaming.. Now I understand that the AMD chips are APU's with a discrete graphics card built in, but in NO WAY does a A6 compare with the i5-2500, no way in hell.

Well I took this information that a certain salesperson at Best Buy gave me (not just one, it was two of them) and went to Costco and proceeded to buy an AMD A10-5700 for $600 after rebates instead of an Intel i7 that was $150 more, because I saw the bigger numbers and thought the A10 was an amazing processor..

That's how my whole build-your-own-computer story started. I really started to understand the infrastructure of a PC and came to the realization that paulcheung is coming to now..

But yeah, for the casual person, the chip difference can be confusing, I agree.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Ah, so:

S = power Saver
T = Thin/small form factor

and forgot:

P = no igP

Thanks for clearing up IntelEnthusiast. But what you say about the core count only goes for the desktop models.

Check this link. only the first one which I have i7 2630qm has 4 cores and 8 threads the rest of them are 2 core and 4 threads, all of them are name i7s.
Cheers.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/52219,54618,54610,54645,27469

Like I said, core count is irrelevant (but indicated specifically by Q). The only anomaly I see is the higher model number on the i7 2637M even though the 2630QM runs at a higher frequency and has 2 more cores. Reason is probably higher clocked igp on 2637M (1.2 vs 1.1 GHz) or the fact it has much lower TDP but still almost equal Turbo Boost (2.8 vs 2.9 GHz).

AsusGuy, about salespeople and what they tell the customer, I have an experience with that. I only recently became knowledgeable in regards to computer hardware. I've always had a decent understanding of software but the hardware was just basic.

I can't tell you how dumb the salespeople at Best Buy, Staples, and other electronics stores truly are.

They were telling me that for gaming I should get an AMD A6 over an Intel i5-2500 because the AMD processors are MUCH better for gaming.. Now I understand that the AMD chips are APU's with a discrete graphics card built in, but in NO WAY does a A6 compare with the i5-2500, no way in hell.

Not such a good example, without a dedicated videocard the A6 would do much better in the majority of games.

The only real danger I see is salespeople pushing a significantly more pricy dual core i7 laptop versus a dual core i5 one. I don't know the exact price difference between these mobile chips but I can't really imagine 1MB extra cache + maybe 100MHz extra would be worth it.

And even then, a laptop is more than a cpu, the whole package might be better with the i7 one.

 

[paulcheung]

Ah, so:

.



Like I said, core count is irrelevant (but indicated specifically by Q). The only anomaly I see is the higher model number on the i7 2637M even though the 2630QM runs at a higher frequency and has 2 more cores. Reason is probably higher clocked igp on 2637M (1.2 vs 1.1 GHz) or the fact it has much lower TDP but still almost equal Turbo Boost (2.8 vs 2.9 GHz).



.

So are you telling me the i7 2637m is better and faster than the i7 2630qm?

 

[snapptastic]

the card that the A6 A8 and A10 come with are not good cards, trust me. I bought an A10 with a 7660D card and I could only run BF3 at Low settings ~25FPS. Even if I bought an i5-2500k with HD Graphics 2000, 3000(?) I bet I could run it at those settings.

Basically comparing an A6 to an i5 in terms of gaming is dumb. The CPU's are not even in the same league and the A6 MAY have a slight edge in graphics.. Either way, if you want to play a modern game on High settings, you WILL be getting another GPU.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I think the Intel desktop naming scheme makes sense. i3=dual core, i5=quad core, i7=quad core with hyperthreading, at least for SB and IvB. But the notebook nomenclature is extremely confusing IMO.

 

[frozentundra123456]

the card that the A6 A8 and A10 come with are not good cards, trust me. I bought an A10 with a 7660D card and I could only run BF3 at Low settings ~25FPS. Even if I bought an i5-2500k with HD Graphics 2000, 3000(?) I bet I could run it at those settings.

Basically comparing an A6 to an i5 in terms of gaming is dumb. The CPU's are not even in the same league and the A6 MAY have a slight edge in graphics.. Either way, if you want to play a modern game on High settings, you WILL be getting another GPU.

The 2500k would be slower than the A10 without a discrete card, because the HD3000 is extremely weak. However, I would never attempt to run BF3 on an igp. And you are correct that with a good discrete card, the i5 would slaughter the A10.

 

[coffeejunkee]

So are you telling me the i7 2637m is better and faster than the i7 2630qm?

No, I'm saying it's weird that the 2637M has a higher model number than the 2630QM, since it has less cores and is clocked lower. The model number is supposed to reflect the performance of chips in the same family, it doesn't here unless you think igp or tdp is really important.

the card that the A6 A8 and A10 come with are not good cards, trust me. I bought an A10 with a 7660D card and I could only run BF3 at Low settings ~25FPS. Even if I bought an i5-2500k with HD Graphics 2000, 3000(?) I bet I could run it at those settings.

Basically comparing an A6 to an i5 in terms of gaming is dumb. The CPU's are not even in the same league and the A6 MAY have a slight edge in graphics.. Either way, if you want to play a modern game on High settings, you WILL be getting another GPU.

Well, it's an integrated gpu, not a dedicated card. I didn't even know that the Trinity desktop cpu's were released but I think the mobile chips are the same. There, 7660D is about 60% faster than HD4000. So no, not at those settings. HD4000 gets saved a bit maybe by good cpu performance from Ivy cores but it still won't come close at any reasonable resolution. In more gpu bound games difference will be even bigger.

 

[paulcheung]

No, I'm saying it's weird that the 2637M has a higher model number than the 2630QM, since it has less cores and is clocked lower. The model number is supposed to reflect the performance of chips in the same family, it doesn't here unless you think igp or tdp is really important.

.

That is what I am talking about, the i7 2637m and their cousins shouldn't be in the i7 class. they should be in the i5 or i3 class. since they only have 2 cores.

I remember the good old days that the 486DX and the 486SX. The 486SX can't be in the class of DX because it lack of the math procerssor no matter how much cach and no matter what clock speed.

Cheers.

 

[coffeejunkee]

That is what I am talking about, the i7 2637m and their cousins shouldn't be in the i7 class. they should be in the i5 or i3 class. since they only have 2 cores.

I remember the good old days that the 486DX and the 486SX. The 486SX can't be in the class of DX because it lack of the math procerssor no matter how much cach and no matter what clock speed.

Cheers.

Yeah the fact that corecount is in fact not reflected in the i3, i5 or i7 designation is what's most confusing people, a recent example:

I think the Intel desktop naming scheme makes sense. i3=dual core, i5=quad core, i7=quad core with hyperthreading, at least for SB and IvB. But the notebook nomenclature is extremely confusing IMO.

But, there are problems with this, there exist i5 dualcores and i7 hexacores. So we should have i9 too, but what when octocore cpu's are released, i11? And i13 for dodecacores?

Concerning the 2630QM vs 2637M, for the mobile cpu's the Q obviously indicates quadcore. 2 indicates second Core i architecture. The 630 indicates frequency and, although close, the 2630QM is clocked 100Mhz higher. In the desktop space this is enough to warrant a higher model number, so it should be something like 620 instead of 630. The last digit indicates igp performance, and this is where things become a little shady. The i3 2100 for example has standard HD2000 igp but there is also an i3 2105 with HD3000. So a 5 indicates a twice as powerful igp. But the 2637M has same igp as 2630QM except it's clocked 100MHz higher. Doesn't deserve a 7 in my view, rather a 3. So instead of 2637M a better name would be 2623M.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this naming scheme is the pinnacle of clarity, just that there is a system. Even then, desktop cpu nomenclature is fairly clear at the moment. The main danger for uninformed customers is the existence of dual core i7's in the mobile space, either buying dual core i7 instead of dual core i5 (remember both i5 and i7 have HT for mobile) or buying dual core i7 thinking it's a quad core.

Then again, it's not like this information is hard to find, a large portion of the internet is dedicated to it. In this day and age there really is no excuse for being uninformed when buying computer parts imho.

 

[paulcheung]

Tell me. don't the core count is the most important one, in performance? if everything else are equal, one with 2 cores and one with 4 cores, there won't be any question which is faster and stronger. If Intel stick with the core counts and work with that, then they can play with the other 4digit numbers to differenciates the other features, then we won't have to be confused with which computer is good in a sense.

They have try so hard to hold down the power on the netbook so they won't take the notebook market. but they have to introduce the new ultrabook to complete with the Macbook Air and the pads. good luck for them.
Cheers.

 

[Axon]

Good lord, this thread is insane