So what does Westmere bring to the mainstream table?
That's a wrap of the new CPU-and-GPU architecture, together with supporting chipsets and a couple of retail boards.What Intel is bringing to bear with the new chips is the first-ever integration of CPU and GPU on one package. In this case, they're based on two separate dies that are connected by a high-speed interconnect.
The fusion of the two is made possible - both economically and technically - by a breaking up the modular Nehalem architecture and designing a 32nm dual-core CPU part, thereby saving on power-draw and die-space.
Integrated graphics also see a bump from the previous-generation X4500 HD, too, and the amalgamation makes sense on paper.
CPU performance should be, at the very least, reasonable when compared with incumbent chips in the same pricing bracket, primarily down to the hyper-threading and Turbo Boost benefits that come part and parcel with most models.
Codenamed Clarkdale for the desktop and Arrandale for the mobile environment, there's logic in debuting the Westmere architecture in mainstream form. Intel doesn't want to cannibalise sales of premium 45nm quad-core models right now by releasing 32nm variants, so it's chosen older Core 2 Duo and, to some extent, Core 2 Quad as the sights in the firing line.
The pricing of the various desktop Intel Clarkdale models brings also brings practically the whole AMD Phenom II X3 and X4 range into play. The comparison is a little skewed because AMD's chips don't have integrated graphics, but tallying up system costs, including AMD's IGP-powered chipsets, should prove interesting, to say the least.
We've managed to come this far without explicitly mentioning performance. Let's right this wrong as we take a look at the desktop Core i5 661 and compare it against its peers. Head on over to here for some benchmarking frenzy.
