Bring Intel Power to Your Computer System With a First Generation Intel Core i7 Processor

The beating heart of your computer system, your processor handles the majority of the daily tasks you perform on your computer. Whether it is word processing, gaming, watching movies, or designing the latest 3D models, your processor is hard at work ensuring your computer is performing. First Generation Intel Core i7 processors have the speed you need and a multi-core architecture to take advantage of it.

What can you look for in a new processor?

There is a wide range of processors available on the market. Here are a few key things to pay attention to when shopping for yours:

  • Performance: Each processor will have its own individual core speed, usually listed as gigahertz (GHz), as well as one or more cores. The higher the core clock speed, the more calculations per second the processor is capable of handling. Multiple cores allows for simultaneous calculations to take place, granting more speed to the CPU.
  • Compatibility: Your motherboard will determine whether or not your processor will work with your computer. Each motherboard has a special CPU socket that the chip will snap to in order to function. The first generation of Core i7 processors uses an LGA 1156 socket to attach to your system. These sockets must match in order for the devices to be compatible.
  • Graphics: Many processors will come with their own built-in graphics processing. If you do not plan to purchase a separate graphics card at this time, it may be worth getting a processor with strong integrated graphics to compensate.
What is hyper-threading?

Hyper-threading is a proprietary computing technology developed by Intel. It allows for physical cores to be divided into logical cores for improved performance. A physical core is present as an individual unit on the chip itself. A logical core is one that has been separated virtually. Logical cores and physical cores are functionally almost identical and can be used to process separate threads individually. Using hyper-threading allows for the total number of cores on a chip to increase. As an example, a quad-core i7 chip that has been hyper-threaded could have up to eight cores, while an i7 without hyper-threading would only be able to access four.

What is Nehalem?

Nehalem is the codename used for the first generation of Intel Core CPUs. This family includes the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 lines of processors. It is a radical redesign of Intel Core CPUs that brought a number of new features to the processing giant's CPU lineup. Hyper-threading was reintroduced into several of the company's CPU models, giving an expanded core count and more raw processing power. Core i7 devices had up to eight logical cores. Intel Turbo Boost made its debut, giving each logical core the ability to “overclock” itself for short periods of time when the CPU was under load. Nehalem architecture took advantage of the LGA 1156 socket and was compatible with DDR3 memory. It also boasted L3 cache sizes up to 24 MB.