Intel® Core™ i5 Processor


Overview Get a major boost in PC power with the intelligent performance of the Intel® Core™ i5 processor, which automatically allocates processing power where it's needed most.¹ You'll move faster when creating HD video, composing digital music, editing photos and playing the coolest PC games. With the new Intel Core i5 processor, you can multitask with ease and be more productive than ever.²

Benefits

Performance Maximize speed for demanding applications with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology,² which accelerates performance to match your workload. Fast multitasking, even when running the most demanding applications.² Enjoy incredibly fast computing with fewer frustrating lags.
Digital Media Unleash an amazing digital media creation experience with faster performance for video encoding and photo editing.
Gaming Blast through games and pull ahead of opponents stuck with older PCs.
Intel® Core™ i5 Processor Product Brief (PDF 809KB) Desktop videos and animations Intel® Desktop Board DP55KG Intel® Desktop Board DP55SB Intel® Desktop Board DP55WG Intel® Desktop Board DP55WB Intel® Processor Performance

Segment Purchasing Options
Price Segment	Intel® Core™ i7 Socket LGA-1366 Intel® X58 Express Chipset	Intel® Core™ i7 Intel® Core™ i5 Socket LGA-1156 Intel® P55 Express Chipset	Intel® Core™2 Quad Socket LGA-775 Q43,G35,P45,G45,X38,X48 Chipsets
XE	i7-975	None	QX9770/QX9650
P1	i7-950	i7-870	Q9650
MS3	i7-920	i7-860	Q9550
MS2	None	i5-750	Q9400

Processor and platform comparison table

Intel® Core™ i7-900 Processor Series
	Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme Edition	Intel® Core™ i7-950	Intel® Core™ i7-920
Processor frequency	3.33 GHz	3.06 GHz	2.66 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache	8 MB	8 MB	8 MB
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	Single core performance up to 3.6 GHz¹	Single core performance up to 3.33 GHz¹	Single core performance up to 2.93 GHz¹
Number of simultaneous threads	8 (with Intel® HT)	8 (with Intel® HT)	8 (with Intel® HT)
Processor integrated memory controller	Yes	Yes	Yes
Number of memory channels	3 (DDR3 1066 MHz)	3 (DDR3 1066 MHz)	3 (DDR3 1066 MHz)
Supported chipset	Intel® X58 Express Chipset	Intel® X58 Express Chipset	Intel® X58 Express Chipset
Processor/motherboard socket	LGA-1366	LGA-1366	LGA-1366
Microsoft Windows* 7 ready	Yes	Yes	Yes
Box product code	BX80601975	BX80601950	BX80601920
MM#	902257	902255	900252
Intel® Core™ i7-800 Series & Core™ i5-700 Processor Series
	Intel® Core™ i7-870	Intel® Core™ i7-860	Intel® Core™ i5-750
Processor frequency	2.93 GHz	2.8 GHz	2.66 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache	8 MB	8 MB	8 MB
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	Single core performance	Single core performance	Single core performance
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	up to 3.6 GHz¹	up to 3.46 GHz¹	up to 3.06 GHz¹
Number of simultaneous threads	8 (with Intel® HT)	8 (with Intel® HT)	4
Processor integrated memory controller	Yes	Yes	Yes
Number of memory channels	2 (DDR3 1333 MHz)	2 (DDR3 1333 MHz)	2 (DDR3 1333 MHz)
Recommended Chipset	Intel® P55 Express Chipset	Intel® P55 Express Chipset	Intel® P55 Express Chipset
Processor/motherboard socket	LGA-1156	LGA-1156	LGA-1156
Microsoft Windows* 7 ready	Yes	Yes	Yes
Box product code	BX80605I7870	BX80605I7860	BX80605I5750
MM#	903875	903876	903877
Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor
	Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9650	Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550	Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9400
Processor frequency	3.0 GHz	2.86 GHz	2.66 GHz
Intel® L2 Cache	12 MB	12 MB	12 MB
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of simultaneous threads	4	4	4
Processor integrated memory controller	No	No	No
Number of memory channels	2 (DDR2 & DDR3)	2 (DDR2 & DDR3)	2 (DDR2 & DDR3)
Recommended Chipset	Intel® X48, X38, P45, Q43, G43 Express Chipsets	Intel® P45, Q43, G43 Express Chipsets	Intel® P45, Q43, G43 Express Chipsets
Processor/motherboard socket	LGA-775	LGA-775	LGA-775
Microsoft Windows* 7 ready	Yes	Yes	Yes
Box product code	BX80569Q9650	BX80569Q9550	BX80580Q9400

Features and Benefits of the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
Feature	Benefit
Intel® Quad-Core Processor	Provides four independent execution cores in one processor package. Four dedicated processing cores help operating systems and applications deliver additional performance, so end users can experience better multitasking and multithreaded performance across many types of applications and workloads.
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology¹	Dynamically increases the processor's frequency when needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom when operating below specified limits. Get more performance automatically, when you need it the most.
8 MB Intel® Smart Cache	This large last level cache enables dynamic and efficient allocation of shared cache to all four cores to match the needs of various applications for ultra-efficient data storage and manipulation.
Integrated memory controller	An integrated memory controller with three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz offers memory performance up to 25.6 GB/sec. Combined with the processor's very efficient prefetching algorithms, this memory controller's lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data intensive applications.
Intel® HD Boost	Includes the full SSE4 instruction set, significantly improving a broad range of multimedia and compute-intensive applications. The 128-bit SSE instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new level of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications.
Digital Thermal Sensor (DTS)	Provides for more efficient processor and platform thermal control, improving system acoustics. The DTS continuously measures the temperature at each processing core. The ability to continuously measure and detect variations in processor temperature enables system fans to spin only as fast as needed to cool the system. The combination of these technologies can result in significantly lower noise emissions from the PC.
Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution	Improves execution speed and efficiency, delivering more instructions per clock cycle. Each core can complete up to four full instructions simultaneously.
Intel® Smart Memory Access	Improves system performance by optimizing the use of the available data bandwidth from the memory subsystem and reducing the effective latency of memory accesses.

¹Based on SPECint_rate_base2006* scores. Results have been estimated based on internal Intel analysis and are provided for informational purposes only. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. See http://www.intel.com/performance for additional information.

²Intel® Turbo Boost Technology (Intel® TBT) requires a PC with a processor with Intel TBT capability. Intel TBT performance varies depending on hardware, software and overall system configuration. Check with your PC manufacturer on whether your system delivers Intel TBT. See http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost for more information.

³Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with a processor supporting Intel® HT technology and Intel HT technology-enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. For more information including details on which processors support HT Technology, see http://www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading.