When you're travelling by star destroyer, you rely on the solar ionization reactor. When you're building killer games, you design for the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition.

The Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition delivers the most intense gaming experience on this or any other known planet.¹ By taking advantage of the tools and programs that are available, you can provide games to market that sizzle and snap with unprecedented realism. And because the programming concepts that underlie this processor also apply to other high-end desktop systems, optimizing for the Intel Core i7 processor will pay dividends across your market segment.

The story begins with threads—four cores with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology² handle eight simultaneous processing threads for massive throughput. If you have been holding back on deepening your threading model, it's time to take another look. More threads mean you can separate operations like game physics, rendering, and sound processing to run in parallel for better performance, smoother effects, and a winning user experience. More headroom waiting in the wings gives you the latitude to add features without sacrificing frame rates or image quality.

The new generation of platforms that includes the Intel Core i7 processor gives you more than just more threads:

• New performance-optimized memory subsystem reduces latency and more than doubles memory bandwidth for faster memory access.⁴
• Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases processor frequency based on workload demands.³
• Intel® HD Boost includes the full SSE4 instruction set for accelerated multimedia and other compute-intensive operations.

The combination of increased parallelism and other hardware innovations gives game developers the opportunity to aim beyond previous limitations. As Bo Andersson, CEO of game maker GRIN puts it, "The highly parallel architecture of the Intel Core i7 processor technology really allows us to thread our main loop and get so much more left for game play related tasks that it is a joy to develop for. The new architecture has brought even higher levels of performance that allow us to scale the games physics and visuals to give the best possible user experience." Learn more at software.intel.com/sites/billboard/intel-core-i7.

Visual Adrenaline runs through our veins, and it can run through yours, too. The Intel® Software Partner Program is your free gateway to Intel’s worldwide technology, engineering, and go-to-market support that makes both your business and your software more powerful. Get the expertise and tools to take maximum advantage of emerging hardware capabilities, fitting them into your overall business strategy for maximum benefit.

Intel’s Visual Adrenaline Developer Program is focused on gaming developers and provides additional opportunities for Intel Software Partner Program members to showcase game titles optimized for Intel® technology through a growing online presence, in Visual Adrenaline magazine, participation at events like the Game Developers Conference, and other exciting co-marketing opportunities in the future. It also provides members with a comprehensive set of tools and access to engineering assistance that can help deliver better performance and user experiences. When it's time to take your new title to market, Visual Adrenaline drives up exposure with launch support and publicity that can help make the difference in driving faster time to profitability. Learn more at www.intel.com/software/visualadrenaline.

Fire up Smoke to ignite new levels of performance and realism. This technology demonstration, with full source code freely available, provides an example of how you can effectively implement threading within a game design to improve quality. The framework that the Smoke demonstration is built on shows that it's possible to build efficient thread scheduling and control without excessive complexity. You are free to reuse as much of the code as you like or just to use it as an instructive proof of concept.

As a means to improve the quality of games, more robust threading can enable more accurate game physics, smarter AI, more particles in smoke or fire effects, and better overall frame rates. The Smoke demo helps show you how it's done. Learn more at software.intel.com/en-us/articles/smoke-game-technology-demo.

¹ Based on SPECint*_rate_base2006 scores. Results have been 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 www.intel.com/performance/desktop/extreme/index.htm for additional information.

² Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with a processor supporting HT Technology and an 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 www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading.

³ Intel® Turbo Boost technology requires a PC with a processor with Intel Turbo Boost capability. Intel Turbo Boost performance varies depending on hardware, software and overall system configuration. Check with your PC manufacturer on whether your system delivers Intel Turbo Boost technology. See www.intel.com/technology/turboboost for more information.

⁴ Performance measured based on SiSoftware* Sandra*, comparing the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition to the Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor QX9770. Actual performance may vary. See www.intel.com/performance/desktop/extreme/index.htm for more information.

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