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Difference between different intel gens?

cakez
By cakez
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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I'm trying to learn about CPU's and I'm wondering about the differences of the different intel gens? Not the i3, i5, i7. But the i7 gen1, and i7 gen8. What are the main differences between those sub-generations?Is it only different architectures? For example, what's the main difference between the i7-950 and the i7-4790k? The 4790k has a higher clock speed, but both the 950 and the 4790k have 4 cores and 8 threads.

 

Thanks

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'only' the architecture being different changes the entire CPU.

How hot it will run, single core performance (IPC), the clockspeed it can run at, special features like how many PCI lanes it supports, etc.

 

Yeah, Intel has kept the 4 core 8 threads on i7's a for a long time now (7 gens in a row..), but will likely now make a 6 core 12 thread i7 in the 8th gen.

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1 minute ago, Minibois said:

'only' the architecture being different changes the entire CPU.

How hot it will run, single core performance (IPC), the clockspeed it can run at, special features like how many PCI lanes it supports, etc.

 

Yeah, Intel has kept the 4 core 8 threads on i7's a for a long time now (7 gens in a row..), but will likely now make a 6 core 12 thread i7 in the 8th gen.

Ahh okay thanks

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Basically, on the non-HEDT platform, Gen1 through Gen 7 can be summarized as

i3: 2c/4t

i5: 4c/4t

i7: 4c/8t


Gen-on-Gen improvements in IPC and performance are between 0% and 15%, depending on benchmark and which generation delta you're talking about. Gen 1 to 2 was a big jump, Gen 6 to 7 is essentially negligible.

 

On the HEDT, you have i7s with 4-10 cores, and now i9s with 10-18 cores. Generally these are triple or quad channel memory, which matters next to zero for most users.

 

What's surprising is how well the older platforms still hold up today. The 2nd gen i7s aren't that far behind in FPS to the 7th gen, while the 1st gen HEDT surprisingly is still viable for "good-enough" level gaming.

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Everything is different between gens including the physical socket. That said, the difference between 2nd gen (Sandy bridge) and 6th gen (skylake) isnt enough to upgrade IMO. IMO tier (i3, i5, i7) is a more important upgrade than generation.

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1 minute ago, bimmerman said:

Basically, on the non-HEDT platform, Gen1 through Gen 7 can be summarized as

i3: 2c/4t

i5: 4c/4t

i7: 4c/8t


Gen-on-Gen improvements in IPC and performance are between 0% and 15%, depending on benchmark and which generation delta you're talking about. Gen 1 to 2 was a big jump, Gen 6 to 7 is essentially negligible.

 

On the HEDT, you have i7s with 4-10 cores, and now i9s with 10-18 cores. Generally these are triple or quad channel memory, which matters next to zero for most users.

 

There are exceptions, especially in gen 1. There were a slew of Core i5s with only 2 cores back then.

 

Overall, Intel just changes things around too much to have an easy summary that applies over longer periods.

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6 minutes ago, asand1 said:

Everything is different between gens including the physical socket. That said, the difference between 2nd gen (Sandy bridge) and 6th gen (skylake) isnt enough to upgrade IMO. IMO tier (i3, i5, i7) is a more important upgrade than generation.

So are you saying it's more important to upgrade from gen 1 i5 to gen6 15, rather than upgrading from i5 to i7?

 

EDIT:Nvm read it wrong

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Just now, cakez said:

Ahh okay thanks

Also, the 'how hot it will run' is kinda ambiguous, it's actually the processing node ('how big the processor is') which changes the power usage and in turn changes how hot it will run.

The i7 920 is 45nm -> i7 2600K is 32nm -> i7 3770K is 22nm -> 4790K was also 22nm -> i7-5775C, i7 6700K and 7700K and the still somewhat upcoming 8700K are all 14nm .

 

The smaller the node, the less heat that gets generated. Because AMD wasn't a huge competitor to the high end in... All the preciously mentioned released (except now in Kaby and Coffee Lake), Intel really started to focus less on raw performance and more on saving power. This is also why they haven't increased core counts except for now (I would assume, as an outsider).

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4 minutes ago, asand1 said:

Everything is different between gens including the physical socket. That said, the difference between 2nd gen (Sandy bridge) and 6th gen (skylake) isnt enough to upgrade IMO. IMO tier (i3, i5, i7) is a more important upgrade than generation.

yeah pretty much summerizes it but this is supposed to change soon if you think the extra cores are worth the jump

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12 minutes ago, cakez said:

I'm trying to learn about CPU's and I'm wondering about the differences of the different intel gens? Not the i3, i5, i7. But the i7 gen1, and i7 gen8. What are the main differences between those sub-generations?Is it only different architectures? For example, what's the main difference between the i7-950 and the i7-4790k? The 4790k has a higher clock speed, but both the 950 and the 4790k have 4 cores and 8 threads.

 

Thanks

the differences are the architecture. IPC, memory support, clock speeds, pcie lanes supported, overclocks, power consumption

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Difference between different intel gens?

The difference is to find out how much of a sucker someone is to upgrade generationally. Unless you're going up from an i5 to an i7 in a newer gen, upgrading to the same class of chip is a good way to be mocked for being bad with money.

 

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2 minutes ago, cakez said:

So are you saying it's more important to upgrade from gen 1 i5 to gen6 15, rather than upgrading from i5 to i7?

It depends on your needs. Going from an i5 to an i7 of the same generation is still an upgrade. But if you want the features of later motherboards, you're going to have to upgrade to that motherboard and its supported processors.

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2 minutes ago, SeanAngelo said:

the differences are the architecture. IPC, memory support, clock speeds, pcie lanes supported, overclocks, power consumption

What's IPC? Can't find it on google?

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First gen to second gen, roughly 10-15% IPC jump clock for clock (same clock speed)

Second to third, 5-7 % .. depends..

Third to fourth gen, 10% roughly..

Fourth to fifth ... 5 % maximum

Fifth to sixth gen... 1 to 2 % ?

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Just now, Potato*Salad said:

First gen to second gen, roughly 10-15% IPC jump clock for clock (same clock speed)

Second to third, 5-7 % .. depends..

Third to fourth gen, 10% roughly..

Fourth to fifth ... 5 % maximum

Fifth to sixth gen... 1 to 2 % ?

What's IPC can't find a definition on google

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Just now, cakez said:

What's IPC can't find a definition on google

Instructions per clock.

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3 minutes ago, cakez said:

So are you saying it's more important to upgrade from gen 1 i5 to gen6 15, rather than upgrading from i5 to i7?

No, im saying the opposite. If I was on a gen 2 i3 I would rather upgrade to a gen 2 i7, than a gen 6 i3.

 

If you need more power it makes more sense to me to get more cores and threads at a lower price then replacing the whole system just to be stuck with another 4 thread CPU.

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Just now, asand1 said:

No, im saying the opposite. If I was on a gen 2 i3 I would rather upgrade to a gen 2 i7, than a gen 6 i3.

 

If you need more power it makes more sense to me to get more cores and threads at a lower price then replacing the whole system just to be stuck with another 4 thread CPU.

Yeah sorry, I read your response incorrectly, I edited my reply :)

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9 minutes ago, cakez said:

What's IPC? Can't find it on google?

Instructions Per Clock

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13 minutes ago, cakez said:

What's IPC? Can't find it on google?

Instructions per clock. If clock speed is like a car engine's RPM, then IPC would be how powerful each of those RPMs is.

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1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

Instructions per clock. If clock speed is like a car engine's RPM, then IPC would be how powerful each of those RPMs is.

So the RPM would be clock Speed

and how powerful those rotations would be the IPC?

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31 minutes ago, asand1 said:

Everything is different between gens including the physical socket

Nope, not true at all.

31 minutes ago, asand1 said:

That said, the difference between 2nd gen (Sandy bridge) and 6th gen (skylake) isnt enough to upgrade IMO

wut

Only Haswell (4thgen, like the 4770K) through the 7700K are very similar. Anything older isn't too close, 3770k isn't too far off.

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1 minute ago, Shiv78 said:

isnt enough to upgrade IMO

Sorry, but what's imo? And is there like a glossary for all these computing terms, cause a quick google search is not find anything

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6 minutes ago, cakez said:

Sorry, but what's imo? And is there like a glossary for all these computing terms, cause a quick google search is not find anything

IMO is In My Opinion, just a forum term.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=IMO

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