The evolution of Intel processors: from Core 2 Duo to Core i9

Conroe, Wolfdale and Yorkfield

In 2006, the processor gigahertz race between Intel and AMD was officially over due to lack of prospects. Energy efficiency and multi-core have become new priorities. The old NetBurst architecture (Pentium 4, Pentium D) was not well suited for these tasks. Fortunately, Intel simultaneously led the development of Pentium M laptop chips, and it was their architecture that formed the basis of the family of desktop processors under the new name Core 2 Duo.

The first generation of Core 2 Duo processors received two cores of the Conroe architecture, a 65-nanometer process technology (the Pentium D had 90 nm) and a power consumption of 65 W (was 130 W). At the same time, thanks to a more thoughtful architecture, Core 2 Duo with a frequency of 1.8 - 2.9 GHz was in no way inferior in performance to Pentium D 2.8 - 3.7 GHz. The motherboard socket remained the same LGA775, which allowed everyone to easily upgrade the processor, thereby making the computer cooler and quieter.

In addition to the Core 2 Duo, based on the Conroe architecture, Pentium Dual Core with a reduced cache and a reduced frequency of RAM, single-core Celerons with a record low TDP of 35 W for those times, and quad-core Core 2 Quad were released. True, these were not real quad-core chips, but two dual-core chips combined on one substrate.

Core 2 Quad became popular only a year later with the transition to the 45-nm Yorkfield architecture, which made it possible to significantly increase the frequency. In turn, the 45-nm Core 2 Duo was named Wolfdale and was able to exceed the psychological mark of 3 GHz. A 45-nm Celeron received two cores, which was then considered an unprecedented luxury for low-cost chips.

Current Intel Processors

Nehalem, Bloomfield and Lynnfield

The ball was ruled by Core 2 Duo and Quad processors for a short time. Already in 2008, Intel introduced a completely new family of chips that exists to this day - Core i7. The architecture was named Nehalem, and the chip family was named Bloomfield. These were the first true Intel quad-cores, and with support for Hyper-Threading technology, dividing each physical core into two virtual threads. And if at the time of the Pentium 4 the performance of one virtual core was equal to about 40 percent of the physical one, then in the Core i7 it increased to 70 percent.

Bloomfield processors received a new LGA1366 socket and an integrated three-channel RAM controller. The PCI-E controller, which is responsible for the operation of video cards, remained in the Northbridge chipset.

But the high cost of processors and motherboards did not allow the LGA1366 platform to become popular. Most users continued to sit on the good old Core 2 Duo and Quad. Therefore, Intel urgently released a simplified LGA1156 platform based on the same Nehalem architecture. Quad-core processors without Hyper-Threading were called the Core i5 Lynnfield.

The number of RAM channels was reduced to two, and the PCI-E controller migrated to the processor, which made it possible to abandon the "north bridge" once and for all. Core i7 chips with a reduced frequency and a reduced number of memory channels also belong to the Lynnfield family.

Westmere, Clarkdale and Gulftown

Further cementing the success of the LGA1156 platform were the first 32nm processors from Westmere (also known as Clarkdale). The cheap dual-core, four-thread Core i3 chips have become real bestsellers. In addition to them, the Clarkdale family included Core i5, Pentium and Celeron.

Another important innovation of Clarkdale was the transfer to the processor substrate of the integrated graphics accelerator, which was previously part of the "north bridge" or was completely absent on the motherboard. Unlike processor cores, graphics were produced using a 45nm process technology (there were not enough new 32nm factories for everything).

In parallel, the older LGA1366 platform was also developing, which finally shifted the focus to expensive high-performance systems. Thus, the Core i7 Gulftown processors based on the Westmere architecture received six cores and twelve threads.

Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge

The year 2011 was the real "golden age" of Intel. The new Sandy Bridge chips (finally, the name of the architecture and processor family has become one) or, as Intel proudly called them, Core 2nd Gen turned out to be as much as a third more powerful than Westmere. So far, Intel has never had such a large increase in performance in one generation. The main competitor, AMD, on the contrary, miscalculated with its Bulldozer architecture and played the role of a catch-up in the following years.

The graphics accelerator has become part of the Sandy Bridge processor chip itself. In addition, a Quick Sync hardware media encoder has been added, which is responsible for smooth playback and accelerated video editing. True, the processor socket has changed to LGA1155 (only one pin less, and already complete incompatibility).

There was also a division of processors into sub-series: K with an unlocked multiplier, T with reduced power consumption and P without integrated graphics. In addition, a replacement for the older LGA1366 socket came out - the new LGA2011, which subsequently lived for four long years right up to the fifth generation of Intel Core Broadwell and supported processors with ten cores and twenty threads.

A year later, Intel pompously introduced Ivy Bridge chips based on 22nm 3D transistors. No one expected a big increase in performance (since this is the “Tick” generation), but with reduced power consumption, the processors turned out to be hotter. The reason for this is the rejection of solder in favor of thermal pads under the processor cover. For an ordinary PC user, this is not critical, but avid overclockers were not satisfied and to this day stubbornly sit on Sandy Bridge.

Haswell, Devil's Canyon and Broadwell

Intel partially rehabilitated with the release of the fourth generation of Core processors called Haswell. The new architecture was 15 percent faster than Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, and slightly less hot. In addition, the Core i3 chips received a full-featured 20-module integrated graphics card Intel HD Graphics, such as the Core i5 and i7. Whereas previous generations of Core i3 graphics were stripped down by analogy with Pentium and Celeron. But once again the socket has changed - LGA1150.

This is where the slowdown in the development of new technical processes and architectures affected. After Haswell, slightly updated Haswell Refresh (another name for Devil's Canyon) came out, which differed only in increased frequency. Perhaps the only interesting Haswell Refresh chip was the Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition, released in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the Pentium brand. It featured an unlocked multiplier and, thanks to low heat dissipation (only two cores without HT), even with a simple boxed cooler, it overclocked to 4.5 GHz.

Six months later, the long-awaited release of 14-nm Broadwell chips followed, but it essentially affected only laptops. Only two Broadwell processors have been released for desktop PCs with the LGA1150 socket, both of which are expensive due to the powerful integrated Intel Iris Pro graphics (but still no match for discrete graphics cards).

Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake

Fully 14-nanometer chips entered the PC market only in 2015 and were called Skylake. Low power consumption and heating (even a Core i7 can be effectively cooled with a boxed cooler) finally secured the advantage over AMD (there was still a year left before the release of Ryzen, only 125-watt FX-8000s were on sale). There was a transition to the LGA1151 socket and DDR4 RAM.

The Kaby Lake chips that came out a year later became nothing more than "Skylake Refresh" with increased frequencies. For example, the Core i7-7700K could go up to 5 GHz, while the i7-6700K only hit 4.6 GHz. The main hit of sales was the Pentium G4560 with two cores and four threads, like the twice as expensive Core i3 (by the way, Pentium with HT laptops debuted two years earlier). And even the weaker integrated graphics and the lack of AVX instructions cannot be considered as significant shortcomings.

Latest Coffee Lake Processors

The latest Coffee Lake processors, although built on the same architecture and process technology as Skylake two years ago, received an increased number of cores. So, the Core i3 now has four physical cores (and no longer intersects with the Pentium), the Core i5 has become six-core, and the Core i7 has six-core twelve-thread. The old enthusiastic LGA2011 socket was replaced by the LGA2066, which supports the new Core i9 family of chips with 18 cores and 36 threads.