Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition

Wield the ultimate gaming weapon

Conquer the world of extreme gaming with the fastest performing processor on the planet: the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition.¹ With faster, intelligent multi-core technology that accelerates performance to match your workload, it delivers an incredible breakthrough in gaming performance.

But performance doesn't stop at gaming. You'll multitask 25 percent faster and unleash incredible digital media creation with up to 79 percent faster video encoding and up to 46 percent faster image rendering, plus incredible performance for photo retouching and editing.¹

In fact, you'll experience maximum performance for whatever you do, thanks to the combination of Intel® Turbo Boost technology² and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology (Intel® HT technology)³, which activates full processing power exactly where and when you need it most.

Product information

• 3.20 GHz core speed
• 8 processing threads with Intel® HT technology
• 8 MB of Intel® Smart Cache
• 3 Channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory

• View Intel Core i7 processor Extreme Edition performance benchmarks
• Download the product brief
• See product image
• Learn about processor numbersΔ

Features and benefits

Get extreme with your gaming and advanced multimedia.

Intel Core i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in quad-core performance and feature the latest innovations in processor technologies:

• Intel® Turbo Boost technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload-more performance when you need it the most.²
• Intel® Hyper-Threading technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multi-tasking becomes even easier.³
• Intel® Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry leading multi-threaded games.
• Intel® QuickPath Interconnect is designed for increased bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the Extreme Edition processor.
• Integrated memory controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller's lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications.
• Intel® HD Boost significantly improves 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.

Intel® Q45 Express Chipset

The Intel® Q45 Express Chipset provides the latest advancements in graphics, security and always-available manageability for embedded applications. When combined with Intel® Core™ microarchitecture processors on 45nm and 65nm process technology, these platforms are ideal for developing high-performance systems for industrial control and automation, retail and hospitality, gaming, print imaging, digital signage, digital surveillance and network security applications.

The Intel Q45 Express chipset has a built-in Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 (Intel® GMA 4500) to deliver an excellent blend of graphics performance and features. The Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) incorporates an updated backbone architecture that optimizes available bandwidth with the 1333 MHz system bus, while Intel® Fast Memory Access reduces memory access latency to significantly increase overall system performance.

The chipset provides energy-efficient performance, allowing designs to meet or exceed international power standards. An integrated Intel® Trusted Platform Module¹ and enhancements to Intel® Active Management Technology² (Intel® AMT) 5.0 support features such as remote alerts, secured access in Microsoft NAP* environments, access monitor, "fast call for help," and remote schedule maintenance. The chipset supports embedded operating systems such as Microsoft Windows Embedded XP,* Windows Vista,* Microsoft WEPOS* and Linux.*

Product information

Features and benefits

1333/1066/800 MHz Front Side Bus	Validated with a variety of processors to meet a wide range of performance needs, including the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Q9400Δ, Intel® Core™2 Duo processors E8400Δ, E7400Δ, E6400Δ, and E4300Δ, Intel® Pentium® processor E2160Δ, and Intel® Celeron® processor 440Δ.
PCI Express* 2.0 Interface	16 GB/s bandwidth for platform graphics.
Dual-Channel DDR2 memory support	Up to 12.8 GB/s (DDR2 800 dual 6.4 GB/s) bandwidth and 16 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.
Dual-Channel DDR3 memory support	Up to 17 GB/s (DDR3 1066 dual 8.5 GB/s) of bandwidth and 8 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.
Intel® Flex Memory Technology	Facilitates easier upgrades by allowing different memory sizes to be populated and remain in dual-channel mode.
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500	Built-in graphics engine delivers excellent video and 3D graphics with outstanding graphics responsiveness, integrated dual-display support and support for Microsoft DirectX* 10 and OpenGL* 2.0, enabling support for the highest levels of Windows Vista* experience.
Intel® Fast Memory Access	Updated GMCH backbone architecture improves system performance by optimizing use of available memory bandwidth and reducing latency of memory accesses.
Intel® Trusted Platform Module	Provides BOM savings by integrating industry-standard TPM 1.2 into the chipset.
Intel® Matrix Storage Technology	With additional hard drives added, Intel MST provides quicker access to applications and data files with RAID 0 and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk failure with RAID 1,5 and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3Gb/s.
Intel® Active Management Technology 5.0	Intel AMT 5.0 supports features such as remote alerts, secured access in Microsoft NAP* environments, access monitor, "fast call for help," and remote schedule maintenance.
Intel® Rapid Recover Technology	Quick system recovery in the case of hard drive failure or data corruption. With the ability to boot off a clone, it provides a fast, easy-to-use method for the end user to recover data and return a system to operational status. Clone can be mounted as read-only volume to allow recovery of individual files.
Serial ATA (SATA) 3 Gb/s	Faster transfer rate for improved data access with up to six SATA ports.
eSATA	Designed for use with external SATA devices. Provides a link for 3 Gb/s data speeds to eliminate bottlenecks found with current external storage solutions.
SATA Port Disable	Enables individual SATA ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. Provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through SATA ports. Especially targeted for eSATA ports.
USB Port Disable	Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. Provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports.

Intel® Q45 Express Chipset for embedded computing
Product	Product Code	Package	Features
Intel® 82Q45 Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)	AC82Q45	34x34 mm 1254 solder balls Flip Chip Ball Grid Array (FC-BGA)	1333/1066/800 MHz system bus; DDR2 or DDR3; Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500; high-bandwidth direct media interface chip interconnect; PCI Express* x16 Gen 2.0
Intel® I/O Controller Hub 10 DO (Intel® ICH10DO)	AF82801JO	9.397x8.636 mm 676 balls Flip Chip Ball Grid Array (FC-BGA)	Four PCI masters and six PCI Express* x1 channels; six SATA ports; 12 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports, dual EHCI controllers; integrated 10/100/1000 MAC; Intel® Trusted Platform Module 1.2; supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
Intel® WG82567LM Gigabit Ethernet PHY (optional)	WG82567LM	8x8 mm 56-pin QFN Package	Supports Intel® AMT 5.0 and Intel® Standard Manageability; jumbo frames (up to 9Kb); receive-side scaling, dual queues; PHY-based WoL

Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor Product Line

Complete SOC for security, communications, storage and embedded designs

Based on Intel® architecture, the Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor product line is the first in a series of breakthrough system on-a-chip (SOC) processors, delivering excellent performance-per-watt for small form factor designs.

This fully compatible product line (Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor and Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor with Intel® QuickAssist Technology) provides an outstanding combination of performance, power efficiency, footprint savings and cost-effectiveness compared to discrete, multi-chip solutions.

These integrated processors are ideal for small-to-medium business (SMB) and enterprise security and communications appliances (including VPN/firewall and unified threat management), transaction terminals, interactive clients, print and imaging applications, wireless and WiMax access applications, SMB and home network attached storage, converged IP PBX solutions, converged access platforms, IP media servers, VoIP gateways and industrial automation applications.

Intel® Core™2 Processor with vPro™ Technology

• 
  

Designed from the ground up to empower IT while meeting the demanding needs of business, the Intel® Core™2 processor with vPro™ technology provides enhanced security, remote manageability, and industry–leading performance¹ so you can spend more time on strategic initiatives while reducing PC issues and downtime.²

• Learn more about PCs with Intel® vPro™ technology
• Take business PCs to the next level with PCs with Intel® vPro™ technology
• White paper: Intel® Centrino® with vPro™ Technology and Intel® Core™2 Processor with vPro™ Technology

Enhanced security and manageability features

Offering hardware-assisted security and manageability features built on the chip, PCs with Intel Core 2 processor with vPro technology allow IT to:

• Remotely isolate, diagnose, and repair infected PCs, even if the OS is unresponsive and outside of the corporate firewall²
• Get added protection against viruses, attacks, and unsolicited tampering enabled by agent presence checking and hardware defense filters³
• Program PCs to connect automatically to receive software updates and patches even if the PC is asleep or powered down and without effecting the PC user
• Conduct hardware and software inventory up to 94 percent faster², saving on IT time and resources while maintaining accurate asset inventory. Having up-to-date licenses helps to ensure that you're only paying fees for software you're actually using
• Get broad industry support from leading manageability and security independent software vendors (ISVs) such as Symantec, LANDesk, HP, Microsoft, Cisco, and more that take advantage of the hardware-assisted benefits built into Intel Core 2 processors with vPro technology

Industry-leading performance¹

Delivering next-generation performance and energy efficiency, PCs with Intel Core 2 processor with vPro technology allow IT to:

• Decrease energy requirements without compromise to performance with Intel Core 2 processor with vPro technology based on next-generation hafnium-based 45nm Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, offering reduced electrical current leakage, and increased performance while meeting ENERGY STAR*φ requirements

Intel® Virtualization Technology

Helping to transform IT environments, hardware-assisted Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)¹ provides greater flexibility and maximum system utilization by consolidating multiple environments into a single server, workstation, or PC. With fewer systems required for the same tasks, Intel VT delivers:

• Simplified resource management increasing IT efficiency.
• Greater systems reliability and availability reducing corporate risk and real-time losses from downtime.
• Lower hardware acquisition costs with increased utilization of the machines you already have.

• Demo: See how Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) works
• Product brief: Business benefits

Making traditional virtualization better

With support from the processor, chipset, BIOS, and enabling software, Intel VT improves traditional software-based virtualization.¹ Taking advantage of offloading workloads to system hardware, these integrated features enable virtualization software to provide more streamlined software stacks and "near native" performance characteristics.

• Tell all benchmarks: Virtualization performance on Intel® Xeon® Processor 7400 Series
• Tell all benchmarks: Virtualization performance using VMmark-VMWare ESX* on Intel® Xeon processor 5000 sequence
• Boosting Server Virtualization Performance
• Leading Virtualization 2.0 white paper

More environments and less hardware required

Virtualization solutions enhanced by Intel VT allow a platform to run multiple operating systems (OSs) and applications as independent virtual machines, allowing one computer system to function as multiple "virtual" systems. For example, IT managers can create a single build with multiple and different OSs, software, and legacy applications.

• Hardware-Assisted Virtualization For Today's Businesses
• Data center efficiency: Turning challenges into opportunities

Extending virtualization beyond business environments

Hardware-assisted Intel VT and software-based virtualization technologies also extend to the home user. Creating virtual "partitions" and isolating multiple user environments, home users can dedicate resources to specific activities like PC games, personal finance, and photo and video libraries, while simultaneously improving defenses against viruses or spyware.

Hyper-Threading Technology

Enterprise, online business, and gaming software applications continue to place higher demands on processors. To improve performance in the past, threading was enabled in software by splitting instructions into multiple streams. With today's Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology)¹ you get thread-level parallelism on each processor resulting in more efficient use of processor resources–higher processing throughput–and improved performance on today's multithreaded software.

An Intel processor and chipset used with an OS and BIOS supporting HT Technology allows you to:

• Run demanding desktop applications simultaneouslywhile maintaining system responsiveness
• Keep systems more secure, efficient, and manageable, while minimizing impact on productivity
• Provide headroom for future business growth and new solution capabilities

Better gaming and multimedia

HT Technology enables gaming enthusiasts to play the latest titles and experience ultra-realistic effects and game play. And multimedia enthusiasts can create, edit, and encode graphically intensive files while running background applications such as virus scan in the background–all without slowing down.

Improving enterprise environments and online business

With HT Technology, multithreaded server software applications can execute threads in parallel within each processor in a server platform. And with HT Technology in enterprise and e-business environments, businesses can:

• Improve business productivity by doing more at once without slowing down
• Provide faster response times for Internet and e-Business applications, enhancing customer experiences
• Increase the number of transactions that can be processed simultaneously
• Utilize existing technologies while maintaining future readiness with compatibility for existing 32-bit applications and OSs while being prepared for the future of 64-bit

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is one of the many exciting new features that Intel has built into latest-generation Intel® microarchitecture (codenamed Nehalem). It automatically allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it's operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits.

Dynamically increasing performance

As an independent and complimentary feature, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) along with Intel Turbo Boost Technology increases performance of both multi-threaded and single threaded workloads. Intel Turbo Boost Technology is activated when the Operating System (OS) requests the highest processor performance state (P0).

The maximum frequency of Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology state depends on the workload and operating environment, providing the performance you need, when and where you need it.

Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given workload:

• Number of active cores
• Estimated current consumption
• Estimated power consumption
• Processor temperature

When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase by 133 MHz on short and regular intervals until the upper limit is met or the maximum possible upside for the number of active cores is reached. Conversely, when any of the limits are reached or exceeded, the processor frequency will automatically decrease by 133 MHz until the processor is again operating within its limits.