What critera does intel use to name its CPU's? (i3 vs i5 vs i7 etc)

Generally, for desktops

i3 = Dual Core, 3-4MB Cache, No Turbo Boost, No Hyperthreading

i5 = Quad Core, 4-6MB Cache, Turbo Boost, No Hyperthreading

i7 = Quad Core (or more), 6+MB Cache, Turbo Boost, Hyperthreading


On mobile chips it's a bit more fast and loose.

The big thing for i7's is always the Hyperthreading. Neither i3 nor i5 in any consumer lines support Hyperthreading.
 
I agree, that is totally messed up and misleading, always thought so.

That i7 4510u is a dual core even, what the hell.
 
The model names are mostly marketing fluff. You have to dig into specs to really know what's going on. It is working, a lot of people are convinced that i7s are always better than i5s. I'm constantly having to explain to people why their "i7" Ultrabook processor is much slower than a desktop "i3". When buying processors now you need to dig into the specs to have any idea what you're buying. Intel's marketing is horrible (as is AMD and Nvidias). The model numbers don't do anything but confuse people who don't want to invest the large amount of time necessary to figure out what they mean. I'm constantly recommending mid-range parts to gamers because there is little benefit from moving any further up the stack for them. Better to spend more on a GPU.

And don't even get me started with the fact that they're now selling Atom processors as "Pentium" and "Celeron".

P.S. This i3 has hyperthreading: http://ark.intel.com/products/77480/Intel-Core-i3-4130-Processor-3M-Cache-3_40-GHz
 
Chas said:
The big thing for i7's is always the Hyperthreading. Neither i3 nor i5 in any consumer lines support Hyperthreading.
Click to expand...

nope... only i5 doesn't have hyper threading.. all i3s also have hyper threading. in fact that's what make i3s great dual core chips. and that apply for mobile and desktop.

sincerely all in the mobile market it's messed up. some i5s are even better than some i7s.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Pretty much confirms what I have noticed too. Ive purchased alot of lenovo ts140's with the i3 4130's, which really is a great bang for buck proc.
 
rive22 said:
I agree, that is totally messed up and misleading, always thought so.

That i7 4510u is a dual core even, what the hell.
Click to expand...

The U lines are low power chips for mobile solutions.
And the i7 still hyperthreads.
 
I always viewed the desktop hierarchy as such.
i7 = i5 with hyperthreading
i5 = Quad Core
i3 = Pentium with hyperthreading
Pentium = Dual core
Celeron = Dual core with less cache

This is just a gross generalization of course.

Mobile processors are done with voodoo. On my old XPS 12 I had the i5 version, the i7 version was basically the same processor at a higher clock speed. Both were dual core with hyperthreading.
My current Alienware 15 has a true quad core i7 with hyperthreading.
 
Habibus said:
I always viewed the desktop hierarchy as such.
i7 = i5 with hyperthreading
i5 = Quad Core
i3 = Pentium with hyperthreading
Pentium = Dual core
Celeron = Dual core with less cache

This is just a gross generalization of course.

Mobile processors are done with voodoo. On my old XPS 12 I had the i5 version, the i7 version was basically the same processor at a higher clock speed. Both were dual core with hyperthreading.
My current Alienware 15 has a true quad core i7 with hyperthreading.
Click to expand...
That looks right for pretty much all desktop core iX I can think of, and yeah the mobile processors are where it gets weird. A comparison of a Core i7 4510U vs i3 4120U is pretty funny. (a little more cache and slightly higher "turbo" and.. well I think thats it)
 
Quix said:
Intel's marketing is horrible (as is AMD and Nvidias). The model numbers don't do anything but add a smoke screen so that consumers will falsely assume that any higher numbered product is superior to lesser numbered products making them more willing to part with their $$$
Click to expand...


Fixed it for ya:D
 
Habibus said:
Mobile processors are done with voodoo. On my old XPS 12 I had the i5 version, the i7 version was basically the same processor at a higher clock speed. Both were dual core with hyperthreading.
My current Alienware 15 has a true quad core i7 with hyperthreading.
Click to expand...

The voodoo is still present. There is a big difference between an i7 "m" processor and an i7 "u"
 
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On the mobile side:

i3 = dual core + hyper threading + 3MB cache + no turbo frequency
i5 = dual core + hyper threading + 3MB cache + turbo frequency (I believe there is a 5th gen chip that has 4MB cache)
i7u/m/y = dual core + hyper threading + 4MB cache + turbo frequency
i7qm/hq/mx = quad core + hyper threading + 6-8MB cache + turbo frequency

core-m = dual core + hyper threading + 4MB cache + turbo frequency + very low TDP
 
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