Intel Core i7 Review
November 3rd, 2008
AnandTech reviewed the Intel Core i7, the newest in Intel’s lineup.
In particular, the memory architecture strikes me as interesting:
“With a three-channel DDR3 memory controller, Nehalem requires the use of three DDR3 modules to achieve peak bandwidth – which also means that the memory manufacturers are going to be selling special 3-channel DDR3 kits made specifically for Nehalem. Motherboard makers will be doing one of two things to implement Nehalem’s three-channel memory interface on boards; you’ll either see boards with four DIMM slots or boards with six.”
The number 3 just strikes me as unnatural in computers. With the 32-bit memory limitation of less than 4GB, I’m curious if we’ll see a lot of packages that ship either 3 x 1GB or 6 x 512MB modules, which would fit nicely as 3GB total. The other possibility is that we’ll see a rise in the popularity of 64-bit operating systems to support the rather natural 6 x 1GB orientation, making 6GB the norm for more powerful computers.
