Intel Lynnfield i5-750 & i7-870 Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

P57 has been removed from the roadmaps I have seen.

[r0bc]

Some LGA1156 boards have 6G sata.


OK now I'm more confused then ever ... I thought we beat this dead horse to death and it wasn't possible.

I just read this:
"If you are a hardcore enthusiast that wants 3-Way and above, you should eventually be able to get that option with Lynnfield processors as NVIDIA has informed me they are working with motherboard manufacturers to install nF200 PCIe bridge chips that would support three full x16 PCIe connections via the integrated PCIe x16 connection on the Lynnfield CPU. "


Aren't there already boards with N200 chips? Is this just a example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet" or is there some truth to it?

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

P57 has been removed from the roadmaps I have seen.

Has it? I haven't really bothered to stay on top of Intel's chipset plans, good to know though. Looks like I got some reading to do to get myself up to date on Intel's chipset plans.

Originally Posted by r0bc

Some LGA1156 boards have 6G sata.

Provided by 3rd party chip I'm pretty sure, though I could be wrong(I'll double check and edit this post) - edit - Yep, most boards seem to be using the Marvell 6gb SATA chip to provide this function.

Originally Posted by r0bc

OK now I'm more confused then ever ... I thought we beat this dead horse to death and it wasn't possible.

I just read this:
"If you are a hardcore enthusiast that wants 3-Way and above, you should eventually be able to get that option with Lynnfield processors as NVIDIA has informed me they are working with motherboard manufacturers to install nF200 PCIe bridge chips that would support three full x16 PCIe connections via the integrated PCIe x16 connection on the Lynnfield CPU. "


Aren't there already boards with N200 chips? Is this just a example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet" or is there some truth to it?

I understand how this might be confusing, the NF200 is a lanesplitter which takes a 16x PCIe 2.0 link(in this case from the i5/i7 CPU, though it can be taken from anywhere that provides it) and "splits" it into 32x PCIe 2.0 electrical lanes. What method they would take to get 3 full 16x PCIe 2.0 lanes I'm not quite sure, but they can either "stack" the lane splitter or perhaps there is a new revision of the NF200 which can provide 48 lanes I'm not sure.

However using a lane splitter such as the NF200 breeds and brings in other issues such as latency, and the fact that you didn't remove the 16x PCIe 2.0 bottleneck, you simply moved further down the line, so ultimately its still there. Think of it this way, doesn't matter how many fat kids you can fit at the table(NF200 provided lanes = kids), theres only so much food at the table that they can each grab(16x lane from the CPU).

With that all being said, it is possible, however I haven't heard anything other than the NF200 based EVGA FTW 200 and Classified 200 boards, which I haven't done terribly too much research into.

[r0bc]

Yeah Asus are using the Marvell 9123 SATA 6G chip on the P7P55D Deluxe so your right... third party chip. There must be more, or at least more to come.

[Bojamijams]

There will also be add-in 6G PCI-E cards which again will be a problem on P55

SKYMTL, I understand if its not feasible, I Just thought I'd ask (re: I5 vs i7 o/c). But If I may make a request for the 58xx review when you guys release it, please check performance with the card running in 16x and 8x mode to see if there's a difference.. pretty please?

[Dadi_oh]

Very impressive but I think that for my day to day computing/gaming needs my Q9550 @ 3.8GHz will do. Next build however the Socket 1156 is definitely on my radar screen. Good job Intel.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by r0bc

Some LGA1156 boards have 6G sata.
"If you are a hardcore enthusiast that wants 3-Way and above, you should eventually be able to get that option with Lynnfield processors as NVIDIA has informed me they are working with motherboard manufacturers to install nF200 PCIe bridge chips that would support three full x16 PCIe connections via the integrated PCIe x16 connection on the Lynnfield CPU. "

Where did you hear this?

[Dot Merix]

He saw it here i'm sure: PC Perspective - Intel Lynnfield Core i7-870 and Core i5-750 Processor Review Under "Platform Considerations"

[r0bc]

Originally Posted by r0bc

Is this just a example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet" or is there some truth to it?

Yes that was where I read it but I don't no if its true thats why I asked the question here. It don't really add up with everything we've been told up until now.

[SKYMTL]

Either Nvidia got their info mixed up or something else happened there since every board I have seen in a roadmap with the NF200 chipset had its slots running at 8x / 8x / 8x for tri SLI. That goes for upcoming EVGA, ASUS and Foxconn boards. As far as I know, Intel isn't allowing x16 / x16 configurations.

In addition, the NF200 chipset adds a TON of latency so performance will suffer.