It wasn’t too long ago that we revealed Intel’s 2009 Processor Roadmap revealing what was in store with the Nehalem 45nm and 32nm CPU microarchitectures. We’ve seen the Bloomfield processor, the Ferrari of Intel processors, smoke every benchmark record ever set. And, just when the excitement started to level off, we were hit with Lynnfield which by all accounts crushed any performance we ever considered, “mainstream”.
With the new year, comes new things. The newest of Intel’s crop comes to us in the form of the Core i5 and i3 Processors dubbed Clarkdale. And while it’s built a little different, it doesn’t mean you’re due for disappointment. It was designed with a specific purpose. Allow us to break it way down so you don’t have to.
Features and Specifications
First, lets recap the Core i5 661 bigger siblings. The 45nm LGA1366 “Bloomfield” and LGA1156 “Lynnfield” arrived fully powered by Quad cores with 8 Hyper-Threads, except for the Core i5 750 which only offered 4 threads. The Bloomfield is fed by three memory channels (Triple Channel). Lynnfield is fed by only two memory channels (Dual Channel).
The processor we have in question is the Dual Core i5 661 “Clarkdale” LGA1156 Processor which continues to utilize Dual Channel memory via its integrated controller. Clarkdale heralds in a new micro-architectural era shrinking the die size from 45nm to 32nm. That’s 383 Million on-die transistors clocking in at 3.33GHz constantly executing via a total of 4 Hyper-Threads. There’s more!
The Core i5 661 Clarkdale also features an integrated 45nm Graphics processor with 177 Million on-die transistors calculating at 900MHz. (Core i5 6×0 series offer a 733MHz core frequency.) It offers improved DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1 support as well as enhancements to video and 3D performance which smooth HD video playback. This is especially important for Blu-ray content. Nothing can ruin the HD experience like stuttering.
Intel Turbo Boost in Detail
Intel Turbo Boost is a new feature that previous processors didn’t offer. Not to be confused with Intel SpeedStep which ramps down the frequencies to help conserve resources and power, Turbo Boost automatically and dynamically overclocks one or more processor cores when the system is doing something resource intensive. It can also overclock each core separately depending on the need while Intel SpeedStep will never exceed the CPU’s top end frequency.
For example, when running most single Threaded video games, only one CPU core is active. If the game is pushing your CPU to its max, Turbo Boost will carry a single 3.33GHz core to about 3.6GHz. This gives the system a little extra performance boost. If both cores are being pushed to their max, both cores will be boosted to 3.6GHz.
If your current P55 or P55A motherboard’s BIOS supports the new 32nm build, then the BIOS will offer Turbo Boost. Otherwise, it will be grayed out and will be inaccessible.
New Supporting Chipsets – Desktop
Naturally, most any P55/P55A motherboard should support the Clarkdale depending on the BIOS. Just make sure you double check your vendor before picking one up. Keep in mind that current chipsets and motherboards don’t support the Clarkdale’s integrated Graphics Processor nor can it access the video portion of the chip.
That brings us to the new Intel 5 Series Chipset Family. If you want to access the new low powered integrated graphics, it’ll require one of these. The family begins with the micro-ATX H55 Chipset found in the DH55TC Motherboard from the “Media Series” here on the test bench.
And, just because these aren’t part of the Intel Extreme Desktop Series, doesn’t mean they’re short on features. Besides all the standard full array of expansion features, there are only a couple major differences. The H55 is the Micro-ATX version, while the H57 and Q57 are full ATX. The Q57 offers both Intel Rapid Storage and Active Management Technology, while the H57 offers only Rapid Storage.
New Supporting Chipsets – Mobile
There are similar changes to the mobile Intel chipsets as well. The current PM55 chipset is joined by the HM55, QM57, QS 57, and HM57 Chipsets. Rather than boggle your mind with a great deal of features and expect you to remember, have a look at the comparison chart below.
Some of the more interesting features include the Remote Consumer Assist, Identity Protection (can never have enough security in some areas), Remote Active Management, and Rapid Storage Technology. Rest assured that these mobile chipsets are well tuned to support the emerging SSD (Solid State Drive) market.
The DH55TC Media Series Motherboard
I know what you’re thinking. But hey, it’s a micro-ATX motherboard. The idea is simple: decrease the size, integrate the right performance, and lower the power consumption. Well, that goes for this particular platform. A full sized ATX won’t net you quite the efficiency.
However, it still offers the right amount of peripherals and expansion needed to build a capable home desktop, or a very capable Home Theater PC. This motherboard is fully capable all by itself whereas previous generations required a discrete graphics card and, in some instances a capable audio card.
Thanks to the extra space gained from eliminating one extra chipset co-processor, engineers were able to put the extra space to good use. There are 6 SATA3 ports backed up by 2 eSATA ports on the backside. That should be more than enough storage for your Home Theater PC.
Speaking of audio, the motherboard contains an integrated Realtek ALC888S audio Codec. This little chip provides the 5.1 + 2-Channel HD audio which you’ll need if you’re to enjoy a decent audio experience via the HDMI audio out.
Unfortunately, the DH55TC doesn’t really support any overclocking especially in regards to the memory. The memory clocks can’t be changed at all. Plus, during testing, we had to sift through the on hand memory to find a kit that would configure the best automatically. Five kits later, we had our build.
System Setup and Test Notes
Here are the components assembled thanks to some really excellent sponsors support.
Our Test System Will Consist of:
- Processor 1: Intel Core i6 661
- Processor 2: Intel Core i5 750
- Processor 3: Intel E8500
- Motherboard 1: DH55TC Media Series
- Motherboard 2: ASUS P7P55D Pro
- Motherboard 3: Intel DX48BT2 Extreme Series
- Kingston HyperX 4GB 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory
- Kingston SSDNow Plus 64GB SSD
- Zotac Geforce 9800GT Amp Video Card
- Zotac Geforce GTX295 (For 3DMark Vantage and Crysis)
Ready for 10 pages of notes, graphs, benchmarks, and comments? Neither are we. We’re only going to cover the important tests that reveal what the CPU can do for you.
We’re looking for the closet comparison using a Core 2 Duo and a Core i5 750 with four physical cores and threads. Another aspect worth looking into is how well Intel Turbo will benefit the Core i5 661 CPU. At the moment, only a couple P55A motherboards support the entire Core i5 series including the 32nm parts.
The benchmarks and evaluations we’ll be using here are 3DMark Vantage, SANDRA Memory and CPU Benchmarks (to see how memory controllers compare), Video Encoding, Cinebench R10, and Crysis. Then we’ll round it off with a quick look at overclocking and power consumption numbers.
3DMark Vantage
Well, what do you know. The 661 shoots a decent caliber round when coupled with a Zotac Geforce GTX295 video card. The Hyper-Threads heavily favor the CPU Score over the E8500. This alone should prove that even though it’s not in the performance list, it still has plenty of surprising power.
SANDRA CPU Benchmarks
This benchmark gives us a sneak peak as to what to expect in terms of system performance. You may expect the 750 to blaze a trail past the other two, but keep on looking at the results because there are some surprises up ahead.
SANDRA Memory Bandwidth
As you can see, the Clarkdale doesn’t offer as much Memory Bandwidth as the Core i5 750, but it does double that of the E8400. That’s because the integrated memory controller on the 750 is stronger, but weaker on the E8400 which relies on an external chipset memory controller. Memory bandwidth is very important to the CPU’s Hyper-Threads especially when encoding which you’ll see next.
HandBrake
Again, while the i5 661 doesn’t match the i5 750, it does leave the E8400 well in the dust. If the i5 661’s integrated memory controller were better, it would probably come very close to matching the i5 750. However, that would probably create a bit of a pricing paradox, making it harder to choose between the two parts.
Cinebench Rendering
Equally CPU intensive is Cinebench. You can see it highly favors Multi-Core and Hyper-Threaded performance. But, Single Core rendering favors the 661 overall and essentially leaves the Turbo-less i5 750 and E8400 in the dust. Intel Turbo Boost dynamically overclocked the i5 661 to 3.6GHz which you can’t get from the other two processors.
Best yet, it does this all by itself so if you lack the ninja skillz of overclocking, it does it for you.
Crysis
At 3.3GHz, the Core i5 661 offers far more than enough frequency and bandwidth to produce extremely playable frame rates using our chosen GPU, the GTX 295. Since the game is single threaded utilizing only one CPU, Core 0 got a small frame rate boost with Turbo enabled on the 661, while the other cores don’t have that capability. Any questions?
H.264 Video and Audio Playback
This is one area I can’t stress enough. The video experience on the Clarkdale DH55TC platform is really great. Compared to previous generation chipsets and integrated video experiences, the platform was down right “sweet”. CPU resources were as little as 2% during some tests and never went above 27% when queuing up massive movies.
The majority of the time, resources were limited to less than 10% producing a very viewable frame rate average on the DH55TC motherboard. As you know, sticking and stuttering during a movie is something that totally ruins the home theatre experience and this platform combo does not do that to you.
A few features like 1.3 HDMI spec, Dolby True HD, and Dolby DTS-HD make this all possible especially in terms of audio performance. Plus, the folks at Intel were happy to point a very obvious feature over looked by many. The integrated PCIE GPU is “on chip” and not “on die” meaning its built into the core rather than next to it. Latencies are about as non-existent as can be expected.
Overclocking Made Easy
Because it’s a Dual Core, it gives you plenty of head room as long as you don’t try it on the DH55TC motherboard. There’s far less circuitry to overclock compared to physical Quad Core processors. Overclocking the CPU doesn’t affect the integrated GPU, otherwise it wouldn’t possible.
Using the ASUS P7P55D Pro motherboard and Auto settings in the BIOS, the system achieved a very quick 4.3GHz. With a bit more fiddling with the voltages and timings, the system maxed out at about 4.4GHz. Your overclocking achievements will vary of course. At least you know this isn’t a crippled processor and that some crazy overclocks with little effort can be achieved. Getting an extra GHz out of a CPU is nothing to stick your nose up at and with some more sinister cooling methods, you can see that 5GHz probably isn’t off limits.
Ultimate Power Consumption
Putting on our “Green” hat, we check out just how much juice the newly minted CPU sucks up. Yes, the Clarkdale would probably be catatonic if it used any less power. Keep in mind though that these results were taken with and without using a Zotac 9800GT 512MB video card. This is ideally where users are going to go when considering a micro-ATX platform, especially for Home Theater use. But again, even without an external graphics card, the system does do a lot of great things on its own.
Final Thoughts – How Does Clarkdale 32nm Measure Up?
The objective of the Dual Core i5 and i3 aren’t to compete with the stronger Quad Core processors per se. Their purpose is to take what we as consumers appreciate about Dual Core processors and almost double the performance of previous generation parts without doubling the price. Hence, we get a dual core CPU with Hyper-Threads which continues to be a first terms of CPU innovation. You could say, in an arrogant “Apple” sort of way that they “reinvented the dual core CPU”.
With features like Hyper-Threading, Intel is able to cut down on desktop and mobile power consumption immensely since it no longer powers four physical cores. That means that although it is physically a dual core system, it acts more like a quad core system, while requiring far less power. As you can see, this will help mobile users as well because their batteries will last so much longer. Again without an increase in relative price. That’s assuming laptop vendors don’t do something devious as to try and sell it to us as “their” feature. Hey, we’re looking out for the little guy!
That said, it’s another Intel first Stepping in the right direction. While the 32nm dual core Hyper-Threaded CPU line deserve an Editor’s Choice because it is innovative, it’s weaker memory controller gives us reason to pull back on the reigns. Granted, it does have twice the memory bandwidth of the Core 2 series, but it would be a real value if it had a better controller similar to its Core i5 750 sibling.
Pros
- Impressive innovation
- Surprisingly low power consumption
- Perfect for Home Theater and entry level PCs
- 32nm overclocks to 4GHz and above
- CPU offers more than enough power for gaming
Cons
- Weaker memory controller
Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0
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Intel Core i5 661 Clarkdale 32nm Processor – Photo Gallery
