The only guide to current-generation CPU features you'll ever need


Do you like PC hardware? Do you like graphs? Well, tell the secretary to hold all your calls, because you’ve just booked yourself an afternoon of CPU feature inspection. Okay, it doesn’t sound that exciting, but if you’re at all interested in processors or PC hardware, you probably owe it to yourself to check out the real-world consequences of multiple cores, hyperthreading, and other things that most people would write off as technical gibberish.

Careful, now: iXBT Labs‘ series has been going on for some time and there is a lot of content. You can pick and choose, of course, if you’re not curious about AMD processors or the current generation of Cores.

Part 1: AMD Phenom II, the amount of cores.
Part 2: AMD Phenom II, memory subsystem.
Part 3: Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading.
Part 4: Intel Core i7, pure Hyper-Threading.
Part 5: Intel Core i7, number of cores.
Part 6: Intel Core i7, clock rates.
Part 7: Intel Core i7, memory subsystem.

They’ve obviously put a lot of work into it (I admire the work ethic of hardcore component sites) and the series appears to be continuing, so bookmark and check back next time you’re feeling nerdy.

[via PC Perspective]