Chip refreshes typically don’t add many new features aside from a speed bump here or there and a bit more cahce to make things run smoother. Some chip manufacturers want to shake things up.

Intel’s Core i7 980X brings 6 Hyper-Threading capable cores and 12MB of cache to the party with some mighty impressive results for multi-threaded applications. Here are some of the reviews floating around the web:

The Core i7 980X Review: Intel’s First 6-Core CPU – AnandTech
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Review – bit tech
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor – Hot Hardware
Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review – PC Perspective
Intel Core i7-980X 32nm LGA-1366 Six Core CPU – TweakTown
Intel’s new Gulftown Six Core CPU meets LN2 Extreme Cooling – TweakTown

The Tech Report has delved into Intel’s latest press briefings and pulled out some interesting information on the company’s upcoming 6-core processors and funk stuff they have going on in their labs.

Most notable are the massive power saving tweaks Intel has put into their Gulftown design which should help keep its heat output in check. One nifty design the company is working on should be of great interest to companies wanting to interface two high bandwidth devices using nothing but ribbon cable.

Intriguing technology any hardware head should be interested in.

Intel’s Core i3 lineup presents a bit of an interesting premise for system users. It’s certainly fast but there are older processors that are clearly faster but the new chip shows it has the muscle to handle other tasks at a much faster clip.

Phoronix has a look at how the Intel Core i3 530 handles quite a few tasks under a Linux operating system and the results might surprise you, if you use your system for things other than office work:

In our Core i3 Linux benchmarks we found this processor to perform very well especially in the heavily SMP-based areas where it was able to shine and run quite well. In other areas, the Core i3 530 was running neck-and-neck with the Core 2 Duo E8400 processor that is based on Intel’s Wolfdale from 2008. In some benchmarks, this older processor would come out ahead when running at its higher clocks, but this was a very close race and the Core i3 can be overclocked well too. The Core 2 Duo E8400 actually retails for around $170 USD where as the Core i3 530 is selling for about $120 USD, which makes it a much better bargain. The AMD Phenom II X3 710 did not pose much of a threat to the Core i3 530 processor except in the OpenSSL and Apache benchmarks.

A speedy little chip for tasks both big and small.

Intel’s GMA integrated graphics lineup has never really mustered much on the performance front making it better suited to business-class computers or for users that don’t need much in the way of pixel-crunching power.

bit-tech has decided to test out how the latest Intel GMA HD, integrated on the new Core i3 and Core i5 processors, does against other IGPs:

Intel’s newly launched Clarkdale CPUs – the Core i3 and lower end Core i5 models – feature integrated Intel graphics, branded GMA HD. The graphics chip is architecturally interesting; it’s actually a 45nm chip which contains, along with the graphics, the memory controller, PCI-Express and DMI link to the PCH too. It connects to the 32nm CPU die directly via an internal QPI link, precisely the kind of modular design Intel (and AMD) have been talking about.

Its performance has improved enough that it’ll do fine for some light gaming but you’re still going to want a dedicated graphics card for more demanding titles.

With all of the focus on high-end hardware it’s easy to overlook the changes at the low-end of the market, specifically those that will likely power office machines and entry level systems for years to come.

Intel’s DH55TC motherboard supports the company’s recently launched Core i3 and Core i5 “Clarkdale” CPUs which feature an integrated graphics core. Hardware Secrets has a look:

It is important to understand that with socket 1156 CPUs the integrated video is produced by the processor and not by the motherboard chipset, as it occurred until now. There are processors with integrated video and processors without this feature. The board has only the interface and connectors necessary to route the video signal generated by the CPU. You can install CPUs with an integrated video processor or without, but with CPUs without a video processor you won’t have on-board video, needing an add-on video card. Of course with a processor with integrated video you still have the option to install an add-on card and disable its video engine.

A solid, if basic, motherboard for your not-so demanding computing needs.

Intel’s Atom processors popularized the netbook mobile computer platform but its shortcomings were starting to become glaringly obvious with the media rich websites becoming so prevalent.

The Asus Eee PC 1005PE takes the familiar netbook dimensions and piles in the new Intel Atom “Pine Trail” platform which promises even better energy efficiency and improved performance. The Tech Report has a review:

Overall, Pine Trail isn’t so much about new features as it is an exercise in consolidation. Where once there were three chips, now only two remain. The Atom platform’s physical footprint has shrunk by a factor of three, down from 2,174 mm² to 773 mm². Total platform power is lower, too. Netbook implementations of Pine Trail have a combined TDP of just 7W (5.5W for the CPU and 1.5W for the chipset), which is 40% lower than Diamondville’s TDP.

It’s not the huge performance upgrade you were hoping for but its battery life is extremely impressive.

When it comes to storage performance you may think what’s included with your motherboard is as good as any other product on the market, unfortunately that’s not always the case as some companies devote considerable more time to perfecting their storage solutions than others.

Benchmark Reviews has a look at the Marvell SATA-6G controller and pits it against Intel’s ubiquitous ICH10 storage controller under the most stressful condition of all…handling super fast solid state drives:

Solid State Drives have traveled a long winding course to finally get where they are today. Up to this point in technology, there have been several key differences separating Solid State Drives from magnetic rotational Hard Disk Drives. While the DRAM-based buffer size on desktop HDD’s has recently reached 32 MB and is ever-increasing, there is still a hefty delay in the initial response time. This is one key area in which flash-based Solid State Drives continually dominates because they lack moving parts to “get up to speed”.

Some interesting performance implications if you happen to go for a Marvell based product.

Intel’s stab at a consumer level graphics chip that makes use of many many X86 cores and SIMD instruction sets to make for a powerful GPU is, apparently, a thing of the past.

VentureBeat writes that Larrabee’s development was behind where Intel had hoped so they’re cutting their plans to release it as a consumer product. It’ll probably stick around Intel’s labs until they eventually find a use for the technology.

Those hopping for a three-way competition in the graphics market have been let down.

If you’re really into computing hardware you tend to seek out information on the top-end products that are available, unfortunately many of those high-end processors are cost-prohibitive for some…that doesn’t mean there aren’t speedy bargains to be found however.

X-bit labs tests some of the most inexpensive processors out there and comes up with a few impressive performers in the bunch, especially if you enjoy overclocking:

And our supposition proved totally right. The first CPU, AMD Athlon II X2 215 did very well during our overclocking tests. Without touching any voltages, we could easily push its frequency from the default 2.7 GHz to 3.6 GHz.

Plenty of performance to be found without breaking the bank on a snazzy new processor.

When Intel’s P55 chipset was released to compliment the LGA1156 series of processors there were quite a few issues with  support chipsets that were to bring USB 3.0 and SATA 6G connections to the masses so motherboard manufacturers decided to ship without them. It seems as if they’ve caught up now.

The ASUS P7P55D-E Premium and Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 motherboards both feature SATA 6G and USB 3.0 support tacked on to the boards that should have had them in the first place. HardwareZone has the review:

ASUS and Gigabyte have been the fastest out of the blocks when it came to implementing these new features on their boards, with revised editions that are on sale now. Expect other vendors to pipe in with their own versions, either implemented directly onboard, or through third-party expansion cards. With no native SATA 6Gbit/s and USB 3.0 support in the P55 chipset however, there’s a catch to having them on these boards, as seen in their two divergent approaches. ASUS’ bridge chip adds more cost but looks to provide the best performance while Gigabyte compromises by giving users a choice between SATA/USB speeds and dual graphics. Other manufacturers, especially those with add-on cards are likely to go for the compromise.

Good performance but you’ll likely see chipsets with official support before the deluge of supporting peripherals flood the market.