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Intel’s Core i7 3940XM Said To Be Fast
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The fastest Core i7 for notebooks currently available is the Core i7 3940XM, with four cores working at 3GHz by default and 3.9GHz in its turbo mode. It has a massive 8MB of cache and fits the 55W TDP envelope. It costs an arm, a leg and a few other organs of your choice, as its official price sits at $1096.
As of Q3 2013, the Core i7 3940XM will cease to be the fastest kid on the block. The Haswell replacement is right around the corner and the name of the new market leader is Core i7 4930MX. The “X” stands for Extreme Edition, while M means that the processor comes from the M-line of processors. We mentioned the H-line of processors here and the only main difference is that H comes GT3 graphics while Intel HD graphics 4600, Intel HD graphics 4×00 for GT2.
The Core i7 4930XM (yes the letters have changed the place from Ivy Bridge MX to XM with Haswell) is a quad-core with eight threads, 3GHz core clock, 3.9GHz maximum single core turbo, 3.8GHz max dual-core turbo and an impressive 3.7GHz max quad-core turbo clock.
The graphics core of choice Intel’s new GT2 HD graphics core which works between 400 and 1350MHz, but we are not aware of the number of graphics cores inside at this point. The fastest supported memory is rather disappointing, DDR3 or DDR3L 1600, and we expected a higher number here.
Intel Makes Changes To Haswell
Intel has started dividing its mobile market segments into processors lines, where the Y processor line goes up to 11.5W TDP, U line covers chips in the 15W to 25W range, while the M line covers 37W, 47W as well as 57W TDP space, with two to four cores and graphics up to GT2.
The high performance H processor line is yet another BGA package processor line that also aims for 37W, 47W and 57W TDPs, with quad-core processors and up to GT3 graphics with on-package cache memory.
Intel expects that high performing gaming and workstation PCs will go use these processors and they fit some thick clamshell designs, no Ultrabooks with 57W unless you would want to use one for welding.
Intel currently doesn’t detail the processor number and the number of SKUs but it is obvious that they will end up with quad-core Core i7 branding for QC1+ and QC2+ market segments.