1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,440 I love Intel as much as anyone. They make cool products, they engage in lots of community stuff, 2 00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:08,580 and I mean, heck, they're even a major sponsor of my other channel. But man, 3 00:00:09,220 --> 00:00:15,600 when it comes to confusing product naming schemes, I think Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 takes the cake. 4 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:22,660 I mean, great question! What is a Core i7-4790K? What the heck does all of this even mean? 5 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,240 We'll get to that, but first a bit of background about why we need product names for processors. 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,500 Wouldn't it be simpler to just label them with how many gigahertz they run? I didn't call it a day. 7 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:39,320 Simpler, sort of, but at times actually even more confusing. For example, when the Pentium 4 launched, 8 00:00:39,580 --> 00:00:45,160 an equivalently clocked Pentium 3 was actually faster because it could do more work with each 9 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:49,740 cycle. As a customer, I would expect the product with the higher number to be the better one, 10 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:55,380 and therein lies the problem. Not all megahertz and gigahertz are created equal, 11 00:00:55,380 --> 00:00:57,120 and rating products that way is 12 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:03,060 about like rating the performance of a car based on what RPM the engine runs at. It's not actually a real 13 00:01:03,340 --> 00:01:10,320 indication of how fast the processor is, but it happened. Now, one of AMD's attempts to move away from this started in the early 14 00:01:10,540 --> 00:01:12,540 2000s with their PR or 15 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:19,740 performance rating naming scheme, where their processors were given a four-digit model number that enthusiasts believe was based on the performance 16 00:01:19,740 --> 00:01:25,800 AMD felt that they delivered compared to an Intel CPU of that clock speed, but this fixed nothing. 17 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:26,880 They were still, 18 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:33,800 indirectly naming according to clock speed, and it wasn't until Intel introduced the Core series, a line of CPUs that 19 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:40,460 dramatically outperformed their predecessors at much lower clocks, that the megahertz war ended because Intel 20 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,980 needed to shift their marketing away from frequency. So here's what we have today. 21 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:52,160 Other than the very bare-bones Pentium SKUs, a Core i3 will be your most basic option, with two processing cores and 22 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,220 hyper-threading. More about this feature here. For better multitasking, 23 00:01:56,220 --> 00:02:01,320 it will have a smaller cache, it'll consume less power, and it'll generally perform worse than a Core i5, 24 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:04,680 but it'll cost less, which leads us to the Core i5. 25 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:10,100 I wish I could say it was as simple as, well, Core i3s have two cores, and Core i5s have four cores. 26 00:02:10,100 --> 00:02:13,000 The number of cores equals n minus one, where n is the number after the little i. 27 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:18,600 But it's not. Mobile Core i5s have two cores and hyper-threading, while desktop ones, 28 00:02:19,020 --> 00:02:21,820 mostly, have four cores and no hyper-threading. 29 00:02:21,820 --> 00:02:26,100 But, what they all have in common is improved onboard graphics and turbo boost. 30 00:02:26,220 --> 00:02:31,740 More about this feature here. For temporary performance enhancements, when your system needs a little bit more oomph. 31 00:02:32,020 --> 00:02:39,060 And with oomph in mind, Core i7s. Number one, all Core i7s have hyper-threading for heavy workloads, and number two, 32 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:43,120 that's the noise your brain is gonna make as I finish my explanation here. 33 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:49,740 A Core i7 can have anywhere from two processing cores in an Ultrabook, all the way up to eight in a workstation. 34 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:55,800 It might support anywhere from two sticks of memory, all the way to eight, and it can have a TDP anywhere from around 10 watts, 35 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:57,800 all the way to a hundred and thirty watts. 36 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,000 So there is a ton of variety here. 37 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 And that's for a reason. 38 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:07,680 Core i7s tend to have more cache, faster turbo boost, and better onboard graphics than the lower tier processors. 39 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,980 And I guess, other than that, the best summary I can give is this. 40 00:03:12,060 --> 00:03:20,220 A Core i7 represents the best thing Intel could build for a given use case, with the biggest drawback being the higher price tag. 41 00:03:20,860 --> 00:03:25,890 So, when you boil it down, that's all the i-whatever numbers represent. 42 00:03:25,890 --> 00:03:30,210 They did better best within a given segment. Beyond that, on their own, they're pretty much meaningless. 43 00:03:30,210 --> 00:03:34,410 The numbers and letters afterwards sort of mean something, if you use the guide from before. 44 00:03:34,410 --> 00:03:39,250 But the safest way to shop is to dig around in Arc, and look at the features, 45 00:03:39,250 --> 00:03:44,210 core counts, and clock speeds of the CPUs you're comparing, to figure out how they stack up. 46 00:03:44,210 --> 00:03:48,850 With the good news being that as long as you compare within one brand, and within the same product generation, 47 00:03:48,850 --> 00:03:51,770 those metrics will actually mean something. 48 00:03:54,190 --> 00:03:56,750 Speaking of mean, Fractal Design is back buying up 49 00:03:56,750 --> 00:04:01,390 all of my advertising inventory for the sole purpose of making me do stupid crap on camera for y'all, 50 00:04:01,390 --> 00:04:07,150 instead of talking about the great quality and clean Scandinavian design of their PC cases, power supplies, and cooling products. 51 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,280 Mind you, I don't know who to be mad at at this point, because it was you, not Fractal, who posted 52 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:19,680 let's make them do the sponsor spot on Helium on their Facebook page. I mean, thanks a lot, guys! 53 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,840 I mean, genuinely, thanks for watching, guys. Like or dislike the video accordingly, 54 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,520 leave a comment with suggestions for future Fastest Possibles, and as always, 55 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,880 don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already.