There seem to be two rumors going around that sound good about why it's called the "i7". The first of which says that it is bringing back Intel's old naming scheme that they used for the i386 and i486. This would make sense as Nehalem could be considered Intel's 7th generation processor and therefore be called the i786 which is then just shortened to i7.
The other rumor which seems to make more sense is that Intel will adopt a BMW-like naming scheme for it's CPUs. If you don't know BMW uses a numeric based naming scheme for their cars, their biggest and most expensive cars are the 7 Series, and they have smaller less expensive cars such as the 5 Series and 3 Series. If this rumor is right, the Core i7 would be the top end Core model and we could see a midrange line called the Core i5 (for example), and a low end model called the Core i3 (for example). This marketing method could possibly be easier for the average consumer.
Adam Kolak Moderator - Hardware Analysis
Email: adam@hardwareanalysis.com
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There seem to be two rumors going around that sound good about why it's called the "i7". The first of which says that it is bringing back Intel's old naming scheme that they used for the i386 and i486. This would make sense as Nehalem could be considered Intel's 7th generation processor and therefore be called the i786 which is then just shortened to i7.
The "i" was added to the numbers because the US Patent office would no longer accept patents of a number.
I think they should have called it Pentium V. The Pentium name has a crapload of recognition and this design strays from that of Core more towards the Pentium IV design.
________________________ If I remember what I forgot, I have not forgotten it.
There seem to be two rumors going around that sound good about why it's called the "i7". The first of which says that it is bringing back Intel's old naming scheme that they used for the i386 and i486. This would make sense as Nehalem could be considered Intel's 7th generation processor and therefore be called the i786 which is then just shortened to i7.
The "i" was added to the numbers because the US Patent office would no longer accept patents of a number.
So the second rumor floats your boat more, then?
Also I'm not sure if Core 7 would have made much sense after Core 2. The "i" kind of changes the whole meaning.
Adam Kolak Moderator - Hardware Analysis
Email: adam@hardwareanalysis.com
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Adam,
The "i7" is a reasonable indicator of an Intel Processor of the 7th generation, but the 86 is totally bogus. In the original numbering scheme for the intel processors the 8= 8 bit register width, and the 6=16bit I/O bus, vs the 8 for a 8 bit IO bus.
Thus the 8088 = 8000 series, 8 bit register, 8 bit I/O.
The 8086 = 8000 series, 8 bit register, 16 bit I/O.
The 80286 = 8000 series, second generation, etc..
The whole naming process fell apart starting with the 80386 and 80486 series. Intel tried to get the naming back on track with the Pentium, but in the branding and actual indication of capability (engineering) wars, the marketing dweebs have won over the engineering geeks, at least in the "i" series. The "p" series PowerPC RISC based CPUs for servers has stayed closer to the original engineering naming coventions.
Ad Astra Per Aspera
(A rough road leads to the Stars)
We all know what we know, and everyone else knows we are wrong.
System Specifications in BIO
God damn marketing dweebs! But then again 6 = 16 bits, doesn't make much engineering sense either.
Yes I know the 6 vs 16 is a stretch, but it was still kind of indicative of the difference, though in hind sight it seems like the numbers could have stretched out further. But a 80386 should have been a 80362 ( or a third generation, 16 bit register, with 32bit I/O)
Ad Astra Per Aspera
(A rough road leads to the Stars)
We all know what we know, and everyone else knows we are wrong.
System Specifications in BIO
There seem to be two rumors going around that sound good about why it's called the "i7". The first of which says that it is bringing back Intel's old naming scheme that they used for the i386 and i486. This would make sense as Nehalem could be considered Intel's 7th generation processor and therefore be called the i786 which is then just shortened to i7.
The "i" was added to the numbers because the US Patent office would no longer accept patents of a number.
I think they should have called it Pentium V. The Pentium name has a crapload of recognition and this design strays from that of Core more towards the Pentium IV design.
Using the Pentium name again would be a very bad idea. First, Pentium IV had it's butt whupped by AMD and second, Intel has already used it to name their "value" Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Naming the new processor Pentium anything would allude to inferiority.
By the way, I'm probably the only person who thinks the new logo looks sexy.
DsL.Dilbert
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