Intel Core i5 microprocessor family

The first Core i5 microprocessor, i5-750, was released 10 months after official launch of Nehalem micro-architecture and Core i7 family in November 2008. The i5-750 is based on newer Lynnfield core, which replaced Quick Path interconnect with slower Direct Media Interface, reduced the number of memory channels from three to two, and integrated PCI Express interface on die. The i5-750, and so far all other members of the Core i5 family, were manufactured in smaller package than Core i7-9xx Bloomfield processors. The package size of i5-750 is identical to the size of socket 775 packages, although it has 1156, or 50%, more contacts. New 1156-land package has two notches, which provide proper CPU orientation when the CPU is inserted into socket 1156, and prevent the CPU from inserting into socket 775 boards. Even with somewhat crippled features, performance of the i5-750 is comparable to more expensive Core i7-9xx family and top AMD Phenom II X4 CPUs. In office applications the i5-750 is as good as Core i7-920, and from 0 to 10% faster than Phenom II 965. In media applications performance of this and other Core i7 and Phenom II processors is very dependent on application. In some applications the i5-750 is as fast as the i7-920 and up to 15% faster than the Phenom II X4 965. In other applications the i5-750 is 25% slower than the i7-920 and up to 5% slower than the Phenom II. In games the i5-750 performs very close to both i7-920 and Phenom II 965.