Intel Core i7-940XM Mobile Extreme Edition (BY80607002526AE)

First references to the Core i7-940XM Extreme Edition surfaced in February 2010. First notebook with the 940XM processor, HP Envy 17, was spotted at the beginning of May, and two weeks later, at the end of May, information about processor's features and third quarter release date was confirmed by a leaked Intel roadmap. Before the launch, the processor was also announced in Mouse Computer Company MB-G811X notebook, and in EUROCOM X8100 Leopard laptop. The i7-940XM CPU was launched on June 20, 2010, together with Core i7 Mobile 740QM and 840QM models. The main advantage of this Extreme CPU over Core i7 Mobiles are higher core and Turbo Boost frequency, as well as unlocked clock multiplier, which makes CPU overclocking much easier.

The i7-940XM runs at 2.13 GHz, and at this time, June 2010, this is the fastest quad-core Nehalem-based microprocessor. Although this processor is clocked slower than dual-core i5-4xx, i5-5xx and i5-6xx CPUs, Turbo Boost feature may help this CPU to outrun the Core i5s when only two cores are utilized. Maximum CPU frequency for the Core i7-940XM in Turbo Boost mode for 2 active cores is 3.2 GHz, and for the fastest dual-core i5-620M is 3.067 GHz. When only one core is active, the Turbo Boost feature may bump 940XM's frequency to 3.33 GHz, or to 2.4 GHz for 3 or 4 active cores. Other characteristics of the i7-940XM are similar to slower i7-920XM model: large 8MB level 3 cache, SIMD instructions up to SSE4, HyperThreading technology, Virtualization VT-x and VT-d, and Trusted Execution Technology. The CPU has Thermal Design power 55 Watt.

Introduction price of the Core i7-940XM was $1096, or almost twice as much as introduction price of the Core i7-840QM. Even in the best case scenario, the performance of the i7-940XM would be only 15% faster than the performance of the Core i7-840XM, and in most cases performance difference between these CPUs would be less than 10%. For this reason the processor may only be recommended when absolutely maximum performance is required, and when either the processor will be overclocked, or when money is not an object.