When Intel first released its flagship processor (QX9650) back in November 2007, we witnessed the first entry into the 45nm domain. This brought a host of features and improvements to an already popular Core 2 Micro architecture.

Looking at the current market we have Intel's dual cores E8xxx series, which are being sold in the range of 8K and 10K. While these are very popular and give excellent value, they are still priced on the higher side. While we still have the E4xxx series for the budget conscious user, if you wanted to get into the 45nm arena, you had to start-off with one of the E8xxx processors.Intel noticed this gap and decided to release a group called the E7xxx line of processors that would cater to users on a budget. Of course some features would have to be cut down due to the positioning in Intel's lineup but still we would get a 45nm processor with all the benefits.

The new 45nm line of processors is codenamed 'Penryn' with dual cores codenamed 'Wolfdale' and the new quadcores named 'YorkField'. Before we get into testing it here's a little overview of the technology that goes into making it.

45nm Fabrication

These are some of the benefits that come with this new fabrication process.

2x improvement in transistor density (this translates to smaller chip size or increased transistor count)
30% reduction in transistor switching power

20% improvement in transistor switching speed

10x reduction in gate oxide leakage power

But all this would not be possible without the revolutionary transistor technology called High-K + metal gate transistors. This significantly reduces leakage power so in turn less heat is produced. The two key parts in this new transistor are:

The gate dielectric consists of a "high-k" material
The gate electrode is made of metal