Introduction

In 2009 Intel seemed to be on a serious roll, almost unstoppable as they answered every one of AMD's offerings. Even when AMD dropped their prices to create a better price/performance option, Intel simply launched the 1156 Lynnfield. Even the least powerful of these (the Core i5 750) was more than the equal of much higher priced AMD CPUs. But Intel, as we mentioned, was (and still is) on a roll. They were not content to sit back and enjoy their success.

Instead they moved to capture another market. Following on the heels of the Lynnfield that brought the most of the functions of the Northbridge into the CPU, they pushed out Clarkdale. This new CPU not only puts a GPU on the same packaging as the CPU, but also is the first CPU from Intel to be created on the 32nm process.

Will Clarkdale and the Core i5 661 start 2010 off with a bang for Intel? Let's read on to find out.