What is physically different between a high-end CPU (e.g. Intel i7) and a low-end one (Intel i3)? What makes the low-end one cheaper?
In: Technology
Through history occasionally are devices where a high end and a low end were similar, just had features disabled. That does not apply to the chips mentioned here.
If you were to crack open the chip and look at the inside in one of [these pictures](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Jl16e.jpg), you’d see that they are packed more full as the product tiers increase. The chips kinda look like shiny box regions in that style of picture.
If you cracked open some of the 10th generation dies, in the picture of shiny boxes perhaps you would see:
* The i3 might have 4 cores, and 8 small boxes for cache, plus large open areas
* The i5 would have 6 cores and 12 small boxes for cache, plus fewer open areas
* The i7 would have 8 cores and 16 small boxes for cache, with very few open areas
* The i9 would have 10 cores, 20 small boxes for cache, and no empty areas
The actual usable die area is published and unique for each chip. Even when they fit in the same slot, that’s where the lower-end chips have big vacant areas, the higher-end chips are packed full.
Latest Answers