Don't let the armada of future processors scare you too much though – Intel has taken steps to make sure upgrading isn't oo painful for this latest round of processors. The fastest Nehalem processors have already launched, so if you"ve bought into Core i7 and socket LGA1366, you already have quite a bit of future-proofing protection. The next generation "Gulftown" processors will be an easy upgrade, and take advantage of the triple-channel memory and Intel X58Express chipset motherboards that are already in your new system.
For those still holding on to their "Conroe" parts, the upgrade path is a little murkier. For mainstream users Core i5 could deliver more than enough performance for everyday computing and video gaming, but the Intel P55 Express chipset won't have as much bandwidth for future videocards. The release date for Core i5 parts is also still unclear, especially if 45nm "lynnfield" Core i5 processorsare eclipsed by 32mm Clarkdale processors just a few months later
Finally, it will be interesting to see how integrating a graphics core into the processor will impact third-party chipset manufacturers like AMD and NVIDIA. NVIDIA's chipsets have long held a performance lead over Intel's IGP performance, but only time will tell if Intel will be able to muscle them out of the chipset business altogether by removing the need for NVIDIA IGP chipsets, and including native SLI support on Intel chipsets. If that does become the case Intel will be the only major developer and manufacturer of chipsets for Intel processors.
As always, the best advice is to wait as long as possible before buying. Sure, waiting and watching doesn't give the same satisfaction as impulse buying, but with Intel planning new architectures every few years, buying into new rocessors, chipsets and memory modules at an inflated price-premium is something that only the very richest can afford to do. For most novices, mainstream users and even gamers, the benefit of having the fastest possible CPU doesn't mean what it once used to. Very few of today's applications and games take advantage of the capabilities of these new processors, and tomorrow's applications can wait a day or two for all of these new processors to come down in price.
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