What makes newer i7's better than old ones?

[rujoesmith]

I have a first gen i7 860 @ 3.8ghz, but obviously this does not perform on the same level as the new sky-lake cores. Despite both having the same number of cores and similar clock speed, the sky-lake is a much better processor. Why is this?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I have a first gen i7 860 @ 3.8ghz, but obviously this does not perform on the same level as the new sky-lake cores. Despite both having the same number of cores and similar clock speed, the sky-lake is a much better processor. Why is this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law

more circuitry packed onto smaller and smaller spaces

 

[ajhockey3]

Intructions Per Clock, If one CPU can do more per clock, It can outperform at the same clock speed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_cycle

 

[dudeman509]

I have an old Nehalem around too. Technology just improves over time.

Intel made massive strides with efficiency and IPC with the Sandy Bridge generation, and has really only made incremental improvements to outright performance since then, instead focusing on shrinking die size, power consumption/heat, and compression/encoding performance.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Hardwaresecrets had a great article on if it's better to buy an old high-end CPU or a new low-end CPU. In the end, it was better to have a new low-end CPU.