Intel Corp. has unveiled a new five star rating for its microprocessors that is designed to simplify a choice of microprocessors for end-users. Unfortunately for Intel, the new five star rating still does not give consumers a distinct information about performance of the chips and thus further confuses the choice.

“Intel Processor Ratings are designed to help you easily decide which processor is best for your needs. Just look for the stars next to the processor badges to determine their different levels of processing power,” reads an explanation at the company’s web-site.

However, in reality the star rating mimics Intel’s processor model numbers that represent a combination of performance, features power consumption and other characteristics. Each processor is assigned between one and five stars depending on a combination of features, including cores, clock-speed, cache, and other technologies. More stars indicate greater features and increased capabilities compared to other Intel processors.

As a result, the five stars rating still does not provide any information regarding computing power of central processing units: for instance, Intel Core 2 Duo E8000-series features four-star rating, whereas Intel Core 2 Quad Q8000-series only has three stars. Moreover, ultra low voltage microprocessors for ultra-portable notebooks – Intel Core 2 Duo SU9000-series – are ranked five stars, inline with Core 2 Extreme and Intel Core 2 Quad mobile chips.

While five star rating is easy for understanding by inexperienced buyers, it will not allow customers with some knowledge to choose the right combination of performance, power consumption and other characteristics of microprocessors. Therefore, the reasons of its implementation are not exactly clear.

Tags: Intel, Core