Leaked Intel slides reveal Sandy Bridge-E, Ivy Bridge details

Jos

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A new Intel roadmap has recently appeared online, bringing new details on the upcoming enthusiast oriented Sandy Bridge-E along with Ivy Bridge based processors which Intel plans to release during the first half of 2012.

According to the roadmap, the high end Sandy Bridge-E will be launched in Q4 2011 and besides targeting the super expensive $999+ segment, apparently it will also include models in premium performance P1 and P2 ranges, which are currently headed by Core i7 970 and 2600 models. Coinciding with a previous leak detailing the X79 platform, the slides mention full support for two PCI-Express x16 graphics cards, the new quad-channel DDR3 interface, larger cache sizes and flexible storage options -- the X79 chipset will purportedly include a 10-port SATA 6Gbps controller.


The roadmap also describes Intel's 22nm die shrink of Sandy Bridge, codenamed Ivy Bridge. Planned for the first half of 2012, the chips will be seamlessly compatible with existing LGA1155 platforms and "Cougar Point" P67, H67, H61, Z68, chipsets, although boards based on a newer 7-Series "Panther Point" chipset will also be available, with a newer FDI interface supporting up to three displays running simultaneously and an integrated USB 3.0 controller.

Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge chips will feature a new dual-channel DDR3 memory controller with official support for DRAM speeds of up to DDR3-1600 MHz, the usual PCI-Express 2.0 x16 hub, Turbo 2.0 support, a new graphics core with DirectX 11 support, and TDP ratings ranging between 35W and 95W.

Naturally there's no mention of pricing since these chips are still one year away from their launch. That said, we know they are intended as successors to Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 chips in the mainstream and performance markets, which currently range from around $185 up to $320 at online retailers.

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This is great to see intel pushing the envelope every few months with new and faster chipsets and motherboards. I wish AMD would come out with something to compete just to give us a cheaper option it gets very expensive upgrading your system every 6 months with Intel products. Either way im excited and saving my pennies for this technology.
 
I hope that AMD's Bulldozer does something, because although I stick by intel, a little competition never hurt anyone. And maybe we could see the Ivy bridge chips sooner. But I have a strong feeling AMD is going to fall short. I hope I am wrong
 
Is the sandy bridge-e suppose to be better than the initial released ivy bridge for an i7? I noticed that it is located higher up on the chart than the ivy bridge. I am planing on building a system sometime around the end of this year or the start of the next so I am wondering weather it would be worth it to get a sandy bridge-e when i comes out or wait for the ivy bridge.
 
Is the sandy bridge-e suppose to be better than the initial released ivy bridge for an i7?...
Pretty much. Core-for-core Ivy Bridge should give better performance than SB-E, although that depends on how high Ivy Bridge ends up being clocked/turbo'ed/oc'ed at. SB-E will probably end up a little slower on a per-core basis, but with 2 or 4 extra cores available will start winning out where software allows for more than eight threads in flight (SB-E being able to utilise up to 16 threads).
The same two socket strategy that was in place for the X58/LGA1366 and P55/LGA1156 chipset/skt.

P77 (presumeably) will be a tweaking of Sandy Bridge/P67- native USB3.0, likely higher clockspeeds and better on-die GPU. CPU's will still be 4 core/8 thread.
X79 (Sandy Bridge-E/LGA2011) takes over from X58 in the enthusiast sector; quad channel memory, 6 and 8 core/ 12 and 16 thread CPU's based on the existing Sandy Bridge CPU's. The principle difference between the two supporting features of the boards is that X79 offers more connectivity -especially for multiple graphics, and their ability to run whilst not compromising the controller hubs ability to deliver SATA 6Gb and USB3.0. (i.e. taking X58's place in the market segment)
This is much the same differentiation as AMD use -and will be using with their 990FX and 990X chipsets. The principle difference being a common socket for Bulldozer - at least for a year or so before Bulldozer migrates to the FM1 (or similar) socket.
 
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