Posted on 12/20/2010 9:52:51 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Let us all warmly greet the Core i5-2300, the i5-2400, and the Core i7-2600, three desktop-bound members of Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge CPU brigade. You'll note that all three are fully dressed in their retail attire in an image coming from Malaysian electronics store Compuzone, which also has a full pricing and speed breakdown for these central processing units.
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
fyi
my old laptop, is ~2GHz, single core.
It runs programs faster than friends’ shiny spaceship-like 12 month old laptops.
I’m looking to buy a medium level pc in the $1000 range. I’d like to go heavy on CPU and GPU but moderate on RAM (6gb) and thrills (DVD-RW rather than Bluray).
Main uses will be video games like Civ5 and the typical household use. I don’t play a lot of games but when I do I want them to look nice.
Is this processor worth waiting for? I’ve compared the i7 vs. the AMD x6 and lean toward AMD because it is so much cheaper.
Note the Apple desktop in the background.
From what I've read, probably is worth the wait. However, what's far more intriguing (to me) is the new AMD Bulldozer line to be released sometime in the first quarter, cost point versus performance.
AMD to Start Production of Desktop "Bulldozer" Microprocessors in April.
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Advanced Micro Devices will start production of its code-named Zambezi central processing unit (CPU) based on the highly-anticipated Bulldozer micro-architecture in April, 2011. Initially AMD plans to release 8-core microprocessors for desktops, but later in the second quarter of next year the firm intends to launch six-core and quad-core chips based on Bulldozer micro-architecture.
The first engineering samples of Zambezi chips that will be available for AMD's partners for testing will be released already in December, 2010, about a month from now, sources familiar with AMD plans told X-bit labs. Production candidates should be ready by February and the initial production of the company's first desktop microprocessors powered by the long-awaited Bulldozer micro-architecture is scheduled to start in April next year. Probably, the launch of the chip will occur around the same timeframe.
The first Zambezi microprocessors to be launched are expected to be eight-core products with 95W and 125W thermal design power as well as 8MB L3 cache. Later in the second quarter of 2011 AMD, according to sources with knowledge of the company's roadmap, will release six-core chips with 8MB L3 cache and four-core products with 4MB cache. All of the processors will feature TurboCore 2.0 technology, dual-channel DDR3 memory controller with up to 1866MHz memory support and will be compatible with AM3+ mainboards.
Eight-core Zambezi/Orochi features four dual-core Bulldozer modules, each of which is believed to have 2MB of shared level-two cache, that will share 8MB L3 cache. In total, the whole chip will pack in whopping 16MB of SRAM, a 77% increase from the current six-core microprocessors that have 9MB of cache in total.
It is noteworthy that AMD's Zambezi microprocessors made using 32nm silicon-on-insulator process technology by Globalfoundries will be available earlier than the company's code-named Llano chips that combine current-generation x86 cores with current-generation DirectX 11 graphics engine on the same piece of silicon.
AMD Orochi design is the company's next-generation processor for high-end desktop (Zambezi) and server (Valencia) markets.
The most active area seems to be in the tablets and high end smart phones.
But ....we as consumers are going to have choices....lot's of choices .
IDF Intel 2010: Intel overclocks Sandy Bridge CPU to 4.9GHz, outpaces 12-core AMD Opteron
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y Sean Portnoy | September 15, 2010, 9:08pm PDT
Summary
Intel has been providing dribs and drabs of information about its forthcoming Sandy Bridge processors during this week’s Intel Developer Forum. For instance, we now know that the integrated GPU will not support many DirectX 11 features, and it will automatically get disabled when a discrete graphics card is added to a PCI Express slot.
Meanwhile, [...]
First Intel Sandy Bridge quad-core benchmarks:
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Nearly as fast as Core i7 980X, could make low-end graphics cards obsolete
Though not due to be released for several more months, an early copy of an Intel Sandy Bridge quad-core processor has reached the bench of enthusiast site AnandTech, which has duly reported the results of its testing. While those result s are extremely preliminary, it looks like it can lap most of today’s Core i7 processors at a lower price point and requiring less power. Its integrated graphics — built straight onto the die — are also impressive enough that budget discrete video cards could be headed toward extinction.
AnandTech obtained the Core i5 2400, which runs at 3.1GHz, but its version did not have Turbo Mode enabled (which will boost each core to 3.4GHz when needed). It did, however, have Hyper-Threading enabled for Intel partners who may require it for their own internal testing. So the site could test something the finished product won’t have (Hyper-Threading), but couldn’t test the Turbo Mode feature the final version will possess. AnandTech believes it has determined that its test CPU has two graphics cores, each with six execution units (EUs), which will apparently be standard on mobile Sandy Bridge units, but only select desktop processors will be similarly configured. (Otherwise, only a single-core GPU will be included).
In the off chance that AnandTech tested a version with only a single-core GPU, AMD and Intel frenemy Nvidia should be truly concerned. That’s because the graphics benchmarks not only showed that Sandy Bridge’s integrated graphics are far superior to previous integrated graphics solutions, but were also on par with a budget discrete card like the Radeon HD 5450. In other words, it can offer playable frame rates at low settings (and low resolutions) for games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and Dawn of War II. It won’t satisfy most gamers, but it means you can smoothly play World of Warcraft on a mainstream laptop without a lot of hiccups (though not with many graphical flourishes).
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by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/27/2010 2:38:00 PM
Update: Be sure to read our Sandy Bridge Architecture Exposed article for more details on the design behind Intel's next-generation microprocessor architecture.
The mainstream quad-core market has been neglected ever since we got Lynnfield in 2009. Both the high end and low end markets saw a move to 32nm, but if you wanted a mainstream quad-core desktop processor the best you could get was a 45nm Lynnfield from Intel. Even quad-core Xeons got the 32nm treatment.
That's all going to change starting next year. This time it's the masses that get the upgrade first. While Nehalem launched with expensive motherboards and expensive processors, the next tock in Intel's architecture cadence is aimed right at the middle of the market. This time, the ultra high end users will have to wait - if you want affordable quad-core, if you want the successor to Lynnfield, Sandy Bridge is it.
Sandy Bridge is the next major architecture from Intel. What Intel likes to call a tock. The first tock was Conroe, then Nehalem and now SB. In between were the ticks - Penryn, Westmere and after SB we'll have Ivy Bridge, a 22nm shrink of Sandy.
Did I mention we have one?
While Intel is still a few weeks away from releasing Sandy Bridge performance numbers at IDF, we managed to spend some time with a very healthy sample and run it through a few of our tests to get a sneak peak at what's coming in Q1 2011.
The naming isn’t great. It’s an extension of what we have today. Intel is calling Sandy Bridge the 2nd generation Core i7, i5 and i3 processors. As a result, all of the model numbers have a 2 preceding them.
Thanks for the answers. I think I’m probably making it more difficult than it needs to be. I’m pretty much a typical home user but want top of the line for components not easily upgraded after the fact.
Second question - I don’t have the time to build my own unfortunately so what are your opinions on desktops offered by HP, Dell, Gateway etc. Are any ‘superior’ to another? My main concern is build quality and simplicity (minimal bloatware, no oem-specific drivers for video cards, appropriately sized power supply etc). I wouldn’t call tech support if my life depended on it so that isn’t a factor.
Thanks again.
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The high end Sandy Bridge parts don't arrive until the second half of 2011 which add more cores and more memory bandwidth.
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Now if AMD makes the scheules I am aware of and starts with their High End processors ( which is what I have read elsewhere) .
Sometime after June 2011 we may have available both AMD AND Intel's top desktop performers.....gonna get interesting.
Return of the Turbo Button?
I got a fairly high end HP as a gift a few years ago. Stock video card was replaced 5+ times, rest of the machine has been utterly rock solid. Power supply is smaller than I’d consider even safe, but the lack of trouble speaks for itself.
Drivers were a non-issue...I updated for 2 MMOs I play and a couple of fussy normal games, til I found a driver that was recommended so highly across the board I haven’t touched it in a year. Performance has been spectacular in everything I’ve tried. Stable in the pissy, fussy games, fast in the “easy” but beefy ones.
Plain old nvidia 196.21, in case anyone’s wondering for their own use...
Is this true?:
“Sandy Bridge processors will implement security features that include the ability to remotely disable a PC or erase information from hard drives. This can be useful in the case of a lost or stolen PC. The commands can be received through 3G signals, ethernet, or internet connections.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_%28microarchitecture%29
I always take Wikipedia with a grain of salt.
But they did buy McAfee and talked about doing stuff in the hardware.
If it's important to you might search forums.
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