IDF Intel 2010: Intel overclocks Sandy Bridge CPU to 4.9GHz, outpaces 12-core AMD Opteron
***************************EXCERPT****************************************
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:
******************************EXCERPT************************************
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).