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.