Intel Sandy Bridge: Details of the next gen

[Sabre]

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Sandy Bridge CPUs will be based on the current 32nm, second generation High-k metal gate manufacturing process, but will include new architectural features such as AVX - Advanced Vector Extensions - and AES - Advanced Encryption Standard - acceleration and will arrive in Q1 next year, with possibly very limited products popping up late Q4, although depending on who we talk to the story changes...

Yes, that's right, LGA1155 - one fewer pins than current LGA1156 CPUs. These sockets are NOT compatible, so you cannot use an existing LGA1156 CPU in a new motherboard or visa versa. Not only is the position of pin-1 different, the socket notch has moved from 9mm to 11.5mm from the centre and the entire voltage plane layout has changed....

All LGA1155 CPUs will have integrated graphics built into the core instead of a separate chip. This is an upgrade from the current IGP, PCI Express controller and memory controller in Clarkdale CPUs that is manufactured on the older 45nm process in a separate die (but still slapped together the same package). This should improve performance, as all the controllers will be in one die, like existing LGA1366 CPUs....

The P67 and H67 chipsets will both feature SATA 6Gbps ports, but unlike AMD's SB850, only a couple will be upgraded and the H61 will not have any. Intel's Matrix RAID Storage driver gets updated to version 10, although we don't think any more varieties of RAID will be available. As usual expect 14 USB 2 ports, again except for H61 that gets 10, and connections to the CPU are via an upgraded 4x PCI-E 2.0 DMI link, with another eight PCI-E 2.0 lanes available for other connections....

Next is Sandy Bridge 'E' (Enthusiast or Extreme, take your pick) 'Patsburg' platform, which features a huge new LGA2011 socket to replace LGA1366 in Q3 next year (although right now that seems dubiously convenient given the year of launch). The larger socket is to accommodate the new four channel DDR3 memory controller this platform will offer, as well as the first outing for PCI Express 3 - of which we'll get 32 lanes bolted into the CPU itself. The lanes can be split between 2x16 and 4x8 for multi-GPU, but again, there's no details about CrossFire or SLI support at this early stage.

Like LGA1156/1155 motherboards, LGA2011 motherboards will have only a Southbridge, but whether this Southbridge is called 'X68' (as some Taiwanese manufacturers are saying), we don't yet know. The new Southbridge seems like a complete update with a real focus on the single-socket workstation and server market as it houses two SATA 3Gbps and ten SATA/SAS 6Gbps ports. The interconnect is still a 4x PCI-E 2.0 DMI link between this and the CPU, providing some 2Gbit/s of bandwidth.

have to admit, I had to chuckle at the subject line. Sounds like the new CPU's coming out are going to be pretty impressive. Now I just wish the compiler writers would catch up...