Right now, Intel has every right to lay contentedly atop the laurels of
its biggest quarterly profit ever, but that's not what the company is doing at all. Instead of protracting the life of its current-gen processors unduly, Intel is planning to
accelerate the roadmap for its next generation of multicore parts, codenamed
Sandy Bridge. The difference between the
Nehalem-based stuff we have today and the upcoming chip is that the Sandy Bridge architecture takes everything down to 32nm -- including the graphics processor and memory controller which are built at 45nm at present -- while keeping it all within the same enclosure. Enthusiastic feedback from customers who were given tasters of the Sandy stuff has been to blame for this haste on Intel's part, and we're told that with additional investment in 32nm infrastructure, the chip giant plans to make deliveries late this year. That in turn could potentially result in some eager vendor pushing a Sandy Bridge laptop or desktop out before 2010 is through -- which would be all kinds of nice.
posted July 14th 2010 8:34AM
@sundevl21 "Intel doesn't get any product in the beef of Apple's lineup- iPhones & iPads"
intel doesnt provide a weak enough cpu to be put in apples hand held devices.
@archkron apples already changed their cpus on the mac range to intel. i wouldnt put it past them, however i dont think they are stupid enough. the day they put an a4 chip in a mac is the day their market share in computers will turn to zero
@critique
Mac sales increased greatly since they moved from PPC to intel chips. Moving to anything\anyone else (except for AMD, but that wont be happening) wouldn't be in their best interest. On that note however the only desktop part you'll ever see the A4 in will likely be the Apple Tv.
@tobsmonster2
The Apple TV isn't really a desktop part since it doesn't run a desktop OS.
Apple are arrogant but it's not silly enough to squander its marketshare on the desktop.
I wouldn't speak so soon. If these fusion chips are good we may see apple make a giant shift to amd chips, especially with the problems with intel and nvidia of late. Remember to most people the CPU is not important; we've had enough computing power for years.
Oh look, it's Bob Saget!
Wow. Intel's chips just keep getting bigger and bigger. =)
I bet Derrick Meyer is taking out a bottle of Jack Daniels and a shot glass out of his desk's drawer in his head office right now. Poor guy, should have tried harder and not sued Intel over dumb crap in the first place.
@FermentedDischarge
?
What, you think this is some kind of retaliation from Intel for the suing? Without the wonga, AMD wouldn't be able to invest so much in R&D for its future cores.
AMD is going to have to push forward with those Bulldozer/Bobcat cores. They're a near-complete restart of the core; the cache architecture is the only thing carried forward from K10. I've seen the 12-core Bulldozer in person and they're stupid fast.
Yet to see Sandy Bridge to be able compare them, though.
@archkron Didn't happen to get a release date on them did you ;) At least some form of quad-core Bulldozer based tech?
@runadumb
There are 4-core and 4-module procs on the roadmap. Exciting is the 8-core/16-thread and 12-core/24-thread procs :)
If you're not aware a Bulldozer module looks to an OS as a single core with SMT on (two threads). Our SMT solution delivers greater perf than Intel's though although it occupies a greater die space.
Release dates are uncertain. Current word is mid-2011 but of course we'll try and push this forwards, but we're also cautious. We don't want another Phenom I...
@archkron So you actually work for AMD then? It's a shame on the delays. I'm sure alot of people like me will be wanting something sooner that next year. Maybe I can ride the next wave of AMD tech 3 years down the line.
I was always an AMD guy right up till intels 775 platform which has now lasted me around 4 years, 3 of those being on a Q6600. Time to move on I feel.
@runadumb
Yes I do. I actually work on the Bobcat arch but that's under pretty tight NDAs. We really do want to push Bulldozer out the gate but it's just not ready yet. We are trying really, really hard on making it ready but it's not finished. We're still optimising and we have a way to go yet.
Hey, the Q6600 is still a pretty good processor. I was rocking one a 65nm Q6600 myself up until last year.
If I were you I'd just wait. Maybe get a new cooler and overclock it. Sandy B is on a new socket (i.e. not 1156) and AM3 (which is really AM2+ with DDR3) is approaching the end of its usable life. Buying anything now at this stage will burn you. Apart from maybe 1336 i7s, but it's possibly 1336 may be ditched for a new socket (the rumour mill suggests 1356...)
@archkron
1366*
AMD recently released 800 series chipsets on AM3 so I doubt we'll be seeing any new socket until late late 2011.
@tobsmonster2
Scratch that, didn't realise who I was replying to.
@tobsmonster2
AM3 wont deliver enough bandwidth for future parts. Hence the change in socket.
@archkron
I have no doubt that AMD will still remain behind Intel and create another product that only die-hard fans and soccer moms will buy. Just wait and see. Those construction site names aren't going to make the chips more intimidating and faster.
@FermentedDischarge
Since when is 'Bobcat' a construction site name?
This is no retaliation for the suing. Totally different issue. Had intel not used those business practices amd would be in a much better position now. This is probably an attempt to steal amd's thunder from the fusion chips coming out. Smart move too.
Here is what I Can't understand is that all them cute named CPUs all run at the same MHz!
Betty Boop:3.5 MHz
Obamama Care:3.5 MHz
Jim Jone's Koolaid stand:3.5 MHz
Note:
It was flavor aid but who the he'll knows about flavor aid?
@pspitts
There's a lot more to processor performance than clock cycles per second. You have clock cycles, then the amount of work that can be done per cycle. The former was what most of us grew up with, but the latter is what is going on now. Trying to squeeze more and more performance during each clock cycle.
@pspitts
What the actual fuck?
P.S. AMD has manlier codenames ;) Bulldozer, Clawhammer, Sledgehammer vs. Prescott, Conroe, Allendale?
@pspitts
I always like to equate it to having a running track. The runner can only go so fast, but if you make the track smaller, he can make more laps in the same amount of time.
Nehelam is at 32nm with Westmere.
Tick-tock.
Sandy Bridge is a new architecture, not a new process technology.
@quentin
It's consolidating. Some Intel parts are being manufactured at 32nm already; Sandy Bridge is manufacturing everything at 32nm.
But yes, it is a revised arch.
Intel is winning the performance desktop arena but at the expense of extremely pricey, ever-changing socket CPUS and motherboards. Hopefully AMD will have an answer that gets a bit closer to an i7 here soon, and no... the 6-core proc is just not as good for application performance or gaming unless said apps or games actually utilize all the physical cores. And those applications are few and far between.
@Bhima
Sadly, the only market AMD competes in is the $/perf market. They don't have anything that truly competes in the watt/perf (laptop battery life), Hz/perf (lower clocked processor with more performance), core/perf (hyper-threading off), or architecture performance (single core, single thread)
Can someone explain to me why those wafers are always round? I feel bad for all those chips that get cut off on the edges :\
@DrTrent The wafers are cut from a silicon monocristal - which grows round.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Monokristalines_Silizium_für_die_Waferherstellung.jpg
@DrTrent It's to do with the way they are made, you get a cylinder of silicon and it is sliced. Correct me if I'm wrong, I've watched some YouTube videos on just how on Earth they get all those transistors on there, how they do it is pretty epic.
@DrTrent
Now you can cut squares from the round silicon and build stuff on em but you will end up wasting more.
Also it helps for some process if they are circular. Use centrifugal force to spread stuff evenly to all parts which you cant do with a square.
This is great news. Still using my old 65nm c2d, so I'm kinda glad I didn't upgrade to a 1156 system since Sandy Bridge should be right around the corner.
Stupid Intel; how do they expect me to fit that thing in my computer case?
Great - now could you do us all a favor and get usb 3.0 natively coveredy by your chipset?????
I'm sure lightspeed or ludicrous speed or whatever it is is very nice but I can't charge my headset or my phone with it. I don't have any lightspeed thumbdrives either, no printers, scanners, ipods, video cameras, standard cameras....
Dear engadget, please do not source PCWorld, they are advertising whores who do not care about the quality nor accuracy of their articles, only how good it makes their advertising partners appear.
Thank you,
YuriTenshi
@YuriTenshi
Same goes for CNET.
+1
Guys - Sandy Bridge rocks;
I have two "cooled" 5877's running on my MOBO, and my box CAN'T GET ANY FASTER (for now),
The cpu's friggin destroy anything else know to mankind...
LOL, IF Big Blue put them in of their Blue thingies, they'd need a dedicated nuclear reactor to run the stuff.
Still, guys, Sandy Bridge architecture is the future - which begs the question: it gets BETTER than this?!
could someone help me....
I am buying a new macbook pro sometime soon, should I wait untill next year or later on this year untill apple puts this into their laptops?
Is it worth it? and will it be soon?
thanks for any help.
WOOT!!! I want one!!!
Sandy Balls.
That is all.
Smaller CPU = less heat = longer battery life. All is good, but how about something new besides power management?
I am still on original MBP and I only wish it could support more than 2GB of ram. With upgraded hard drive, the computer keeps on working like a champ.
The current gen MBP is a step backwards in compatibility with my eSATA as the ExpressCard slot is missing from 15" model. And no eSATA plug on the laptop. So I will wait some more.
As monitors are concerned, I am waiting for 300 PPI+ monitors to make it onto the market. 92PPI is so last century.
Now where is Light Peak? Is Intel ahead of schedule for that?
I am still waiting for my "revolutionary amazing" laptop. ;)
Wow, that is gunna be major cool. I can hardly wait.
Lou
www.privacy-tools.es.tc
woah... that thing is pretty big! I'm not so sure it'll fit in my tower. :O!
Assuming Sandy Bridge coming later this year, then when can I jam one of these bad boys' mobile cousins in my M17x? Are they even compatible with the current i7 mobo to do a quick swap?