Intel's early 2011 "Sandy Bridge" processor line-up

By the end of this year, Intel will start manufacturing the 32nm processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture. 

The Sandy Bridge desktop and mobile offering for Q1 is detailed in the table below and it contains no less than 19 CPUs - 12 quad-cores and 7 dual-cores, going from 2.3 GHz to 3.4 GHz. The chips listed come in LGA 1155 packaging and feature an integrated (dual channel) DDR3 memory controller as well as a graphics core.

source:tcmagazine

Intel drops 2.5" SSD pricing

Intel will soon lower prices of its X25-M series of 2.5-inch solid state drives and boost production of its 1.8-inch SSDs. The 160GB X25-M, which uses mulit-level cell flash memory, is now priced at $630 after launching for $945 last December, and is due to get another $100 price cut soon, while the 80GB version of that drive will fall to $270, down $50. Street prices are even lower, as retailers try to make the Intel drives appealing compared to OCZ’s Vertex SSDs.

Intel demos Moorestown, intros 2GHz Atom

Intel at its Developer Forum in Beijing today demonstrated the first public example of Moorestown, its next major update to the Atom processor. The first practical version is described as about 10 times more power-efficient than today’s Atom chips courtesy of a smaller 45nm manufacturing process, power management and other optimizations. At the same time, the design is also smaller thanks to building in both the graphics and memory controllers into the main core while leaving just input and output to a second chip.

Moorestown is officially intended for mobile Internet devices (MIDs) that focus on basic online use and media playback but should be the first example of Atom power-efficient enough to work properly in smartphones, which have generally been off-limits to the x86 architecture and have been dominated by ARM.

At the same event, Intel also launched its two recently rumored Z500-series Atom updates. The 2GHZ Atom Z550 is Intel’s fastest and includes Hyperthreading to simulate dual cores while still consuming the same 2.4W of typical power as a 1.86GHz processor. The second model, the Z515, is unique, according to its creator: while it normally runs at the same 800MHz as the base Atom chip, it consumes just 0.65W of energy in this state and can ramp up to 1.2GHz while consuming 1.4W. Changing clock speeds should theoretically allow MIDs and same-class devices to run much faster when needed without having to drain the battery excessively in a normal state.

The Z500 updates should be available today, but Moorestown is officially slated to ship sometime in 2001.

Hit source link below for press release.

source:intel

Intel Core 2 Quad S-Series shaves power consumption to 65W

The new processors are all based on Intel’s 45 nm manufacturing process, and they basically utilize the same silicon as the regular, non-S models, centering on the Core 2 Duo ‘Wolfdale’ design, utilizing two processing cores. Intel puts two of these onto one physical processor to create a Core 2 Quad processor, which it refers to as Yorkfield. Supporters of monolithic processor design have criticized this approach, saying it would not result in a true quad-core. And indeed, the disadvantage is increased front side bus traffic due to inter-core communication. However, we believe that the real judge should be the benchmarks, and the results there have been nice: the Core 2 Quad delivers high performance at an acceptable power consumption level.

S-Series Models

ZoomThe S-series currently consists of three processor models. All have exactly the same technical characteristics and performance as the corresponding regular models, but they are rated at a maximum thermal design power of 65 W. The Core 2 Quad Q8200S runs at 2.33 GHz and has two 2 MB L2 caches; the Core 2 Quad Q9400S is a 2.66 GHz part with two 3 MB caches; and the Q9550S top model runs at 2.83 GHz and has the full 6 MB L2 cache for each dual core die, resulting in a total of 12 MB L2 cache.

Power Matters

Having four cores run at only 65 W is a significant step, as this has been the thermal design limit for Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors since their introduction. This means that virtually any Core 2 Duo system that was designed to be energy efficient will now be able to work with these quad cores as well, effectively doubling the performance reserves.

However, Intel is not the first company to deploy a 65 W quad core processor
for desktops, as AMD presented its Phenom X4 9100e in May 2008. Credit belongs to AMD as the first, but the 9100e wasn’t a high-performance part at only a 1.8 GHz clock speed. Not only is the Core 2 Quad faster when compared at the same clock speed, but the new S-series models at 65 W are available at mainstream clock speeds of up to 2.83 GHz. The higher frequencies mean that they are able to provide substantial performance even for traditional applications that may not be able to benefit from multiple processing cores.

source:tomshardware