Intel revealed today several significant design features for the company’s 2011 2nd Generation Intel Core processor family at the Intel Developer Forum. The new and enhanced features will further extend Intel’s chip performance, battery life and the performance of bulit-in graphics on the chips.
Codenamed “Sandy Bridge,” the chips will be based on Intel’s first new “visibly smart” microarchitecture produced at the firms factories, or “fabs,” at 32-nanometer (nm is a billionth of a meter) process technology with second- generation high-k metal gate transistors.
“The way people and businesses are using computers is evolving at an explosive rate, fueling demand for an even more powerful and visually appealing experience,” said Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group. “Our upcoming 2nd Generation Intel Core processor family represents the biggest advance in computing performance and capabilities over any previous generation. In addition to offering these features inside Intel-based laptops, we plan to scale these advances across our server data center and embedded computing product portfolio.”
The processor family will include a new “ring” architecture that allows the built-in processor graphics engine (GPU) to share resources such as cache, or a memory reservoir, with the processor’s core to increase a device’s computing and graphics performance while maintaining energy efficiency. These changes should give the new CPUs video performance much closer to dedicated video and may finally make Intel built-in GPUs suitable for regular gaming.
The 2nd Generation Intel Core processor also includes an enhanced version of Intel Turbo Boost Technology. This feature automatically shifts or reallocates processor cores and processor graphics resources to accelerate performance, tailoring a workload to give users an immediate performance boost when needed.
Laptops and PCs powered by the 2nd Generation Intel Core processor family are expected to be available early next year.
Better Performing Video Bulit-In
Intel’s new processor graphics delivers enhanced visual features focused on the areas where most users are computing today: HD video, 3-D, mainstream gaming, multi-tasking and online socializing and multimedia.
To obtain and view video faster, Perlmutter demonstrated hardware accelerated video editing using the architecture’s dedicated silicon for media processing, which allows users to quickly convert video to other formats. Agian this is an area of hugh improvement for Intel.
AVX
The 2011 chips will also come with Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). AVX delivers improved performance, rich functionality and the ability to better manage, rearrange and sort data. A new 256-bit instruction set accelerates floating point intensive applications such as digital photo editing and content creation. As with MMX and SSE before it, AVX will need optimization in code but can potentially speed up many tasks in creative work.
Intel didn’t detail the full roster of chips that will arrive, but early details have desktop chips starting with a 2.5GHz, low-power, dual Core i3 and scaling up to a 3.4GHz quad Core i7. Notebook processors should focus on the high end at first, with dual-core models ranging between a 2.5GHz Core i5 to a 2.7GHz Core i7 and quad-core models hovering between 2.2GHz and 2.5GHz Core i7 models. As with today, only the dual-core chips will be efficient enough to sit in thin-and-light notebooks; quad-core chips should be reserved for desktop replacement-sized portables.
Although mass production of Sandy Bridge is set for the end of this year, Intel now says that desktop and mobile chips will arrive at roughly the same time, at the start of 2011.
New Xeons too
Intel also demonstrated a dual processor, next-generation Intel Xeon processor server running Vidyo* video conferencing software that utilizes the 32 threads available on the system, and takes advantage of the AES New Instructions set (AESNI). Next-generation Xeon processors for 2 socket servers and workstations run 8 cores and 16 threads per processor and are on schedule for production in the second half of 2011.
