Both models are lower priced versions of the CPU-370 block and feature a nickel-plated copper microfin cold plate (0.25 mm fins, 0.30 mm channels), an o-ring sealed impingement plate, a solid acetal top, and standard G 1/4 BSP threading.
First, we see some of the display port features have been transferred over to the CPU under the new architecture for Haswell. As discussed here, the Lynx Point chipset will only handle analog displays, while the CPU will be handling the digital displays. In theory, this makes the Lynx Point not as advanced as Panther Point in that regard but it does still have its advancements.
Lynx Point marks Intel's switch to full SATA 6.0 Gb/s support for all native SATA ports (no more native SATA 3.0 Gb/s SATA ports). Intel has added two additional USB 3.0 ports for a total six ports, which is two more than Panther Point. Intel is introducing I/O port flexibility feature with Lynx Point. As the feature suggests, it should give users the ability to allocate which ports are USB 3.0 and which are USB 2.0. Additional features for Lynx Point include: SSD performance/power optimization, new Rapid Storage Technology driver & Intel vPro Technology enhancements, lower TDP and power usage, a smaller package (22x23mm FCBGA), and support for quad-read SPI devices. Based on the slide, it looks like Intel has still not moved to a faster DMI interface, as the chipset's PCIe ports are still running at PCIe 2.0.
The chips come with their GPUs disabled and can be identified by the model numbers 2550K, 2450P, and 2380P. That first CPU features a fully unlocked upper multiplier, so it's the one you'll want.
Versus the existing Core i5-2500K, the 2550K offers 100MHz increases in base and Turbo frequencies, bringing the chip up to 3.4GHz with a 3.8GHz Turbo peak. Those speeds match the Core i7-2600K, which offers additional cache and Hyper-Threading support missing from the i5 series. Intel is selling the 2550K at $225�$92 less than the 2600K and a $9 premium over the 2500K.
Based on the the existing Core architecture, Haswell promises numerous improvements over its predecessors. The most interesting of these, and sadly invisible in the leaked picture, is HNI: Haswell New Instructions.
Designed to extend the existing instruction set available in Ivy Bridge, HNI includes Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) 2 with support for SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) operations on 256-bit integer data types, bit manipulation instructions for improved handling of variable bitstreams, cryptography, compression and large number arithmetic, gather instructions for vectorising codes with non-adjacent data elements, any-to-any permutes with support for DWORD and QWORD granularity permutes across an entire 256-bit register, vector-vector shifts and floating-point multiply accumulate functionality for boosted floating point performance.
Along with its multi-billion dollar push for Ultrabooks and Atom based mobile devices, Intel is preparing a serious entrance into the world of enterprise-class storage with its chipsets. As we all know, while Intel had enterprise features in platforms such as vPro and the enterprise line-up - using an on-board storage controller was a big no-no if you needed reliability and quick rebuilds.
It took some time, and we even saw disabling Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) from Panther Point (7-Series chipset) since it was producing a number of errors. Of course, we cannot forget the catastrophic Sandy Bridge (CPU)/Cougar Point (6-Series chipset) launch with the recall of said chipsets and a billion dollar loss. The reason was of course, erroneous storage controller.
In 2012, it looks like Intel learned its lesson and the company is bringing serious improvements with its Rapid Storage Technology software suite 11.5 and 11.6 (Windows 8 refresh).
The Performance Tuning Protection Plan being offered by Intel is a chance for you to experiment with the overclocking features of your processor without the worries of what will happen if you push the processor too far. The Plan allows you a single processor replacement, hassle-free, from our customer support. This is in addition to your standard 3 year warranty. In other words, if it fails under normal usage, we will replace it under the standard warranty; if it fails while running outside of Intel's specifications, we will replace it under the Performance Tuning Protection Plan.
The ECS X79R-AX Black Extreme is an Intel X79 chipset powered motherboard that comes with the ability to enable the Intel Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) ports. By doing this you get the ability to run four more SATA or SAS devices off the Intel X79 chipset, but does it work and how? Read on to find out as we recently sat down with both companies to figure out what the heck it going on!
Intel Corp. is projected to release its highly-anticipated eight-core Intel Xeon microprocessors for dual-socket servers in March, 2012. The new chips will be based on Sandy Bridge-EP design with all cores activated and will be very competitive on both server as well as ultra high-end workstation markets.
Intel Xeon E5 �Sandy Bridge-EP� microprocessors with up to eight SNB-class x86 cores, quad-channel memory controller, up to 20MB of cache and other advantages, will be formally launched at CeBIT 2012 trade-show, on the 6th of March, 2012, according to unofficial information from VR-Zone web-site.
"Now that the Nouveau, Radeon, and LLVMpipe graphics drivers have been tested under Mesa 8.0, what is left? The Intel DRI driver, of course! The open-source Sandy Bridge Linux graphics support is shining with Mesa 8.0 thanks to OpenGL 3.0 support and measurable performance improvements. Intel Ivy Bridge is also ready to run under Linux."
Today we come with some mixed news about Intel's new 7X series chipsets for Ivybridge. As you can see in the table below, there will be several different chipsets for Ivybridge as Intel traditionally makes three for a certain chip. On top of that, there are a few very interesting developments in the way of USB 3.0, SATA 3.0 (6G) and PCIe. When it comes to USB 3.0, Intel is finally going to support USB 3.0 natively which will save motherboard vendors money when building Intel chipsets and hopefully make the boards overall less complicated to design. In addition to that, we will hopefully see better USB 3.0 performance and possibly less variation between different USB 3.0 controllers that we have now.
Of the 18 models listed one is dual-core and all the others are quad-core processors. It looks like the Intel Core i7-3770K will be the unlocked processor that enthusiasts will be after. The Intel Core i7-3770K features four cores with a base clock speed of 3.5GHz. The processor does have Hyper-Threading, 8MB of shared L3 cache and a 3.9GHz turbo clock speed. The site also mentions that the Intel Ivy Bridge processors are scheduled to be releases in April 2012.
Intel's high end X79 chipset is going to sell for a saucy $73 when it becomes available in November. Intel's Z68 remains the runner up chipset with $48 while the old X58 is out of the focus.
Since X58 stayed in operation much longer than many expected Intel has decided that X79 is a better codename considering that Sandy Bridge E successor probably won�t ship before earliest Q4 2012.
The $73 price tag is not exactly cheap for a USB 2.0 only chipset but Intel is winning to give you 10 SATA 6Gb/s ports, PCIe 2.0 for graphics and PCIe 3.0 dedicated for storage. Not what top gamers had in mind but what can you do. Naturally the chipset supports 1Gbit internet as well as an SCSI controller.
The Core i5-661 and Core i3-530 will be available for orders until April 27, 2012 and will continue shipping until October 5th, 2012, for the tray versions, and until supplies are depleted, for the boxed SKUs.
Orders for the Pentium E5700 and Celeron E3500 will be halted on December 30th, 2011, while shipments are slated to go on until June 8th, 2012 (tray) or while supplies last (boxed). As for the boxed Celeron E3400, it will also be up for order until December 30th (2011) and will ship until there are no more units in Intel's warehouses.
After a few solid years of serving Intel's enthusiast-grade desktop platform, the 2008-launched X58 Express 'I/O Hub' (read chipset) has received a retirement schedule which says that it has 12 more months to go until it's fully replaced by the X79 (LGA 2011).
The X58 will continue to be available for orders until April 27th, 2012, and will be shipped by Intel till October 5th (also 2012).
The top of the platform dual-core V2 market segment remains the B840 dual-core with two treads and 1.9GHz core clock. This CPU has 35W TDP, 2MB cache, DDR3 1333MHz and graphics that run at 650/1000MHz. Top of the V1 dual-core market segment the one that comes to replace Celeron T3500 in Q4 2011 is called B800 and is clocked to 1.5 GHz. The rest of the specs are the same, it is a 35W TDP processor, two cores and two threads, 2MB cache, DDR3 1333MHz and graphics that works at 650MHz with a max frequency set to 1000MHz.
There will be a new Sandy Bridge 32nm dual-core Celeron, the one that fits in Huron River platform called B815. It is expected as a head of dual core V1 market in Q1 2012 and it is a 1.6GHz 35W TDP CPU, has two cores and two threads, 2MB cache, DDR3 1333MHz and graphics 650/1050MHz. A faster successor could come in Q3 2012 at the earliest.
D2500: 1.86 - 2.13GHz clockspeed, 400MHz GPU, 10W TDP D2700: 2.13 - 2.4GHz clockspeed, 640MHz GPU, 10W TDP N2600: 1.6 - 1.86GHz clockspeed, 400MHz GPU, 3.5W TDP N2800: 1.86 - 2.13GHz clockspeed, 640MHz GPU, 6.5W TDP
We knew that Intel's Sandy Bridge-E chips were big and complicated to make, but what we didn't expect was that Intel was going to continuously keep running into problems. The current C1 stepping is apparently having problems with VT-d, not a major issue for most consumers' maybe, but it's a huge problem when it comes to Xeon chips and as such Intel is working on the C2 stepping to fix this "errata".
The only good news here for Intel, if you look at that way, is that its current Extreme Edition CPU's don't support VT-d, neither does the Sandy Bridge K-SKU CPU's, so as far as the consumer platform is concerned it looks like there won't be any further delays, but the initial batch should be C1 stepping rather than C2. The C1 stepping should be in production by now, or by the latest by next week, although we don't know when Intel will kick off production of the C2 stepping, but it's very possible it won't be until next year as qualification samples of the C2 stepping isn't expected until the very end of the year.
Chip giant Intel has decided to drop its MeeGo mobile operating system in favor of the Tizen project announced by two Linux-oriented non-profit groups, the LiMo Foundation and the Linux Foundation.
That is according to Imad Sousou, the director of Intel's Open Source Technology Center, writing to this effect in a MeeGo blog entry that is now hosted on the Linux Foundation website.
The Tizen project is hosted at the Linux Foundation and offers an operating system and an HTML5 development environment within which applications can be produced to run on multiple types of hardware. Smartphones, tablet computers and automobile infotainment are all being targeted by Tizen
However, the controller that caught our attention is the tiny 5x6mm Port Ridge or L2210, it's a single channel controller that has been designed specifically for low-cost Thunderbolt devices. Due to its single channel design it only supports two lanes of PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth and it lacks support for pass-through connectivity. That said, there are plenty of PCI Express x1 devices that could easily be adapted for use in an external enclosure combine with Port Ridge and we can see this becoming a hugely popular Thunderbolt controller from Intel if it's priced accordingly to its functionality. Port Ridge should be in production before the end of the year, so hopefully we should see a raft of more affordable Thunderbolt devices early next year.
