Intel's Sandy Bridge E-Series in Q4 2011?
Intel is reportedly launching the Core i7 9-series Extreme Edition sometime this summer before unleashing the Sandy Bridge E-Series for enthusiasts later this year.
A recent report indicates that Intel's upcoming enthusiast-class Sandy Bridge E-Series processors have been delayed by at least a whole quarter, now slated for a Q4 2011 release.
Previously it was believed that the E-Series would arrive earlier in the year, appearing sometime during Q3 2011. However now there's indication that Intel plans to increase the speed of the current Sandy Bridge platform with faster chips first over the summer before rolling out the elite version for performance machines in the Fall/Winter window.
News of the delay stems from a document acquired by X-bit Labs. According to the paper, the processors will use the LGA2011 socket and offer "extra large cache" to maximize the overall speed of single-threaded and dual-threaded applications, the quad-channel memory controller, and "a number of other enhancements."
The documents also reveals that E-Series processors bearing four or six cores will be paired with the Intel X68 "Patsburg" core-logic set. However platforms based on the 6-core processors will offer external base frequency generators but will keep the clock-speeds of USB, SATA and other buses locked. This will allow users to boost the clock speed of the CPU by increasing the Direct Media Interface (DMI) frequencies.
Before launching the E-Series, Intel will reportedly unleash the Core i7 9-series Extreme Edition processors sometime in Q2 or Q3 2011. Currently Intel has not issued a statement in regards to the leaked document or the release dates contained within this article. X-bit labs also did not provide a scanned version of the document, so until the processor giant steps forth with an official statement, everything is still considered rumor.
But how can they possibly compete with Sandy Bridge. The 2600K already stomps the 980x in many applications. Added cores at less performance per core is not an enticing offer when you are paying 3 times as much. And they already moved to 32nm, so its not like they can do a shrink and get more power out of it.
Personally, I tihnk $300 if the sweetspot for a highend chip. Een if the LGA 2011 are $500+, I'll still consider them if they are enough of a performance boost over the LGA 1155 chips.
Ask anyone who uses PCSX2 (PS2 emulator), sometimes a 4GHz i7-920 isn't enouh.
Not quite. The E series is basically the equivalent to LGA 1366 based Core i7s but will include 6 and 8 core CPUs to start as well as they will not have a on die GPU, its just a CPU.
Also i have read that the base clock will not be on the CPU and will be on the northbridge which will allow to overclock the CPU using the base clock again.
Add to that it will have quad channel DDR3 and each channel will have 3 DIMM slots alowing for up to 192GB of memory (16GB sticks).
I still want to know what happened to LGA 1356 because there is nothing from Intel claiming they cancelled or dropped it.
i did swap mobos for usb3 and sata6, but its not native intel, 3rd party impliments. intel should of included all that stuff since 1156 last year.
Although I agree to an extent, not everyone has the money for that and just need to upgrade what they need to upgrade at a low cost.