Based on information leaked from Chiphell, the new Ivy Bridge processors will have a maximum of 77 watts TDP (thermal design power), which is down from 95 watts for the current Sandy Bridge.
VR-Zone has provided what looks to be leaked roadmaps for the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors for 2012. The information is coming out of a Chinese forum (Chiphell), so the information can be taken as such, until official word from Intel. Based on the information provided, the new Ivy Bridge processors look to a have a peak TDP (thermal design power) of 77W for their extreme processors. The Ivy Bridge TDP looks to range from 77W down to 35W on their "power optimized" CPUs.
The roadmap shows a complex diagram on Intel's plans for late Q1/early Q2 2012. The information on the left looks to be information on Intel's marketing segmentations for each processor. The map shows there will be the standard unlocked K SKU's, just like with current gen Sandy Bridge processors. Intel's shrink to 22nm, alongside with its new "3D transistors", looks to be helping push down the TDP on the new Ivy Bridge processors. The quad core 65W S and 45W T SKU's are similar to what we are seeing on current Sandy Bridge CPUs. The new Pentium Ivy Bridge SKU's gain DDR3 1600MHz memory support, along with the rest of the Ivy Bridge chips.
There doesn't seem to be much of a format change for the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs and their name format. The higher-end CPUs will start with the i7 tag with unlocked versions followed by a "K" and lower power models followed by "S/I". Medium range CPUs will start with the i5 tag and the lower ranges will have the usual i3 tag. The CPUs will start with Core i7 37xx, Core i5 35xx, 34xx and 33xx, Core i3 31xx. The Pentiums and Celerons are expected to get a fourth digit in front which will be a 2, so they will be Pentium G2xxx.
Intel looks to be taking a page from AMD on making the Ivy Bridge CPU scompatible with current gen Sandy Bridge platforms (though there are things to watch for). The easiest method is to go with the newer 7-series chipsets, which will support current gen Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs, according to Intel. If you are wanting to use your current motherboard, things get a little more difficult for the end-user. Bad news first, the Q67, Q65 and B65 chipsets will not support Ivy Bridge even with a motherboard firmware update. The Z68, P67, H67 and H61 chipsets look to all be compatible with a required UEFI update (this can be seen by recent announcements of motherboard makers coming out the PCIe Gen 3 support, which require the Ivy Bridge CPU). This will require a flash to Intel's ME8L (L for Legacy) UEFI code to provide support for Ivy Bridge on the motherboards (VR-Zone hints that the ME8L may not be available for updating at initial launch of Ivy Bridge).
Where's the catch?
Guess I have to get a new Dual GPU video card with a 1.5 KW PSU to make up the difference...
What a shame
The lower TDP is impressive. I wonder how much power IB will use.
Its an update. It will be faster than sandy bridge.
It's the die shrink from 32nm to 22nm. The new architechture will be the one after Ivy Bridge.
THIS JUST IN: BULLDOZER SUCKS.
That IS the rabbit. When Amd released the Athlon 64 line Intel was stagnant on the Pentium 4 line and had not innovated since Pentium 2 was the colossal success it was.
The problem with Intel is they now have this huge refinement process that they have planned out until 2016, with the tick-tock cycle. They have teams and such commited to each new step of their evolution until the end of the decade, so its unlikely they will slow down and lay people off to not push the tech. They probably learned when they had to adopt AMDs 64 bit instruction set that they can't give them headroom.
Its good for the industry to have AMD competitive, but for the time being everyone is winning because Intel is trying to avoid another multi core / 64 bit disaster like at the turn of the century.
Guess I have to get a new Dual GPU video card with a 1.5 KW PSU to make up the difference...
What a shame
THIS JUST IN: BULLDOZER SUCKS.