We've already seen that Ivy Bridge doesn't make much of a splash in the desktop space. But we collected notebooks based on Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Arrandale, and AMD's mobile Llano, and found that the new architecture's effect on mobility is profound.
More than one year has passed since Intel hit a home run with its Sandy Bridge-based processors, which we first reviewed in Intel’s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review. The architecture delivered impressive performance at the company's designated price points. And, thanks to impressive efficiency, our follow-up Core i7-2820QM: Sandy Bridge Shines In Notebooks showed the mobile incarnation to be a real winner.

Intel's third-generation Core CPUs, based on the Ivy Bridge design that we first reviewed in Intel Core i7-3770K Review: A Small Step Up For Ivy Bridge, are characterized by a shift from 32 to 22 nm manufacturing and a significant boost to 3D graphics alacrity. In the mobile space, the transition promises to be more pronounced. Augmenting notebook performance, efficiency, and battery life in equal measure, Intel believes its Ivy Bridge architecture is ideal for catapulting the Ultrabook product segment into the mainstream—and perhaps blunting the accelerating momentum of tablets.
Mobile Ivy Bridge Today: Core i7 At 55, 45, And 35 W
Intel continues using its Core i3, i5, and i7 brands to create a good/better/best hierarchy. Unfortunately, for the time being, only the company's Core i7 models are being made available (worse, only three of six planned models are currently listed on Intel's price sheet). Ivy Bridge-based Core i5 and i3 chips will emerge later this year.
| Mobile Third-Gen Core i7 Family | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU SKU | Cores / Threads | Base Freq. | Max. Turbo | L3 Cache | HD Graphics | Graphics Base Freq. | Graphics Max. Freq. | TDP (W) | Price |
| Mobile Third-Gen Core i7 Family | |||||||||
| -3920XM | 4/8 | 2.9 GHz | 3.8 GHz | 8 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.3 GHz | 55 | $1096 |
| -3820QM | 4/8 | 2.7 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 8 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.25 GHz | 45 | $568 |
| -3720QM | 4/8 | 2.6 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 6 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.25 GHz | 45 | $378 |
| -3615QM | 4/8 | 2.3 GHz | 3.3 GHz | 6 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.2 GHz | 45 | ? |
| -3612QM | 4/8 | 2.1 GHz | 3.3 GHz | 6 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.1 GHz | 45 | ? |
| -3610QM | 4/8 | 2.3 GHz | 3.1 GHz | 6 MB | 4000 | 650 MHz | 1.1 GHz | 35 | ? |
The functionality of Intel's Core i7-3920XM, -3820QM, and -3720QM is similar to the already-reviewed desktop Core i7-3770K. The only differences are in CPU clock rate, maximum graphics frequency (which tops out at 1.15 GHz on the -3770K), and rated TDP.
Hyper-Threading is enabled on all of these mobile Core i7s, giving them four-core/eight-thread configurations. The most egregious deviation from Intel's familiar naming convention is that four mobile Core i7s offer 6 MB of shared L3 cache, rather than the 8 MB we'd expect on a Core i7-class processor.
In fact, it's not easy to decipher the meaning of Intel's nomenclature. On the server side, the company makes a deliberate effort to explain the significant of each character. We covered that in-depth on page two of Intel Xeon E5-2600: Doing Damage With Two Eight-Core CPUs. This time around, though, we're really only certain that the i7 translates to a Hyper-Threading-enabled quad-core chip, and that the first alphanumeric character that follows, the -3, indicates the Ivy Bridge architecture. The XM suffix is indicative of the highest-end Extreme model, while QM is a dead giveaway of quad-core performance. The irony there is thick. Intel's branding has become so meaningless that it takes an additional letter at the end of the model name to clarify.
We still expect new Low Voltage (LV) and Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) parts, but the model numbers for those haven't been announced yet, presumably in a move to allow partners like HP the opportunity to sell off some of their extra Sandy Bridge-based inventory.

We covered the architectural details of Ivy Bridge in our aforementioned desktop Core i7-3770K review, and all of that information applies here as well. However, there are three enhancements that distinguish Intel's 7-series platforms from their predecessors, including native USB 3.0, provisions for up to three display outputs, and the ability for board designers to attach a Thunderbolt controller via four processor-based PCI Express 3.0 lanes.
A trio of display outputs is perhaps the most exciting addition in our opinions, overcoming a long-time limitation of integrated graphics that allowed a notebook to drive its own screen and one attached monitor. Now, you're able to use a mobile machine's panel and up to two external displays, improving productivity.
Test Setup
In the desktop world, it's easy for us to use one motherboard and swap multiple processors in and out. That's far less common in the mobile space, where form factors are always designed to support certain thermal profiles, making them far less flexible. Consequently, comparing mobile processor architectures requires notebook PCs with more significantly different configurations.
We attempt to eliminate potential variables that affect power consumption, though. For example, we test using an external display output instead of the notebook's own panel. We standardize on Crucial's 256 GB m4 SSD as the main system drive, and connectivity-related benchmarks are performed using a LAN to eliminate power differences related to the wireless networking subsystem. This doesn't magically isolate the CPUs we're looking at, but it's a step in the right direction.
| Test Hardware: Mobile Systems | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processors | AMD A8-3520M (Quad-Core, 1.6 GHz) | Intel Core i5-460M (Dual-Core, 2.53 GHz) | Intel Core i7-2820QM (Quad-Core, 2.3 GHz) | Intel Core i7-3720QM (Quad-Core, 2.6 GHz) |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR3-1333 | 8 GB DDR3-1066 | 8 GB DDR3-1333 | 8 GB DDR3-1600 |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 6620G | Intel HD Graphics AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5730 | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | Intel HD Graphics 4000 Nvidia GeForce GT 630M |
| Notebook | HP Pavilion dv6-6c35dx | Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 | Unknown Clevo model | Asus N56Vm |
| Hard Drive | Crucial m4 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s | |||
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | |||
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit | |||
| Graphics Driver | Catalyst 12.4 | Intel 8.15.10.2696 Catalyst 12.4 | Intel 8.15.10.2696 | Intel 8.15.10.2696 Nvidia 301.24 |
- Understanding Ivy Bridge's Real Target
- Benchmark Results: PCMark 7
- Benchmark Results: Adobe Photoshop CS 5
- Benchmark Results: WinRAR 4.11
- Benchmark Results: iTunes 10.6.1
- Benchmark Results: WoW, Call Of Duty, And Battlefield 3
- World Of Warcraft: CPU Utilization And Power Consumption
- 3D Performance And Power Profiles, Demystified
- Quick Sync: Performance And Power Consumption
- Benchmark Results: Blu-ray Playback Efficiency
- Mobile Ivy Bridge: Paving the Way For Ultrabooks
Great job. Another excellent review Andrew.
There would be a performance difference in applications that could use the extra MHz (Video games, encoding/decoding) and performance would scale accordingly. Otherwise no you'd likely never notice.
Great job. Another excellent review Andrew.
To be fair, it was a low power APU being bench-marked against higher end, higher power, and newer chips. I would be surprised if it won much of anything, besides power usage, against the Sandy and Ivy i7s. A higher TDP mobile A8 might be able to beat HD 4000 if it had 1600MHz or maybe even 1866MHz memory, granted it still wouldn't win in CPU performance.
IIRC, the IGPs on the mobile chips can be OC'd, right?
Video Transcoding
DX9 Graphics
Web Browsing
Hmmm...wouldn't you agree that "data decryption" should be on this list too? The difference b/w each proc is significant...plus you've got hardware acceleration for AES256 on SB and IB...
I hope the mobile i3s get HD4000...still wondering why the i5s didn't get it...
The i5-460M is faster than A8-3520M, just not that much faster. I have a feeling you need to run the application and gaming tests on max performance all over again. It doesn't matter for the Intel part as Balanced pretty much performs like max performance.
ojas, All the Core branded mobile chips have the full graphics. For Sandy Bridge that's HD 3000, and for Ivy Bridge its HD 4000. I think you are too much into desktops.
I think that it's just the desktop i5s and i3s that won't have HD 4000. The mobile ones should have it, kinda like how the mobile Sandy i3s, i5s, and i7s more or less all have HD 3000, but the same is not true for their desktop counterparts. Well, the i5-3570K gets HD 4000, so it's the only exception to the desktop i5s not having HD 4000 and that's just because it's a K edition.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4444/amd-llano-notebook-review-a-series-fusion-apu-a8-3500m/11
The Review clearly show the A8 with IGP is at least 2X as fast as the HD3000 with i5 CPU
Actually, that clearly shows that the 6620G of the A8s is only marginally better than the HD 3000 and that with the 6630M, the A8s are then closer to twice as fast (some of the time) as the HD3000-using equipped Sandy systems. Keep in mind that the mobile versions of Intel's IGPs are similar to the desktop versions, but the mobile Llano IGPs are much slower than the desktop versions, so on the mobile side, they clash much more, instead of Llano wiping the floor with Intel's IGPs. Trinity will almost certainly let AMD take the lead in mobile graphics IGPs again. Until then, AMD always has the ability to do CF with the IGP and still use similar amounts or even less power than Intel while beating Intel for graphics performance, although Llano clearly can't touch Sandy and Ivy in CPU performance.
http://ark.intel.com/products/family/65506
And don't forget VT-d. That will help you if you are interested in virtualization.
You must not be reading the same article as the rest of us if that's your conclusion.
Um...well, i'll cite this statement from Chris Angelini's desktop IB review:
First benchmark is Battlefield: Bad Company 2
DX10 Low, FRAPS Runthrough
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 48.1FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 30.4FPS
The A8 is 58% faster than the i5.
Second benchmark is Civilization V
DX10/11 Low, LateGameView Benchmark
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 28.6FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 10.7FPS
The A8 is 167% faster than the i5.
Third benchmark is DiRt 2
DX9 Ultra Low, Built-In Benchmark
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 68.1FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 44.3FPS
A8 is 54% faster than the i5.
Fourth benchmark is Left For Dead 2
Low, Timedemo
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 67FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 48.5FPS
A8 is 38% faster than the i5
Fifth benchmark is Mafia 2
Low, Built-In Benchmark
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 34.2FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 16.5FPS
A8 is 108% faster than i5.
Sixth benchmark is Mass Effect 2
Low, FRAPS Runthrough
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 52.1FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 35.8FPS
A8 is 43% faster than i5.
Seventh benchmark is Metro 2033
DX10 Low, Built-In Benchmark
1366x768
A83500M+6620G = 28.6FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 17FPS
A8 is 68% faster than i5.
Eighth benchmark is STALKER: Call of Pripyat
Low + Object, Standalone Benchmark
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 61.7FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 36.3FPS
A8 is 70% faster than the i5.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Low, FRAPS Playback
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 49.4FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 51.2FPS
i5 is 5% faster than A8.
Ninth benchmark is Total War: Shogun 2
Low, Replay Benchmark
1366x768
A8-3500M+6620G = 79FPS
i5-2520M+HD3000 = 55.1FPS
A8 is 43% faster than i5.
Total for A8-3500M+6620G = 516.8
Total for i5-2520M+HD3000 = 345.8
The A8 is clearly not double the i5. When I said marginally, I missed that the post I replied to referred to i5s, not i7s, so yes, I was wrong on that. However, the post that I replied to was still wrong as well. The i7 would have changed that total FPS from 345.8 to 397.9. The A8 is only 49% faster than the i5, on average, and that is very far from double. The i7 would have brought that down to a mere 30%. Still, I suppose that this is a good deal more than marginally greater, so yes, I was wrong, but nonetheless, so was the post that I replied to. The A8 might be about twice as fast as the mobile i3s with HD 3000, but not the i5s and not even close at that.