Am I missing something about Ivy Bridge?

[pantsaregood]

Nehalem -> SB was a new architecture. That's a big deal and yielded huge performance gains.

SB -> IB, from what I know, is a die-shrink. Yes, Intel is using trigate transistors. That's great for power consumption and higher clock speeds, but won't affect clock-for-clock performance at all. IB will still be a die shrunk SB, right?

Everyone is saying "wait for IB," and I'm planning on purchasing a 2500k or 2600k in the coming weeks. What's so significant about IB?

 

[dma0991]

From what I know IB has an advantage of a smaller die and Tri Gate. There could be IB with higher base clocks compared to SB.

I don't see why should you wait for IB when it is more than >6 months away. I suggest getting a SB now and if you're not happy with it you can do a drop in upgrade to IB when it comes out. Not too sure about IB working together with the 6 series chipsets though but it was rumored that it should work just fine.

If a new arch is what you're looking for in terms of noticeable performance gain like Nehalem to SB then you're going to have to wait even longer for Haswell.

 

[AtenRa]

22nm IB will have the following advantages,

Lower power envelop at the same performance vs 32nm or higher performance at the same power envelop vs 32nm.

Higher transistor density vs 32nm, IB will have more/faster Cache and more EUs in the IGP.

Even if Intel will use the SB core, the combination of the above will give an almost 20% more performance at the same power usage for the CPU (IGP will gain more).

 

[Borealis7]

of course by the time IB is out, you'd also have AMD's BD to consider.

I'd say keep waiting, decide again after IB is out or if we find out more details about Z68/P67 compatibility.

 

[Vette73]

^

I thought it was known that IB will not work with 6x chipsets but will have their own 7x chipsets for IB.

 

[pantsaregood]

I don't care about the IGP at all. Power consumption isn't a big issue, since it doesn't save me any money.

I was going to wait on Bulldozer. I wanted to see Bulldozer be amazing, but the lack of available information on it has just pushed me away. Waiting on Ivy Bridge makes no sense. What would the point be? Waiting nearly a year for a higher ceiling as far as overclocking goes?

 

[Vette73]

^

Yea if building now and can;t wait get a 2500k and a Z68 board.

My system is still working just fine so will wait for at least BD and IB before I build.

 

[pantsaregood]

I don't have a PC at the moment. I'm using a E5750 laptop plugged into a 23 inch LCD monitor. That's why I'm pretty set on a 2500K/2600K.

 

[Vette73]

^

yea bang for the buck is AMD but if need the extra power and/or have the money then the 2500k with a z68 is the best all round desktop right now.

 

[khon]

There's no particular reason to wait for IB, especially if you need a desktop asap.

Sure it'll be a bit faster than SB, but it's not likely to be a major step, and it's 6+ months away...

For laptops I think IB will make more of a difference, with the power savings and improved IGP, but for desktops I don't think it's worth waiting for.

 

[Edrick]

I say wait for Haswell! IB does not excite me.

The real answer is to just buy now. SB is great and you can always throw in a IB chip later when they come out (6+ months).

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Ivy Bridge may well be >10 months away if the rumours about delays are true...

Not worth the wait if you need something now...

 

[PlasmaBomb]

I say wait for Haswell! IB does not excite me.

The real answer is to just buy now. SB is great and you can always throw in a IB chip later when they come out (6+ months).

Might as well wait for Broadwell then... (Haswell die shrink)

14nm baby!

 

[GammaLaser]

SB -> IB, from what I know, is a die-shrink. Yes, Intel is using trigate transistors. That's great for power consumption and higher clock speeds, but won't affect clock-for-clock performance at all.

Not exactly true. With the smaller/more power efficient transistors, there will likely be an increased # of transistors allocated for structures like the caches, branch tables, etc. which can provide small gains to the IPC. Not nearly as big as NHM->SNB, but you can't compare clock-for-clock between SNB and IVB.

That being said, the gains aren't going to be worth waiting for IVB to come out. The CPUs that are on the market now are great.

 

[dma0991]

Might as well wait for Broadwell then... (Haswell die shrink)

14nm baby!

Forget Broadwell. I'm waiting till Skymont comes out

 

[sm625]

Ivy bridge is going to have a knockout CULV part. Probably get 8 hours of battery life and still be faster than any AMD desktop chip. But you know they are going to charge two arms and half a leg for it, so it makes no sense to wait for it. What is going to be really nice is the first low voltage IB celeron/pentium. Like an SU7300, only IB. But even the rock bottom celeron will probably cost over $100. Intel are a bunch of greedy bastards...

 

[ed29a]

^

I thought it was known that IB will not work with 6x chipsets but will have their own 7x chipsets for IB.

A final interesting point for many users is that Ivy Bridge is pin compatible with Sandy Bridge, and it will work on current LGA1155 motherboards with the appropriate chipset and a firmware and BIOS update (H61, H67, P67, and Z68 are capable of support IB). Intel will also launch new 7-series chipsets, which we’ll get into below.

Source.

 

[Skott]

A final interesting point for many users is that Ivy Bridge is pin compatible with Sandy Bridge, and it will work on current LGA1155 motherboards with the appropriate chipset and a firmware and BIOS update (H61, H67, P67, and Z68 are capable of support IB). Intel will also launch new 7-series chipsets, which we’ll get into below.

Source.

Ah, just the info I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[exar333]

I say wait for Haswell! IB does not excite me.

The real answer is to just buy now. SB is great and you can always throw in a IB chip later when they come out (6+ months).

Haswell will be a real game-changer.

Nehalem - Integrated MC; monolithic quad
SB - Integrated GPU
IB - Power efficiency (tri-gate, etc)
Haswell - New instructions; new cache design; additional features

The next 12-18 months will be very exciting for CPUs. BD hits this year, and Intel has some huge releases around the corner for next year. Exciting times.

 

[Zap]

Ivy Bridge: A Tick+ With Configurable TDP

By the way, Intel views Ivy Bridge as more than just a process shrink as a result of all of this (and more apparently). It's still not a tock, but a Tick+.

Sounds like better power management + possibly higher clocks, in addition to better per clock performance if any.

 

[podspi]

Haswell will be a real game-changer.

Nehalem - Integrated MC; monolithic quad
SB - Integrated GPU
IB - Power efficiency (tri-gate, etc)
Haswell - New instructions; new cache design; additional features

The next 12-18 months will be very exciting for CPUs. BD hits this year, and Intel has some huge releases around the corner for next year. Exciting times.

Do we know anything about Haswell yet? Is it too early to start speculating?

 

[ElFenix]

Ivy Bridge: A Tick+ With Configurable TDP



Sounds like better power management + possibly higher clocks, in addition to better per clock performance if any.

IB's turbo sounds like BD's turbo in that it monitors the temp.

i just wonder what the motherboard power circuitry will need to be built to? people have burnt out their AMD 95W boards when overclocking their processors.

 

[garagisti]

http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4851&page=7

Look for posts by Rich Wargo on this page...

Also, a guy who has a 8-core BD chip confirmed speeds of 3.2 Ghz base on B1 chip. Then again, he went on to indicate that SB-E will launch at prices slightly north of 2600K's. Nopes, that chip will be available at launch, not going to be a wait of some months after the XXX version

If you ask me, more choice never hurts. If you go with BD, you'll know of performance, sometime soon. If rumours of SB-E pricing is true, BD will be potent. Most likely AM3+ will be compatible with Komodo (improved BD). Going with SB-E mobo's will give you upgrade path to IB. Eitherways, you'll have more choice. If you upgrade less often, then wait a fortnight or two, when a lot of clarity will be there. Hope this was useful.

Cheers!

EDIT: If one thinks certain aspects of IB are like BD in some ways... Haswell, it includes a lot more from BD... Infact AMD's main issue with execution was largely that BD's design is better suited to smaller nodes. Think 22nm and lower. This is all old news but what they did, is the next best thing. Now they've broken down the design in some evolutionary steps. Each BD revision takes it closer to how they saw it originally. Of course, they're constantly revising bits... I could be wrong... but if you know better (or not), instead of mocking me, would someone please provide information?

 

[TuxDave]

That's great for power consumption and higher clock speeds, but won't affect clock-for-clock performance at all. IB will still be a die shrunk SB, right?

Westmere was probably the last of the "tick is just a die shrink" days. Nowadays they are trying to get more aggressive with power and IPC improvements on "tick" projects.

 

[Idontcare]

Do we know anything about Haswell yet? Is it too early to start speculating?

It folds the very fabric of space-time itself, so much so that it catches up with itself and the gate-last xtors become gate-first while the whole thing implodes and turns into a 4004. But yeah, it can do crysis, so, its bitchen