Speculating on Ivy Bridge(mobile)

[IntelUser2000]

"Inspired" by this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2198488

First, what is Ivy Bridge, and what new things does it bring?
-22nm "Tick" successor to the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture
-Increased Instructions Per Clock(IPC), better power management, security, and revamped graphics
-Insider abbreviation is IVB in case people are curious.

Right now I want to talk about mobile version of Ivy Bridge. Changes were revealed at IDF, so I won't go deeper into that. The focus here is TDP and clock speeds, along with "configurable TDP".

Power management

It might just seem like marketing for Turbo Mode and Speedstep. There are real differences though. Before I go over that, we need to understand other power management related technologies first.

-C and P states

Let's take a mobile Core 2 chip. Modern chips have what's called P and C states. It has C states 0 through 6, and few P states as well. Let's assume P states are 0 to 5. In both of them, the higher the number, the higher the power consumption and better the performance(or the impact on performance is less). The difference between C and P states? P states are a state between minimum active state and maximum clock speed. C states show how deeply in idle power saving mode the CPU is. C0 is the highest C state, and P0 is the highest P state. The OS manages P and C states, and asks the CPU what it wants.

-Turbo Mode/Turbo Core

When the CPU reaches the highest P state, P0, its at the highest "base clock speed". Then it can reach what's called Turbo. Beyond the reach of the OS, the CPU can ramp up beyond P0 clocks for higher performance.

-TDP(Thermal Design Power/Thermal Design Point)

TDP is what the designers of laptops take as a measure of how they should cool the CPU. P0, or P0 at base clocks are what the TDP numbers are designed for, and what the system builders aim for.

Configurable TDP

Configurable TDP is a new feature in Ivy Bridge. The CPU has number of "base clock" points it can reach upon. The implementation can be static, or dynamic, based on IDF Fall 2011 presentations. The important point is that it has some what of a flexibility for builders/designers of systems. That said, let's look at Ivy Bridge in its mobile version. So far, here's what we know. The numbers are from Anand's IDF reports.

TDP Low-13W
TDP Nominal-17W
TDP High-33W

There's another one, which is an Extreme Edition version.

TDP Low-45W
TDP Nominal-55W
TDP High-65W

And apparently, yet another version, with 35W base TDP quad core. Perhaps like this?

TDP Low-25W
TDP Nominal-35W
TDP High-45W

I believe, that'll be the 3 new power points for Intel Ivy Bridge mobile chips. If you ignore that there are multiple points, its actually simplified, for both looking at specifications and the designers(really, it only makes it complicated for me, cause more needs to be typed). You just aim for the power and the base clocks you want. More importantly, it addresses ALL of the required power SKUs for the market.

My guesses on clocks for the fastest 17W Nominal chip. Feel the power of (speculated ) 22nm!:

TDP Low-13W

Base-2.07GHz
Turbo 2 core-2.4GHz
Turbo 1 core-2.8GHz

TDP Nominal-17W

Base-2.83GHz
Turbo 2 core-3.26GHz
Turbo 1 core-3.40GHz

TDP High-33W

Base-3.46Hz
Turbo 2 core-3.73GHz
Turbo 1 core-3.90GHz

(Extrapolation from 32nm/22nm curve graphs, which were surprisingly accurate for 32nm. IMO there's a good chance that it might be ~5% lower than what I put above)

Why do I think of such big boosts?

Its not as big as it looks initially. It's only big on the lower power parts. Exactly what 22nm Tri-Gate transistors promise to do. Why is it so important?

Ultrabooks.

 

[Kristijonas]

What's most important to be, is integrated graphics. I plan to build an elite fanless PC tower when Ivy Bridge is out (If I have the money!). Is there any chance that integrated graphics will be more than 50% better than SBs ?

 

[MisterMac]

"Inspired" by this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2198488

First, what is Ivy Bridge, and what new things does it bring?
-22nm "Tick" successor to the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture
-Increased Instructions Per Clock(IPC), better power management, security, and revamped graphics
-Insider abbreviation is IVB in case people are curious.

Right now I want to talk about mobile version of Ivy Bridge. Changes were revealed at IDF, so I won't go deeper into that. The focus here is TDP and clock speeds, along with "configurable TDP".

Power management

It might just seem like marketing for Turbo Mode and Speedstep. There are real differences though. Before I go over that, we need to understand other power management related technologies first.

-C and P states

Let's take a mobile Core 2 chip. Modern chips have what's called P and C states. It has C states 0 through 6, and few P states as well. Let's assume P states are 0 to 5. In both of them, the higher the number, the higher the power consumption and better the performance(or the impact on performance is less). The difference between C and P states? P states are a state between minimum active state and maximum clock speed. C states show how deeply in idle power saving mode the CPU is. C0 is the highest C state, and P0 is the highest P state. The OS manages P and C states, and asks the CPU what it wants.

-Turbo Mode/Turbo Core

When the CPU reaches the highest P state, P0, its at the highest "base clock speed". Then it can reach what's called Turbo. Beyond the reach of the OS, the CPU can ramp up beyond P0 clocks for higher performance.

-TDP(Thermal Design Power/Thermal Design Point)

TDP is what the designers of laptops take as a measure of how they should cool the CPU. P0, or P0 at base clocks are what the TDP numbers are designed for, and what the system builders aim for.

Configurable TDP

Configurable TDP is a new feature in Ivy Bridge. The CPU has number of "base clock" points it can reach upon. The implementation can be static, or dynamic, based on IDF Fall 2011 presentations. The important point is that it has some what of a flexibility for builders/designers of systems. That said, let's look at Ivy Bridge in its mobile version. So far, here's what we know. The numbers are from Anand's IDF reports.

TDP Low-13W
TDP Nominal-17W
TDP High-33W

There's another one, which is an Extreme Edition version.

TDP Low-45W
TDP Nominal-55W
TDP High-65W

And apparently, yet another version, with 35W base TDP quad core. Perhaps like this?

TDP Low-25W
TDP Nominal-35W
TDP High-45W

I believe, that'll be the 3 new power points for Intel Ivy Bridge mobile chips. If you ignore that there are multiple points, its actually simplified, for both looking at specifications and the designers(really, it only makes it complicated for me, cause more needs to be typed). You just aim for the power and the base clocks you want. More importantly, it addresses ALL of the required power SKUs for the market.

My guesses on clocks for the fastest 17W Nominal chip. Feel the power of (speculated ) 22nm!:

TDP Low-13W

Base-2.07GHz
Turbo 2 core-2.4GHz
Turbo 1 core-2.8GHz

TDP Nominal-17W

Base-2.83GHz
Turbo 2 core-3.26GHz
Turbo 1 core-3.40GHz

TDP High-33W

Base-3.46Hz
Turbo 2 core-3.73GHz
Turbo 1 core-3.90GHz

(Extrapolation from 32nm/22nm curve graphs, which were surprisingly accurate for 32nm. IMO there's a good chance that it might be ~5% lower than what I put above)

I think well only see moderate improvements on desktop/mobile parts, with extrapolating your roughly right, but i somehow doubt it will really be that much.


It's not until haswell ill expect all hell to break loose with 8 core mobile chips performing like SB with half TDP.


I could be wrong, but i even if bulldozer was a success and the intel engineer got orders to kick ass - i doubt they can give so much performance gain all over the board as SB again.


To me all marketing points to Haswell being the one that makes intel start stabbing Low Power devices with x86 - while continuing giving mainstream monster effectively Processing power @ higherish end.


EDIT:

As Kristian asks above, I'm convinced IVB IGP will make for some lean 720p Gaming laptops and make Llano abit moot and obsolete.

And haswell could be when intel's own GPU starts replacing lower enthusiast end of things.

Id personally love to give intel 30%50% more of my hard earned money, if i didn't need a dGPU.
But once they reach that i'm sure they'll know that all too well -_-

 

[IntelUser2000]

To me all marketing points to Haswell being the one that makes intel start stabbing Low Power devices with x86 - while continuing giving mainstream monster effectively Processing power @ higherish end.

Sandy Bridge brought HUGE gains on all the "weak spots" of the mobile market. The Clarksfield with a quad barely beating dual core got a massive improvement, and the 17W chip got a massive improvement. That is because Intel focused on reducing power for Sandy Bridge, which translated into performance at what I call extreme ends of the segment.

I believe ULV chips will get a big boost again. It's the desktop chips and the regular voltage chips that will get small(er) improvements. Those are dual cores BTW.

 

[alyarb]

Is there any chance that integrated graphics will be more than 50% better than SBs ?

They are claiming 100% improvement at the EU level and a 33% larger EU array.

 

[Kristijonas]

They are claiming 100% improvement at the EU level and a 33% larger EU array.

Please excuse my illiteracy, but what will that look like in gaming? Should I expect double FPS? Let's say a game runs at stable 20fps with SB, how many fps could be expected with IB?

 

[alyarb]

Not much actually. The higher performing IGP is for heterogeneous computing and QuickSync. As far as high res gaming, you will continue to be limited by the 128-bit DDR3. Performance will go up, but not by 100%.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Please excuse my illiteracy, but what will that look like in gaming? Should I expect double FPS? Let's say a game runs at stable 20fps with SB, how many fps could be expected with IB?

I can only link you this: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4763/...nce-up-to-60-faster-than-snb-better-quicksync

Not much actually. The higher performing IGP is for heterogeneous computing and QuickSync. As far as high res gaming, you will continue to be limited by the 128-bit DDR3. Performance will go up, but not by 100%.

QuickSync isn't entirely EU bound because it has the super fast fixed function unit. As for 3D performance its roughly at half of Llano with HD 3000 so its entirely possible to reach 2x on Ivy Bridge. How it'll really do is the question.

 

[Kristijonas]

Thank you for the answers. I guess we'll see how good graphics are when the chips are released.