Will Haswell be the clincher CPU of this decade?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

lamedude

Golden Member
Jan 14, 2011
1,206
10
81
Hardware RNG is part of the Post 32nm Processor Instruction Extensions that were added to IVB. I'm using it right now on Windows8.
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
The talk of configurable TDP keeps on coming up, I really hope they allow user-configurable TDP (instead of just OEM).

I'd love a dockable tablet with the ability to enter a 'low-power' mode where the fan never has to spin up (or maybe only have the fan in the dock?).

You can already configure TDP (or something close to TDP) in bios and with Intel's utility on a Z77 chipset (and probably others). It's possible to reduce "Turbo Boost Power Max" down to the point where an Ivy Bridge i5 will not clock above 2200mhz under heavy load.


Hsawell is not a big deal, just another integration and bug fix's. Its more than likely most the clock speed advantage's of a properly made 22nm product (unlike ivy bridge) will be ate up entirely by integration.

Per usual " Doubling " their integrated graphics speed is basically just Intel's way of saying it's only half as slow as their last gen.

How many times is Intel going to " double " gpu performance and still have crap GPU performance? People on these forums are like " zmog double the speed !! " and are greeted with poor 3D performance/driver support every time.

My sister-in-law has a Macbook Air with an Ivy Bridge i5 and it runs Diablo 3 a hellofalot better than her older iMac with an HD2400XT. It's not great, but it's passable already. A few years ago I'd write off even opening most games if you had Intel graphics.
 

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2002
6,761
777
126
Hsawell is not a big deal, just another integration and bug fix's. Its more than likely most the clock speed advantage's of a properly made 22nm product (unlike ivy bridge) will be ate up entirely by integration.

Per usual " Doubling " their integrated graphics speed is basically just Intel's way of saying it's only half as slow as their last gen.

How many times is Intel going to " double " gpu performance and still have crap GPU performance? People on these forums are like " zmog double the speed !! " and are greeted with poor 3D performance/driver support every time.

If they double the performance of HD4000 then it's actually a half-decent gaming GPU. So it is a huge deal if they deliver on that promise since it will make gaming on a tight budget very affordable. Even more so since laptops aren't usually 1080p resolution so it will go even further. Haswell can potentially bring 3D gaming to the budget buying masses.
 
Last edited:

Fjodor2001

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2010
3,701
178
106
If they double the performance of HD4000 then it's actually a half-decent gaming GPU. So it is a huge deal if they deliver on that promise since it will make gaming on a tight budget very affordable. Even more so since laptops aren't usually 1080p resolution so it will go even further. Haswell can potentially bring 3D gaming to the budget buying masses.

But will Haswell double the GPU performance compared to HD4000?

Last I heard, the GT2 (which will be used for desktops) will only improve performance by 30-50%.

And the GT3 which will have more EUs is clocked lower to optimize for power consumption, so it will not be as fast as initially expected. Also, the GT3 will only be in mobile CPU models.
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Haswell will definitely be an powerful CPU, and probably the most interesting thing to come out of Intel since at least Nehalem (when they went with an IMC).

But clincher CPU of this decade? I would suggest you temper your expectations; if it does end up being that great then it's better to be surprised than to expect the stars and end up disappointed if they come up short.
 

tweakboy

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2010
9,517
2
81
www.hammiestudios.com
Guys I could care less about GPU performance, its going to be off. Who uses a GPU on CPU die to play todays game. 95 percent of people have video cards.

I could care less what haswell does with GPU performance and power drawn.
I want performance and cores. Im going to buy the 1k Haswell 6 core 12 thread monster and never upgrade until 2020. Thank you
 

Enigmoid

Platinum Member
Sep 27, 2012
2,907
31
91
Haswell: 2x battery life, 20x standby, 2x Graphics, AVX2, Hardware Random Number Generator, integrated thunderbolt

Consumers get lots of performance in terms of computational power and battery life and connectivity.

Broadwell: Die Shrink of Haswell, Multi Chip Package

Consumers get a small bump in computational power and vendors get cheaper/easier to produce motherboards.

Skylake: DDR4....

More bandwidth?

Seems like everything after Haswell is underwhelming in comparison. I know they are farther out, so fewer details, but still it seems like they aren't as big of a leap as Haswell will be.

Twice battery life seems exaggerated. Considering the cpu only comprises less than half of a laptop's power draw at idle even eliminating the cpu is not going to double battery life (most of the time a laptop is at idle or near idle-typing documents, casual web browsing, etc).
They said ivy was going to get much better battery life than sandy in notebooks. It does, but nowhere near as much as promised. Why? Because they bumped the clocks and increased the idle speed from 800 Mhz to 1.2 Ghz.
 

Nemesis 1

Lifer
Dec 30, 2006
11,366
2
0
I think its a clincher for these reasons.
1) At least 10%IPC increase
2) AVX2 easy to recompile
3) Direct compute
4) Open CL all intel hardware runs open cl . Including PHi. also IGP. So I seeing Haswell as a good cruncher I have never built one . So Thats why I am excited.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,118
58
91
Who uses a GPU on CPU die to play todays game. 95 percent of people have video cards.

When you make this stuff up do you ever wonder, even for a brief 500ms, if people are going to question yet-another-BS-statistic-from-tweakboy?

95%? Really!?

Forrester-Tablet-540x329.jpeg
 

Zodiark1593

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2012
2,230
4
81
This will be what Nehalem was to Penryn, what Sandy Bridge was to Nehalem. It's not a clincher, it's a bloody Tock.

If Intel does indeed double the GPU performance over Ivy, I'm curious on how many gamers would willingly choose the iGPU for gaming. I certainly wouldn't myself. Still, I ponder why intel has put so much effort into improving their GPU.
 
Mar 10, 2006
11,715
2,012
126
You do realize that Haswell's micro-architecture is actually quite a big leap from Sandy Bridge...right? And that this isn't just a "bug fix"?
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
15,332
7,792
136
I don't think that there will be any "clincher" CPUs this decade. Unless Intel pulls a rabbit out of the hat, we aren't going to see anything like Core2 or Nehalem over the next decade.

Our next best chance for seeing a large increase in CPU performance would some disruptive technology like quantum effects, etc. Something that can substantially decrease xtor switching times and signal wire delays.
 

RaistlinZ

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
7,629
10
91
Guys I could care less about GPU performance, its going to be off. Who uses a GPU on CPU die to play todays game. 95 percent of people have video cards.

I could care less what haswell does with GPU performance and power drawn.
I want performance and cores. Im going to buy the 1k Haswell 6 core 12 thread monster and never upgrade until 2020. Thank you

Preach it, brutha! :cool:
 

kleinkinstein

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
823
0
0
Yes! With everything in perspective, damn straight it will be!

Compared to Nehalem, the Haswell core offers 4X the peak FLOPs, 3X the cache bandwidth, and nearly 2X the re-ordering window. Overall, the Haswell core will offer around 10% greater performance for existing software, compared to Sandy Bridge. For workloads using the new extensions, the gains could be significantly higher.

Read up, lick your chops and prepare for your computing future.
 

Fjodor2001

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2010
3,701
178
106
When you make this stuff up do you ever wonder, even for a brief 500ms, if people are going to question yet-another-BS-statistic-from-tweakboy?

95%? Really!?

Forrester-Tablet-540x329.jpeg

Maybe he meant 95% of those that play games have a discrete GFX card?
 

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,135
1,594
126
Talking about CPU's and "decades" is rather silly. Think about the changes in process, architecture and, power we've seen in the last 10 years. Haswell is a momentary blip on the scene.
 

AtenRa

Lifer
Feb 2, 2009
14,000
3,357
136
If they double the performance of HD4000 then it's actually a half-decent gaming GPU. So it is a huge deal if they deliver on that promise since it will make gaming on a tight budget very affordable. Even more so since laptops aren't usually 1080p resolution so it will go even further. Haswell can potentially bring 3D gaming to the budget buying masses.

I dont want to start a flame war but we already have CPUs(APUs) that bring 3D gaming to the budget buyer. Unless you mean from Intel.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,118
58
91
I dont want to start a flame war but we already have CPUs(APUs) that bring 3D gaming to the budget buyer. Unless you mean from Intel.

The budget buying masses aren't buying AMD APUs though, which is the demographic the poster was referring too.

AMD's marketshare is what, maybe 30%, and of that 30% what percentage is based on APUs?

The majority, i.e. the masses, of today's budget builds are based on Intel's iGPU.
 

mrmt

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2012
3,974
0
76
I dont want to start a flame war but we already have CPUs(APUs) that bring 3D gaming to the budget buyer. Unless you mean from Intel.

Of course you do want to start a flame war, why would you bring Trinity in a Haswell topic when Trinity cannot even keep up with IVB?

The fact that with Haswell you might get i3+ CPU performance with Trinity+ iGPU performance results in a more compelling and much more balanced solution for the budget market than any AMD APUs. It's the kind of no compromises solution that will change the market, much like Conroe did in 2006.
 

GWestphal

Golden Member
Jul 22, 2009
1,120
0
76
I forgot about TSX too, that will be great.

How optimized are OS binaries? Is it lowest common denominator or can a binary contain code for sse4 and avx and intelligently choose which block to execute based on hardware available? Will 10.9 or 10.8.5 have support for avx2 and TSX ?