Intel Releases New Sandy Bridge Processors
by Andrew Cunningham on September 6, 2011 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Intel
- CPUs
- Sandy Bridge
Intel has announced a total of 16 new Sandy Bridge processors today, augmenting its lineup in the mid and low-end markets on the desktop and in the high and low-end markets on laptops.
On the desktop side, we have four new Core-series processors, one i5 (the 2320) along with three i3s (the 2130, 2125, and 2120T. Along with these comes three new Pentium processors (the G860, G630, and G630T) and four low-end Celerons (the G540, G530, G530T, and G440). The G440 has the dubious honor of being the only single-core Sandy Bridge of which I am aware.
| New Sandy Bridge Desktop CPUs | |||||||
| Name | Cores/Threads | CPU Clock | L3 Cache | GPU | GPU Clock | TDP | Price |
| i5-2320 | 4/4 | 3.0 GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) | 6MB | HD 2000 | 850 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 95W | $177 |
| i3-2130 | 2/4 | 3.4 GHz | 3MB | HD 2000 | 850 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 65W | $138 |
| i3-2125 | 2/4 | 3.3GHz | 3MB | HD 3000 | 850 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 65W | $134 |
| i3-2120T | 2/4 | 2.6GHz | 3MB | HD 2000 | 650 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 35W | $127 |
| Pentium G860 | 2/2 | 3.0GHz | 3MB | HD | 850 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 65W | $86 |
| Pentium G630 | 2/2 | 2.7GHz | 3MB | HD | 850 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 65W | $75 |
| Pentium G630T | 2/2 | 2.3GHz | 3MB | HD | 650 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 35W | $70 |
| Celeron G540 | 2/2 | 2.5GHz | 2MB | HD | 850 MHz (1000 MHz turbo) | 65W | $52 |
| Celeron G530 | 2/2 | 2.4GHz | 2MB | HD | 850 MHz (1000 MHz turbo) | 65W | $42 |
| Celeron G530T | 2/2 | 2.0GHz | 2MB | HD | 650 MHz (1100 MHz turbo) | 35W | $47 |
| Celeron G440 | 1/1 | 1.6GHz | 1MB | HD | 650 MHz (1000 MHz turbo) | 35W | $37 |
Most of these processors are simple clock bumps of existing processors and their energy-effecient T-series counterparts. What's new here is the Celeron series of processors, most of which sacrifice 100 MHz of GPU Turbo speed and another MB of L3 cache compared to their Pentium counterparts (according to CPU World's listings, VT-x and EM64T remain available on all models). It's also important to remember here that the HD-series graphics has nothing to do with Intel's last-gen IGP - in Sandy Bridge models, the HD graphics series is basically the HD 2000 series with QuickSync and a few other video features disabled - see our Sandy Bridge Pentium review for more information on this.
The new laptop CPUs are fewer in number, and aimed at both the high-end and very low-end of the market.
| New Sandy Bridge Laptop CPUs | |||||||
| Name | Cores/Threads | CPU Clock | L3 Cache | GPU Clock | TDP | Price | |
| i7-2960XM | 4/8 | 2.7 GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) | 8MB | 650 MHz (1300 MHz turbo) | 55W | $1096 | |
| i7-2860QM | 4/8 | 2.5 GHz (3.6 GHz Turbo) | 8MB | 650 MHz (1300 MHz turbo) | 45W | $568 | |
| i7-2760QM | 4/8 | 2.4GHz (3.5 GHz Turbo) | 6MB | 650 MHz (1300 MHz turbo) | 45W | $378 | |
| i7-2640M | 2/4 | 2.8GHz (3.5 GHz Turbo) | 4MB | 650 MHz (1300 MHz turbo) | 35W | $346 | |
| Celeron B840 | 2/2 | 1.9GHz | 2MB | 650 MHz (950 MHz turbo) | 35W | $86 | |
The Core i7-2960XM is an Extreme Edition processor and is the fastest quad-core chip that Intel currently offers, and it has a pricetag to match. On the other end of the spectrum, the Celeron B840 is a dual-core processor that loses L3 cache and some GPU Turbo speed, though it retains VT-x and the same HD 3000-series GPU that all mobile Sandy Bridge CPUs possess.
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karndog - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
So let me get this straight.. I can buy a quad core CPU with HT and 8MB L3 cache for $568, OR i can pay $1096 for the exact same CPU/GPU (i7-2860QM), with the only difference being it is clocked 200mhz slower @stock and 100mhz slower turbo??I understand theirs always a premium for the flagship model for anything computer related, but 2x the price for 100-200mhz?!
Sad thing is many uninformed people or people with more dollars than sense will still buy it.
Dorin Nicolaescu-Musteață - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
And also 10W hotter.XM's are also unlocked Though, I don't know who is going to overclock a notebook...
quiksilvr - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
You would figure at that price point they would give more Cache or a more impressive Turbo speed, but alas, tis a chip sold solely for idiots.bludragon - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Actually, it's a chip listed only to make the $568 i7-2860QM appear to be reasonably priced :-)Also, I've not been following the latest naming cyprography courses, but is i7-2760QM really a 2 core part?
A5 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
All the QM parts are Quad-core.Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Extreme parts have never been worth buying.melgross - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Gamers buy that stuff. But then, they also decorate their memory with LEDs and neon, and buy cases that look like aliens.chinedooo - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
No self respecting gamer would buy an extreme edition processor. Usually the bottle neck comes from the GPU so they spend more money on that.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
The real market for the Extreme processors is likely high-end mobile workstations. If you do a CPU intensive task for your work and the XE chip is on average 5% faster, over the years that will add up. Yes, it's a small increase, but then if an engineer is paid $75K, such an upgrade only needs to save 15 hours before it has paid for itself. This is also why things like Quadro 5010M GPUs can tack on nearly $2000 to the cost of a high-end notebook, because that's still only ~60 hours of time you need to save, and the difference in some applications is so great that someone working with a CAD program could likely make up for the increased cost in only a few months.Gamers? Unless they're so wealthy that $500 just doesn't matter (e.g. professional athletes), most are unwilling to spend more than $1500 for a gaming notebook, and they'd prefer closer to $1000.
DanNeely - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
The continued existence of the extreme line indicates that there are enough people willing to pay a large price premium for a marginal increase in speed.You could make a similar argument about any top end model sports car. You're spending $$lots over lesser models in the family for the ability to go from zero to speeding ticket in a fraction of a second less time.
For 99% of buyers neither offer any meaningful increase and are just about bragging rights; but those suckers subsidize the prices for the handful of people who need a portable workstation and who actually are CPU bound enough to justify the cost or who take their car to tracks to race on the weekends instead of just using it as a commuter/bar crawler vehicle.