Intel Promises Big Performance With Sandy Bridge

[captainnemojr]

Too bad you can't plop it in an existing LGA 1156 board 🙁

 

[SteelCity1981]

i'll wait until i see real world benchmarks. Right now it's just a bunch of media hype surrounding SB as far as i'm concerned.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

I hope it's big. I'd been waiting since 2007 when I first heard about it. I don't know why, but it just seemed like "the thing" to upgrade my mid-to-upper range August 2007 PC, to. The whole next year will be exciting with this and PCIe 3.0 video cards, oh, and version 3 of everything else: SATA, USB.

 

[aaron686]

@darkchazz Switchfoot - Meant to Live! Sorry couldn't resist.

Anyway, we all know Intel's price bashing but they promised cookies so...

 

[Guest]

I doubt that it's more than 20% faster than Nehalem, I imagine this is some feel-good, for-the-shareholders BS.

Here is how they calculated it:

P4 -> Core2

CPU -> 100% faster
GPU -> N/A

total -> 100% faster

Nehalem to Sandy Bridge

CPU -> 20% faster
GPU -> 100% faster

total -> 120% faster


My prediction is that the only difference you'll be able to notice performance-wise is that gaming on an IGP will be a little less crappy, and that the Intel-favoring benchmarks will reward you with bragging rights for purchasing the latest/greatest Intel chip.

 

[dertechie]

I really rather doubt they can pull a % increase as large as the leap from P4 to Core 2. If they can, I will be greatly impressed (but I'm expecting 10-20% from Anand's preview tests).

 

[eddieroolz]

Only if they'd produce a decent graphics solution with a big performance boost.

But that's just pipe dream....

 

[Guest]

Remarks like these represent more headaches for AMD. Their current processors stink and I won't put my hope in Bulldozer either (got burned with the K10 fiasco).

I've being a die-hard AMD fan for almost 7 years now and it's been a hard task to recommend and AMD-build to any customer when performance numbers don't back them up like in the K7/K8 days.

One thing is sure: when it comes to GPUs they are the best (thanks to ATi), but since the introduction of Conroe in 2006, their (AMD) CPUs stink performance-wise. Some will say that Phenoms are cheaper, but this is not good and it won't help the company in the long term if ASPs keep going through the toilette.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[rohitbaran]

[citation][nom]teknomedic[/nom]Can't they say that about just every new generation of procs? I mean... in theory, each get is about double the one before it. I know this isn't as true as it once was. My point is that "P2 represents the largest increase in computing performance in our history"... "P3 represents the largest increase in computing performance in our history"... "P4 represents the largest increase in computing performance in our history"... etc, etc... should hold true in general.[/citation]
They do say it everytime.

 

[dEAne]

I hope the chipset too will be improve.

 

[andrern2000]

Big promises,.. Let's see

 

[firedust]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't AMD completely focusing on servers and laptops for it's bulldozer and bobcat? I remember reading that bulldozer had a lot more cores but not the clock speed, while SB is focusing on higher clocks and fewer cores. Seems like SB would be the only choice for a gamer.

 

[insightdriver]

This is my take, and my personal opinion. I believe Intel, when they made their design changes for Sandybridge they worked out a lot of improvements in code execution. They also made a lot of improvements in power management. Basically this family will come out on the low end first, then the high end later. Be that as it may, to wait for it makes little difference to me, I already bought my X58 board and I7-930.

What I don't think will change is DDR3 memory will still be the standard. As far as computing power, overall, the graphics makes a big difference, so an enthusiast machine will still have the same PCIe bus for their cards. Solid state drives for the OS make a big noticeable difference in the perception of the speed of a computer.

No matter what processor, the computer consists of the sum of all the parts. Toms has shown where bottlenecks can be and for many games, it is not the processor anymore; it's graphics bound. Overclocking my computer, while giving it a higher synthetic score does not make it perceptively faster as I use it. So when it gets down to it, the new chips may be very good; but one can spend a lot of money on a high end system today or a budget system that is ok for most everything but heavy gaming.

I would not speculate on the performance of SB; I will wait to see. Bottom line, I have learned from articles on Toms, how to choose parts for a computer taking the whole system into account.

I do believe Sandybridge will be impressive, in both the low end box and the high end machine. It may well be much faster, but whether it makes a perceptible difference depends on what parts went in and how well it was tuned. Pretty much how it goes today.

Shame is, to go into the X58, thinking that there may be a trickle down on the processors; but I doubt that will happen. As has happened before, when Intel changes processors, they stop making the high end of their previous model. The supply chain dries up, the prices of the high end older chips never drops until they are sold as used parts on Ebay or Craigslist. I can take heart that I can keep my machine current enough by going to SLI with another grahics card and getting a faster SSD.

In the computing world, nothing stands still. Today's king of the hill is yesterday's has been.

 

[sudeshc]

AMD where are you, bring some spice to contest show us some fight back.
Once again you are falling back on CPU department.

 

[Cryio]

This CPU will probably remove any bottleneck-s in 3/4 -way CF ori SLI gaming today. Hoping to see Metro/Crysis2/Cryostasis/Bad Company 2/GTA4 with AA mod benchmarks 😀

 

[enewmen]

[citation][nom]the_krasno[/nom]If this is as big as a leap like the one from Pentium to Core, I might have to give them my money. I still use an old Core 2.[/citation]
I think the Haswell/Rockwell with get you the kind of performance you're looking for.
I also think the Bulldozer/Bobcat will enjoy being in the lead - at least for a year.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Largest increase in performance in their history? That just means it will be the largest increase in CPU performance from my perspective. I have not been able to afford a high end

 

[back_by_demand]

The thing is, a lot of people don't upgrade everytime there is a new chip, so going from Nehalem to Sandy Bridge wont happen for a lot of people. But when I upgraded to my i7 it was from a 5 year old AMD FX-55 and the improvement was massive, like trading up from a Ford Model T to a Lamborghini.

Sandy Bridge looks impressive, but it will seem a damn sight more impressive to all those upgrading from Core 2 Duo, or even old Pentiums.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

...CPU from Intel in years. I'm over the performance war. I'm more interested in the price war Each time I upgrade I get huge gains by targeting the best value out there. Its a winning philosophy.

 

[mhelm1]

Enough talk, Show us! Proof is all we want, not promises.

 

[dmwright]

A lot of hype, but new and improved products are welcomed 😀. (R&D = More jobs for me).

 

[Guest]

@firedust

actually a bulldozer core (any fusion product core) if executed correctly can not be considered the same as a standard core, the theoretical power of fusion is in it's GPGPU, similar in lines to the CUDA mode of execution, which is more efficient and faster at number crunching then a standard CPU core

if they can pull it off then MHz would mean very little in terms of raw computational power, now if i recall k8 consistently performed well even though clocked lower then their p4 equivalent.....

 

[wiyosaya]

Certainly, it is in the interest of Intel to engage in marketing hype, perhaps even to the extent that some potential buyers might hold off making an upgrade at this time in hopes of it being worth the wait.

However, only time will prove whether the product deserves the hype.

I find it interesting to note that we are not (yet anyway), hearing the same type of hype from AMD surrounding its upcoming next gen CPU release. Perhaps this is an Intel effort to thwart the competition from AMD as it certainly seems like there is significant buzz about AMD's next gen CPUs.

 

[firedust]

@LowerClocked

Thanks for the clarification. It's an interesting concept that seems to have a lot of promise. I really do hope it turns out well for them.

 

[truerock]

Sandy Bridge is for my grandmother. It will be put in low-end PCs used mostly for email and Facebook. It is not a perfomance PC product.