[citation][nom]kcorp2003[/nom]I remember reading somewhere that the introduction of ivy bridge will phase out the dual cores and make the quad cores mainstream while the 8 cores will be the "new" high end.The i7-3770k will be an interesting benchmark review against the extreme sandy bridge CPUs and i7-2600k. I am looking forward to this tom.[/citation]
Nope
IB is just a refined SB with a new integrated GPU. It will bring new features (thunderbolt, WiDi, etc) and some new/better chipsets, but the only real performance increase will be due to the die shrink, not any changes to core count or architecture. They are investing heavily in their onboard GPU and are trying to match AMD for integrated graphics within the next 3 release cycles, so expect your largest improvements there. Otherwise expect a 5-10% increase in processing power this time around, followed by a better increase the following cycle when the new architecture (haswell I think it is?) comes out.
I think we will continue to see 2 HT cores for i3, and 4 cores for i5, and 4 HT cores for i7, followed by a 6-8core count for the "E" series (or whatever new marketing name they decide on at that point). The "well" series that will come next there is a lot of debate about. In theory win8 is ready to take advantage of 'many core' systems (alluded to in the build conference), which I take to mean that they are catching wind that we will be seeing 12+ core systems in the relatively near future (meaning before win9 comes out). That would co-inside with the "well" series, and we may see a dramatic change and completely gloss over 6-10 core processors, and instead see many core processors with lots of little relatively gutless cpu cores. But that is a complete stab in the dark, and just my thought with absolutely nothing concrete to back it up with except for the fact that this is what AMD is beginning to move towards with Bulldozer, which generally means Intel is planning on 2-4 years down the road (example; 64bit, duel core, etc).
But who knows! The future is about as predictable as a good woman, and like a woman even the future itself could not tell us what is in store for us even if it wanted to.