We've probably all seen more details from the Intel roadmap regarding Sandy Bridge-E - i.e. quad channel DDR3, 2 X 16x PCIe 2.0 + 1 X 4x for storage, SATA 6Gbs, etc. The launch processors in Q4 2011 are supposed to be:
A) Core i7 Extreme
B) Core i7
C) Core i7
Any guesses as to pricing and naming?
We went from i7 920 / 950 / 980x to i7 2500 / 2600K as a naming convention, so what will the new processors be named, i7 3xxx? or will they use the space in the 2xxx series to call them 2900X, 2800K, 2700? (X for Extreme, K for enthusiast unlocked, and no-suffix for, well, nothing special.) I could also see them using more of the remaining digits, instead of the xx00 naming.
Pricing wise, I'd start the guessing at $999 for extreme, $500 for the middle one and $300 for the "low end" / 4 core one. This will also mean that the full range of regular Sandy Bridge processors will be bumped down, although I can see 2600K and 2700 sharing the same price.
I'm also puzzled by the L3 cache. Clearly on the 4C processor, I could see this being tied to the 2 missing cores, either laser cut / disabled silicon or a different die, but the middle processor and top processor are 15MB / 12MB? That's just strange. 15MB is an odd number, and plus it's strange to have less cache on the K model - I doubt they will be different dies.
A) Core i7 Extreme
6c/12t, 3.3GHz/3.9GHz T, 15MB L3, Fully unlocked
B) Core i7
6c/12t, 3.2GHz, 3.8GHz, 12MB L3, Fully unlocked
C) Core i7
4c/8t, 3.6GHz / 3.9GHz, 10MB L3, Partially unlocked
Any guesses as to pricing and naming?
We went from i7 920 / 950 / 980x to i7 2500 / 2600K as a naming convention, so what will the new processors be named, i7 3xxx? or will they use the space in the 2xxx series to call them 2900X, 2800K, 2700? (X for Extreme, K for enthusiast unlocked, and no-suffix for, well, nothing special.) I could also see them using more of the remaining digits, instead of the xx00 naming.
Pricing wise, I'd start the guessing at $999 for extreme, $500 for the middle one and $300 for the "low end" / 4 core one. This will also mean that the full range of regular Sandy Bridge processors will be bumped down, although I can see 2600K and 2700 sharing the same price.
I'm also puzzled by the L3 cache. Clearly on the 4C processor, I could see this being tied to the 2 missing cores, either laser cut / disabled silicon or a different die, but the middle processor and top processor are 15MB / 12MB? That's just strange. 15MB is an odd number, and plus it's strange to have less cache on the K model - I doubt they will be different dies.