Intel Launches First 22-nm Ivy Bridge Processors
By Kristin Bent, CRN
April 23, 2012 2:16 PM ET
After 11 years in the R&D lab, Intel (NSDQ:INTC) launched Monday the first of its highly-anticipated third-generation Ivy Bridge Core processors based on its debut 22nm tri-gate transistor technology. The chip maker unveiled 13 quad-core chips based on the new architecture, which are optimized for desktop, notebook and all-in-one PCs.
Dual-core versions optimized for Ultrabooks will launch in the “coming months,” Intel said.
The 13 Ivy Bridge processors introduced Monday are said to deliver a 20 percent jump in processor performance compared to the prior generation Sandy Bridge-based chips. They also tout a 20 percent lower power envelope than their predecessors, and they more than double the graphics and media performance.
Intel said these benchmarks, and particularly the boost in graphics performance, exceeded its expectations for Ivy Bridge. Normally, Intel employs a “Tick Tock” development model for its chips, whereby a new manufacturing process is introduced in one year (the “tick”), and a new architecture the next (the “tock”). But Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, said the new 22-nm chips represent a development milestone for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker, which it fittingly dubbed “Tick Plus.”
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