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Intel has always been one of the leading manufacturers of
Central Processing Units (CPU) for computer systems. Their ingenuity and
innovation in CPU technology has helped create the powerful desktops and
laptops that we take for granted today. Their latest chipset (to be released in
less than a week), nicknamed "Ivy Bridge", will continue Intel's innovation
through its use of Tri-gate transistor technology.
The Tri-gate (or 3-D) transistor utilizes a single gate
stacked upon two vertical gates to increase the available surface area for
electrons to travel. Typically, on a 2-D transistor, a straight channel
connects a source to a drain. Half way into the channel, a wide gate
interrupts. If the correct voltage is applied to the gate, it will create a
conductive pathway. In the 3-D transistor, the same basic rules apply; however,
the channel protrudes into a third dimension and allows three separate contacts
with the overlapping gate. The concept behind the 3-D transistor has been
around for well over a decade, but Intel is the first to engineer a way to
mass-produce it successfully.
So why does this matter?
The new technology has allowed Intel to keep up the
performance that Sandy Bridge brought to the table while lowering a number of
costs. According to benchmarks
created by SYSMark, Ivy Bridge (3770K) is able to keep up with the best of Sandy
Bridge (3960X), and even excels in a number of areas. You might be thinking,
"But if it has all this 'fancy new technology', why isn't it blowing the older
generation processors out of the water?" Ivy Bridge brings new level of
efficiency and accessibility to the table. Even after a year of being launched,
the Sandy Bridge processors still retail
at $1,039.99 and draws 130W of power. The estimated price for Ivy Bridge at
launch is going
to be $313 and with a draw of only 95W.
You want more upgrades? Intel will give you more upgrades.
For those that utilize their desktops for more than work,
the new built-in Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) will have 16 execution units
whereas its predecessor Sandy Bridge only had 12. Benchmarks
of some of the more popular PC games showed a minor boost in performance. Ivy
Bridge is definitely a step ahead of Sandy Bridge, but if GPU performance is
the only thing you're interested in, this might not be the wisest investment.
To upgrade, or not to upgrade, that is the question.
 If you're one of the current Sandy Bridge users, this may
not necessarily be the investment for you. The added performance would only be
noticed by power users that abuse every thread of a processor to unlock its
fullest potential. For the typical commercial PC user, this may be just the
upgrade needed to give your desktop new life.
Personally, I have been using an AMD
Phenom II X4 CPU which I purchased because the price for the new (at the
time) model was around $250-300 while the new Intel chips were significantly
more expensive. Now that new technology is being utilized, and prices are down,
I believe there will be a lot more Intel in my care by this time next week.
Additional Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_%28microarchitecture%29
http://nvonews.com/2012/04/17/intel-ivy-bridge-features-are-huge-improvement-release-date-next-week/
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-ivy-bridge-cpu-3d-transistor,15337.html
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110506/full/news.2011.274.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multigate_device#Tri-gate_transistors
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4318/intel-roadmap-ivy-bridge-panther-point-ssds/
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