Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/22/more_sandy_bridge_details_leaked/
More 'Son of Nehalem' details leaked
Prepare to replace your new motherboard
Posted in Servers, 22nd April 2010 06:02 GMT
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery
A few more details emerged Wednesday about processors to be based on Intel's next-generation Sandy Bridge [1] microarchitecture - and if you've recently invested in a socket-LGA1156 motherboard, it appears that it won't accept Sandy silicon.
The Sandy Bridge news doesn't come from Intel itself - and the company didn't respond to our request for clarification or comment - but from a post [2] on Bit-Tech. The posting also included information about the southbridge chipsets being readied to support Sandy Bridge procs.
But first that socket switch. The upcoming procs - which will begin to appear late this year and early next - won't be compatible with the LGA1156 sockets used by the current Core i5 and Core i7 chips, the post says. Instead, it will instead require a new LGA1155 socket. Allegedly.
We didn't count the pins, but the socket-notch change is clear (source: Bit-Tech)
Yup - one short. But there are more differences between the LGA1156 and the upcoming LGA1155, according to Bit-Tech. For one, the socket notch and its corresponding processor cutout have been moved from 9mm off center in the LGA1156 to 11.5mm in the LGA1155 - a kindly caution to prevent incorrect matchups.
More important is the fact that Bit-Tech's sources tell them that the entire voltage-plane layout has been redesigned. Not as easy to determine with the naked eye, which makes that repositioned socket notch quite welcome.
Bit-Tech also notes that the mainstream 32nm Sandy Bridge parts will come in dual-core and quad-core versions, each having an on-die GPU, PCI Express controller, and memory controller, unlike the separate-die-in-the-same-package kludge transitionary design of the Core i5 and Core i7.
Like those two existing mainstream Core chips, the new procs will support Intel's Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technologies. Target TDPs are 65W and 95W - with the quad-core part having the higher power needs. Obviously.
As expected, the new chips' southbridge chipsets won't have USB 3.0 support - and although Bit-Tech declined to opine as to whether Intel's Light Peak [3] optical connectivity will be supported, we'll offer the opinion that it's too early for such support.
Other chipset details revealed by Bit-Tech's sources include 6Gbps SATA support, the Matrix RAID Storage updated to version 10, 10 or 14 USB 2.0 ports depending upon the chipset model, Blu-ray support, and more.
In addition to these mainstream parts, Bit-Tech also discussed the "Enthusiast or Extreme, take your pick" Sandy Bridge E Patsburg platform, due in Q3 of 2011. Forget the LGA1155 (or the LGA1366) for this guy - its four-channel DDR3 memory controller and PCI Express 3 support will require a "huge" socket tentatively titled the LGA2011, which Bit-Tech wisely notes is a "dubiously convenient" name in light of its launch year.
The southbridge chipset for this heavyweight will support two 3Gbps SATA ports and ten 6Gbps SATA/SAS ports. Bit-Tech's sources differ on the core counts of the procs going into this platform, with one saying four-core and six-core parts, and another saying that an eight-core part will also join the party. ®