On the other hand, Sandy Bridge comes armed with a block of fixed function logic that specifically addresses video encoding. The new hotness: Sandy Bridge, now with more integration. That doesn't turn out to be the case, at least on the desktop. There’s also a big emphasis on integrated graphics, which we’ve seen prematurely praised as a potential alternative to entry-level discrete graphics. For one, overclocking on an Intel platform is drastically different, and the LN2-drinking crowd probably won’t like it very much. Sandy Bridge has a couple of other surprises up its sleeve-not all of them destined to go down as smoothly as a 1996 Dom Perignon on New Year’s Eve.
But after running the numbers I’ve run on Sandy Bridge, I have to wonder if X58’s days are numbered a little sooner than the company planned. I’ve been saying all along that the X58 platform would remain, definitively, Intel’s crown jewel on the desktop. Right now, these are, at minimum, $300 parts (that’s just to get in the door with a -950) that drop into generally more expensive motherboards requiring pricier triple-channel memory kits. : Benchmark Results: Power ConsumptionĪ large enough boost from Sandy Bridge would also make Intel’s Core i7-900-series vulnerable too, though.: Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 (DX11).: Benchmark Results: SiSoftware Sandra 2011.: Overclocking: Sandy Bridge Changes The Game.: HD Graphics On The Desktop: Intel Trips Up.: Blu-ray Playback And Video Performance.: Sandy Bridge’s Secret Weapon: Quick Sync.
: The System Agent And Turbo Boost 2.0.: Inside Of Sandy Bridge: Cores And Cache.