The Sandy Bridge Preview
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 27, 2010 2:38 PM ESTThe Roadmap & Pricing
I’ve defined the launch parts earlier in this article, but now I’m going to put them in perspective. When Intel provides its partners with roadmaps it also provides them with an idea of where future CPUs slot into various segments/price points. For example, Intel’s LGA-1366 roadmap tell us that in the “Extreme” market segment Intel only has a single product offering: the Core i7 980X. And in Q1 2011 the 980X gets replaced by the 990X.
Usually based on this information you can get a general idea of how much future products will cost - or at least what they will be comparable to. In this example the 990X will most likely be priced at whatever the 980X is priced at. Products may change, but the price people are willing to pay in a certain market segment usually doesn’t.
What we have below is the Intel roadmap, with Sandy Bridge included, for Q3 2010 through Q3 2011. The further out you go in a roadmap the lower your accuracy becomes, so I wouldn’t worry too much about us not seeing LGA-2011 on there yet.
It’s based on this roadmap that I mentioned some pricing earlier. If all stays the same, the Core i7 2600K will take the place of the Core i7 950, currently priced at $562. The 2600 will fit somewhere around the 680 and 875K ($342) and the 2500K will replace the i5 760/655K ($205 - $216).
The cheapest Sandy Bridge at launch will be the Core i3 2100, which will replace the i3 560 at around $138.
Now pricing is always a huge variable, but I have to say, based on the performance you’re about to see - these parts would be priced right.
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starx5 - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
And why didn't you ran 2560x1600(or higher resolution like eyefinity) benchmark either?Is this because sandybrige is not that good?
wut - Friday, September 10, 2010 - link
So you're expecting eyeinfinity out of a single integrated graphics connection out the back of a motherboard?Are you okay?
gundersausage - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
i7-950 vs i7-2500K... So which will be faster and a better gaming chip? anyone?WillyMcNilly - Thursday, October 28, 2010 - link
Fantastic preview! I am definetly getting sandy bridge now. Apparently the Gigabyte P67-UD7 will have a geforce n200 chipset and support full 16X/16X sli AND crossfire! It will make a significant upgrade from my Phenom 2 and I cannot see myself waiting for bulldozer which has apparently been delayed (gee what a surprise!) until Q4 2011.Chrisch - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
which sample did you use for your tests?QDF Q12W = GT1 (850-1100MHz)
QDF Q12X = GT2 (850-1100MHz)
techeadtrevor - Thursday, December 30, 2010 - link
Hey guys, checkout this review of the i7-2600k... I think its bogus...tell me what you think of it on here.( http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7944 )
psiboy - Sunday, January 2, 2011 - link
Catalyst 8.12... WTF! 2 year old drivers? How much did intel bribe you to use drivers that old for their competition? That is a really bad path to guy down... Tom's did weird stuff like that a while back and lost readers because of it.... You just lost my respect Anand....kmidm - Thursday, January 6, 2011 - link
I don't think an entire product line of CPU's with on-board graphics is anything really to get excited about, especially for us geeks. I guess I'm just old-school. The Sandy Bridge ,like Clarksdale, has similar benefits from a single-chip chipset which is very appealing from a throughput and control standpoint.katleo123 - Tuesday, February 1, 2011 - link
Take nother look at Sandy bridgevisit http://www.techreign.com/2010/12/intels-sandy-brid...
hapeid - Friday, March 10, 2017 - link
Wow Intel owns when it came to converting video, beating out much faster dedicated solutions, which was strange but still awesome.I don't know how AMD's going to fare but i hope their new architecture will at least compete with these CPU's, because for a few years now AMD has been at least a generation worth of speed behind Intel.
Also Intel's IGP's are finally gaining some ground in the games department.