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Intel 'Ivy Bridge' chip lineup outed--report

Chip giant's upcoming Ivy Bridge desktop processor lineup has been leaked. Improved graphics will be one of the standout features.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Intel's imminent Ivy Bridge processor lineup has been revealed in all of its model-number glory.

CPU World has posted the specifications and model numbers for all to see (see chart below).

Intel Ivy Bridge desktop processor lineup.
Intel Ivy Bridge desktop processor lineup. CPU World

Ivy Bridge, for the uninitiated, is Intel's next-generation processor technology that will feature improved graphics silicon, built-in support for USB 3.0, and Intel's 3D transistor technology, among others goodies.

Here's what CPU World says about the new chips due to be announced in the CES 2012 timeframe: "The third generation Core i7 processors will integrate 4 CPU cores, 8 MB L3 cache and have Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technologies enabled."

(Translation: Hyper-Threading, roughly speaking, acts like a virtual processor core. So, a four-core chip would have an extra four virtual cores, for a total of eight. Intel describes Hyper-Threading as "enabling multiple threads to run on each core." Turbo Boost speeds up or slows down individual cores to meet performance or power efficiency needs, respectively.)

Amid the haze of model numbers, probably the most interesting one is HD 4000. This is Intel's next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU), which is probably the one aspect of the chip that Intel devoted the most development resources to this time around.

That Ivy Bridge GPU will be clocked at 650 MHz, which can be boosted to between 1.05GHz and 1.15GHz, depending on model, according to CPU World. Other Ivy Bridge features include a dual-channel memory controller, that works with DDR3 memory with 1333MHz and 1600MHz data rates, CPU World said.

But remember this is only the desktop lineup. Of equal or greater interest is the Ivy Bridge mobile lineup that will find its way into the hordes of ultrabooks due in 2012.