Intel to make Sugar Bay available early January

Intel's platform for its Sandy Bridge desktop processors, Sugar Bay, should launch right at the start of the new year if sources are accurate. The design would combine the new, quad-core, 32 nanometer processors with Intel's upcoming P67 chipset and would ship during the CES show starting January 6. Budget dual-core and higher end unlocked processors would ship later.

The exact launch processors weren't detailed by DigiTimes' insiders, but previous leaks have the quad-core chips starting at 3.1GHz in Core i5 and i7 versions; both will have Turbo Boost to up the clock speed with fewer active cores, but only the i7 will have Hyperthreading to simulate eight cores with the right apps. They will both support Intel's new AVX media instructions and should move the GPU to the processor die itself; the switch improves performance and will lower the cost of the P67 chipset.

Performance users will have access to the related Walmea Bay platform; it should replace the gamer-oriented X58 chipset and will use the previously unknown Sandy Bridge E processor. Many of the features will be the same, but it's known to support very high speed 2,666MHz DDR3 memory. Servers and workstations would use Bromolow, a platform designed for future Xeons based on Sandy Bridge.

Mobile details have also reportedly been firmed up. The Huron River platform should now ship just two weeks before the end of 2010 to let notebook designers ship their products in mid-January. The design will also use Sandy Bridge processors but will use up to 1,600MHz DDR3 memory.

By Electronista Staff