14 DAY TRIAL // It is only a matter of time before Intel's new central processing unit architecture reaches the mid-range market, so information leaks are bound to appear.
Whether controlled or otherwise, leaks often appear, providing pieces of or complete information on one or more products.
The product whose specs we get to see now, courtesy of CPU World, is an Ivy Bridge central processing unit.
Unlike those from the first wave, which only began shipping on April 29, the chip is part of the Core i3 set.
The full name is Core i3-3110M. Indeed, this is a part that will be utilized in laptops.
The two cores have a base frequency of 2.4 GHz, the same as the fastest dual-core mobile Sandy Bridge Core i3 chip. There is no Turbo Boost technology though, so there won't be any increase to that clock speed. AES instructions are absent as well.
Fortunately, the rest of the specs are still more than decent: a L3 cache memory of 3 MB, hyper threading (turns the two cores into four logical ones), VT-x virtualization and AVX instruction support, a DDR3-1600 memory controller and, of course, integrated graphics (HD 4000).
All these assets are crammed in BGA and socket G2 compatible PGA packages. They function on a TDP (thermal design power) of 35W.
Laptop makers aren't going to put the Core i3-3110M to work until sometime during the third quarter, which is still a way off. Fortunately, Core i5 dual-core chips will show up in the meantime, so the industry won't be totally starved of new mobile releases.
On the opposing side, Advanced Micro Devices will have the Trinity line of APUs ready to fight over laptops. We have already heard about a record number of notebook design wins and we are eagerly anticipating the face-off.