14 DAY TRIAL // Even though there are quite a few more months to go until Intel makes the first Sandy Bridge-E processors official, details about the chips keep popping out on an almost daily basis and the latest information available confirms the fact that the CPUs can reach speeds up to 3.9GHz when Turbo Boost is enabled.
The Sandy Bridge-E processors are targeting enthusiast users who demand the best from the systems and are destined to replace the current 900-series Core i7 CPUs.
Initially, Intel will launch only three models, an Extreme Edition chip that packs six processing cores, 15MB of Level 3 cache and has a stock frequency of 3.3GHz, a second six-core model with 12MB of L3 cache and 3.2GHz base clock and a quad-core model that features 10MB of L3 cache and a 3.6GHz clock speed.
The latter will also feature a “limited unlocked” design, which means that it has a partially locked multiplier that goes only six bins higher than the maximum Turbo frequencies.
Speaking of Turbo, the Extreme Edition CPU and the quad-core model both can reach speeds up to 3.9GHz when a single processor core is loaded, while the 3.2GHz six-core chip is limited at 3.8GHz in Turbo mode.
The upcoming Sandy Bridge-E processors use the LGA 2011 socket and Intel will release a new chipset, dubbed X79, together with the CPUs.
This will include native support for up to 10 SATA 6Gbps ports, dual x16 PCI Express graphics, or quad x8 graphics (the PCIe lanes are provided by the CPUs), and the chipset can also use four additional PCIe lanes from the PCH to increase the bandwidth available to the storage drives.
At this point, Intel didn't state if the CPU is linked to the chipset via DMI or QPI, but a DMI link could severely limit the bandwidth available to the PCH. No official information regarding pricing is available just yet. (via AnandTech)