14 DAY TRIAL // Even though no one knows at this point how AMD's upcoming Bulldozer architecture will actually perform against its competitor’s CPUs, recent reports suggest that all the hype the Sunnyvale based company managed to build around its future processor convinced Intel to pull in its roadmap and release the 22nm Ivy Bridge sooner than initially scheduled.
At this point, Intel hasn't made public a firm release date for Ivy Bridge, but everyone expects the architecture to be launched at the next year's CES, just as Intel has done with Sandy Bridge and, previously, with Clarkdale.
However, KitGuru claims that it has heard some rumors which state the Santa Clara company is considering to launch Ivy Bridge sometime sooner in order to counteract AMD's first Bulldozer processors.
The desktop version of Bulldozer, code-named Zambezi, is expected to be launched on June 11 of this year and, for starters, AMD will introduce four processor models which pack from four to eight processing cores.
All of these will be built using the 32nm SOI fabrication node, feature 8MB of shared L3 cache, support the Turbo Core technology and are Black Series parts, which means they come with an unlocked multiplier.
On the other hand, Intel's Ivy Bridge processors are based on the current Sandy Bridge architecture, carry two or four processing cores and are built using the 22nm fabrication process.
Ivy Bridge was tweaked to feature a DirectX 11 compatible GPU, that packs 30% more EUs and supports up to three independent displays and HDMI 1.4a, a PCI Express Gen 3 integrated controller as well as improved video encoding, decoding and transcoding capabilities.
As far as the operating platform employed is concerned, Ivy Bridge uses the same LGA 1155 socket as its 32nm sibling and will be launched together with the Panther Point chipset that brings native support for up to four USB 3.0 ports.