14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has just expanded its Sandy Bridge processors lineup with the addition of seven new processors, including four highly anticipated Pentium branded chips which have a starting price of $64 and are designed to be used in entry-level systems.
The four CPUs are called the Pentium G620, G620T, G840 and the G850 and all of these feature two processing cores as well as 3MB of Level 3 cache memory.
The chips introduce a series of features that weren't available in Intel's previous Pentium processors based on the Clarkdale architecture, such as the SSE4 instruction set and support for DDR3-1333MHz in the faster G800 parts.
Pentium processors also carry most of the core improvements that were brought to Sandy Bridge, even though Intel decided to disable some of its more advanced features.
This means that users who opt for Pentium CPUs won't get support for the AVX and AES instructions, HyperThreading and Turbo Boost, Quick Sync video, and InTru 3D.
Despite these changes, Pentium processors can manage to hold their own against Intel's fastest Core i3 CPUs, as it has been reveled by an early review which made its appearance about two weeks ago.
Outside of these four Pentium processors, Intel also launched the Core i3-2105, i5-2405S and Core i5-2310 CPUs.
The first two have the same specs as their predecessors, the i3-2100 and i5-2400S, but feature better on-chip graphics as this has been upgraded from HD 2000 to the HD 3000 GPU.
The second Core i5 CPU to be launched, the 2310, is a faster version of the previous Core i5-2300 and both of its base clock and Turbo Boost speeds have been improved with 100MHz.
Pricing for the Pentium processors ranges between $64 and $86, while the three other Intel chips carry price tags going from $134 to $205 US. (via TCMagazine)
