In Review: Intel Ivy Bridge Dual-Core CPUs

[Redaktion]

The Second Ivy Bridge. After the quad core models were successfully launched in April, the dual core Ivy Bridge processors are following now. We checked how the new notebook and ultrabook processors perform and whether Sandy Bridge owners should upgrade.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/In-Review-Intel-Ivy-Bridge-Dual-Core-CPUs.75342.0.html

[Zax]

Thank you for the review; what about the internal temperatures?

[meno]

As always good job guys what an outstanding quick review and it helps a lot. Hopefully manufacturers will read this! You HEAR ME guys at HP, SONY, ACER and SAMSUNG all you loosers out there? Read this! Do not spam us with pointless dual core i7 configurations for inflated prices (or better Core i5-3360M upgrade for £80 with 2% speed bump compared to lower spec IB i5)!

As it looks Ivy Bridge dual-cpu upgrade is a waste of money and people should focus on getting good dual core Sandy Bridge deals.

BUT one very interesting things can be noticed. Ultra-low voltage CPUs received substantial speed bump and from ULV i5 benched it can be estimated (thanks to higher cache and clock) that Core i7-3667U would be on par with fastest Sandy Bridge Core i5 which IS AN OUSTANDING achievement from Intel (17W you hear me AMD? Thats with GFX too!). Right now it was quite ofputting to opt for any ULV laptop as GFX was mediocre in speed and CPU was on P8600 level (old Core2Duo 2.4Ghz). Based on benchmark I've seen Core i7-3667U alone would handle SKYRIM on medium levels (standard resolution)!

Most people would be very happy with Ivy Bridge low voltage i7 version Core i7-3667U getting both reasonable CPU speed bump and NOTICEABLE graphics speed increase (which is DX11 now!). I think Ivy Bridge is noteworthy upgrade for
1.) ULV machines (updated HP Spectre for instance, Samsung Series 9 etc.)
2.) Quad-core heavy workstations

[siong]

Thanks and if possible, list down all the notebooks currently running on ivy bridge.

[brett]

Core i7-3520M tends to be featured in the "slim" edition notebooks, where the quad cores are usually not. Im thinking of Lenovo's t430s vs t430. The s version is considerably lighter, thinner and more portable. You shed some quad core performance but also shed some bulk.