在经历了多次的延期后，英特尔终于在近日推出了采用22nm三闸极(tri-gate)技术的最新一代 Ivy Bridge 处理器，而瞄准超轻、超薄型笔电的双核低功耗版还得再等等。分析师表示，该芯片将威胁到其竞争对手超微(AMD)在处理器绘图效能方面的领导地位，而且也将为遭受苹果(Apple) iPad 平板侵蚀的笔电市场注入新活力。
AMD打算推出的下一代处理器，是采用32nm制程的 Trinity 。直到2013年以前，预计 AMD 都不会跨入28nm领域。
而届时，英特尔将推出其首款在22nm制程上采用全新微架构(microarchitecture)的 Haswell 芯片。Insight64的首席市场观察家Nathan Brookwood指出，在推出每一世代的第一款新芯片时，英特尔通常会将性能提高10~20%，就像使用当前最新制程的 Ivy Bridge ，它将性能做了最大提升；而下一代的 Haswell 也针对制程最佳化。
Ivy Bridge 的问世，让人不禁回想起近年来英特尔和AMD之间的对峙状态，Brookwood说。
“Ivy Bridge 的 x86 核心性能很可能超越 Trinity ，但 Trinity 的绘图核心性能可能比 Ivy Bridge 强，”他表示。
Ivy Bridge代表着英特尔首款搭载绘图功能，并支持微软(Microsoft)最新 DirectX11 绘图API的芯片；而这正是 AMD 芯片强调的特性。“现在，AMD必须证明其DX11的性能优于英特尔，这才是最具说服力的论点，”Brookwood说。
两家公司的新芯片都将支持BGA封装，因此都能焊接在没有插槽的主机板上，也就是说，它们都能用在 ultrabook 、以及类似苹果 MacBook Air 的轻薄型笔电。
英特尔为全新的 ultrabook 机种做了极完整的定义，甚至包括ultrabook的激活时间、厚度、安全功能等系统规格，以及其它要求。这些规格让ultrabook目前的售价徘徊在 1,000美元左右，但今年稍晚可能会下降到700~800美元。英特尔创投砸下了3亿美元来支持ultrabook的开发。
相较之下，AMD并不坚持像ultrabook这样的系统规格。因此，成本较低的 Trinity芯片可用于较便宜的轻薄型笔电上，这些笔电不必使用ultrabook的名字，但成本会低于600美元，Brookwook预估。
大部份时候，AMD都是以提供更低价、但功能类似的芯片来与英特尔相抗衡。英特尔最近大力宣传其新的绘图设计，但表示用于ultrabook的芯片还要再等几周才会到位。
Ivy Bridge内含14亿个用于绘图功能的晶体管。14Xesmc
本文下一页：为ultrabooks提升绘图功能
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
相关阅读：
• Achronix不走寻常路，首发22nm FPGA直面目标应用
• 2012年中国PC市场“路好走”，增长13%
• 英特尔智能手机上市，叫声ARM提防提防！14Xesmc
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英特尔最新的高阶、四核心客户端处理器瞄准的是之前ultrabook显然无法顾及到的高阶玩家，内容创作者和其它应用开发者等领域。该公司计划推出低电压双核心 Ivy Bridge芯片，主要瞄准 ultrabook 应用，将在几星期内问世。
“我们一直在朝ultrabook 所需的处理器设计方向转移，而且要确保这些处理器的量产不会有任何阻碍，”英特尔PC终端系统部门新任主管Kirk Skaugen表示。
Skaugen表示，OEM公司们已经推出了21款厚度18mm的ultrabook设计，而这些公司在早期规划阶段计划开发的机种更多达100多款。这种“超精密”系统所采用的机械设计，之前从未曾在x86系统中使用过，他说。
对 CPU制造商来说，这是典型的策略，先推出一个完整的设计，而后再推出内含较少核心的“切碎”版本，Linley Group资深分析师Kevin Krewell说。不过，他也对英特尔并未‘剪裁’其四核心芯片，以便让它们可以用在或许稍厚一些的ultrabook设计上。
英特尔表示，包含14亿个晶体管的新晶粒是其3D绘图核心专用，主要目的是达到英特尔现有 Sandy Bridge 绘图核心的性能的两倍。但目前英特尔面临的一大问题，是AMD是否会如期在几星期内推出32nm Trinity处理器，如果成真，这将使AMD在绘图性能领域领先英特尔，Krewell表示。
英特尔的竞争对手以非常快的速度，推出专为其绘图设计最佳化的软件，这是获得更好GPU性能的关键，他说。
“通常，AMD和Nvidia每隔几个月都会针对新的游戏提供新的绘图驱动程序，”Krewell表示。“英特尔从Sandy Bridge开始强化其对绘图驱动程序的关注程度，但并没有赶上竞争对手，”他说。
在硬件方面，英特尔在其设计中将绘图执行引擎数量从12个增加到16个。此举是英特尔重新设计绘图核心的一部份，目的是为了与AMD竞争。这也打破了英特尔不同时改变制程技术和芯片设计的传统。
英特尔正准备为下一代全新微架构、针对22nm制程最佳化的 Haswell 处理器提供更优良的绘图性能。Skaugen表示， Haswell 预计2013年问世。
而在Haswell之后，英特尔则计划回到 tick-tock 模式，即在一个处理器世代更新制程；下一代处理器再更新芯片设计。而针对此次同时采用全新绘图架构和22nm制程的做法，Skaugen将之称为英特尔“可承担风险”中的一部份。
Ivy Bridge和其相关的I/O芯片现在也支持 PCI Express 3.0、 USB 3.0和Thunderbolt(选项)。 Thunderbolt 是基于 PCI Express 2.0的高速互连接口标准，Skaugen表示，目前市场上已经有21款产品采用 Thunderbolt 技术，预计今年底该数字将突破100个，2013年还将增加到数百种。
“Thunderbolt 正在从苹果平台朝Windows和多种其它PC平台转移，”他说。
该芯片还嵌入一些新的安全功能，包括Intel Insider，Skaugen表示，这是一种基于硬件的视讯版权保护技术，可望获得当前的电影院支持。它将被用于在一个新的英特尔Wi-Di低延迟技术上传送电影串流，Wi-Di是短距离视讯链接的Wi-Fi变种版本。
此次英特尔共推出十三款四核心 Ivy Bridge 处理器；十款相关的I/O芯片和五款迅驰(Centrino)无线装置。这些CPU包含带有6或8MB L3高速缓存的单或双执 绪版本，其功耗从35到77W不等，价格则在174至1,096美元之间。
Kirk Skaugen表示，ultrabook专用的Ivy Bridge芯片将在两个月以内问世。14Xesmc
编译： Joy Teng
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文： Update: Ivy Bridge narrows AMD’s graphics lead ，by Rick Merritt
相关阅读：
• Achronix不走寻常路，首发22nm FPGA直面目标应用
• 2012年中国PC市场“路好走”，增长13%
• 英特尔智能手机上市，叫声ARM提防提防！14Xesmc
{pagination}
Update: Ivy Bridge narrows AMD’s graphics lead
Rick Merritt
SAN FRANCISCO – Intel rolled out today a family of Ivy Bridge CPUs, its first processors using its 22nm tri-gate technology and aimed at ultra thin and light notebooks. Analysts said the chips will narrow archrival AMD’s lead in graphics performance and inject new life into the notebook market under attack from tablets such as the Apple iPad.
AMD is said to be on the cusp of rolling out its next-generation CPUs, called Trinity. The chips are built in a 32nm process. AMD is not expected to field chips using the still scarce 28nm process until 2013.
By that time Intel will be moving on to Haswell, its first new microarchitecture to use its 22nm process. Intel typically gains a 10-20 percent performance advantage with the first chips, such as Ivy Bridge, to use a new process and a bigger performance boost for a new design, such as Haswell, optimized for that process, said Nathan Brookwood, principal of market watcher Insight64 (Saratoga, Calif.).
Ivy Bridge “will be very reminiscent of the state of play between Intel and AMD in recent years,” said Brookwood.
“The x86 cores in Ivy Bridge will likely outperform those of Trinity, but Trinity’s graphics cores will probably outperform those in Ivy Bridge,” he said.
Ivy Bridge marks Intel’s first chips with graphics that support Microsoft’s latest DirectX 11 graphics APIs, an edge AMD used to claim for itself. “Now AMD has to make an argument its implementation of DX11 is superior to Intel’s and that’s a tougher argument to make,” Brookwood said.
Both companies will support BGA packages with their new chips so processors can be soldered on to a motherboard without a socket, enabling the so-called ultrabooks, thin and light notebooks that imitate the Apple MacBook Air.
Intel defined the ultrabook category including a range of systems specifications on their start-up time, thickness, security features and other requirements. The specs drives costs for the systems which currently hover around $1,000 but could fall to $700-$800 later this year. Intel Capital created a $300 million fund to support the ultrabook concept.
By contrast, AMD is not requiring adherence to an ultrabook system spec. Thus its generally lower cost Trinity chips may be used to power cheaper thin and light notebooks that don’t bear the ultrabook name but cost as little as $600, Brookwood estimated.
AMD has typically battled with Intel offering at lower prices chips with roughly similar features and performance. Intel had plenty to saw at the event here about its new graphics design but said chips for ultrabooks are still a few weeks away.
More on ultrabooks, graphics
Intel focused on high-end, quad-core client processors for gamers, content creation and other apps at the event where the so-called ultrabooks were noticeably absent. The company plans to roll out lower voltage dual-core Ivy Bridge chips geared for ultrabooks in a few weeks.
“We have been moving capacity to the ultrabook [processor designs] to make sure the ramp is unconstrained as possible,” said Kirk Skaugen, the newly named head of Intel’s PC client systems group.
Skaugen said OEMs have 21 designs in the works for the 18mm thin ultrabooks and as many as 100 more in earlier planning stages. The “ultra-dense” systems use “mechanical [designs] never seen in an x86 system before,” he said.
It’s typical for CPU makers to roll out a full design first and a “chopped” version of the SoC with fewer cores later, said Kevin Krewell, senior analyst with the Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.). Nevertheless, he express some surprise Intel did not tailor any of its quad-core chips for a perhaps slightly thicker ultrabook design.
Intel said a third of the 1.4 billion transistors in the new die are dedicated to its 3-D graphics cores, providing twice the performance of the graphics cores in Intel’s existing Sandy Bridge. The big question going forward will be whether AMD’s upcoming 32nm Trinity CPUs, expected within weeks, will maintain a lead over Intel in graphics performance, Krewell said.
Intel’s rivals churn out more quickly software drivers optimized for their graphics designs, a key factor in getting good GPU performance, he said.
“AMD and Nvidia deliver new graphics drivers every couple months, often with each major new game,” Krewell said. “Intel started increasing its focus on graphics drivers with Sandy Bridge, but it has not caught up with the rivals yet,” he added.
In terms of hardware, Intel increased the number of graphics execution engines in its design from 12 to 16. The move was part of a re-architecting of the graphics core to better compete with AMD, breaking with Intel’s tradition of not changing process technology and chip design at the same time.
Intel is poised for another leap in graphics performance with its next-generation family called Haswell, a new microarchitecture optimized for the 22nm process. Skaugen said Haswell is on target for 2013.
Beyond Haswell, Intel plans to return to a tick-tock model, updating process technology in one generation and design in the next. Skaugen called the move to a new graphics architecture in tandem with the new 22nm process “an educated risk” on Intel’s part.
Ivy Bridge and its associated I/O chips now also support PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0 and, optionally, Thunderbolt, a high speed interconnect based on PCI Express 2.0. Skaugen said 21 Thunderbolt devices are now in the market and predicted there will be 100 by the end of the year and hundreds by the end of 2013.
“Thunderbolt is moving from the Apple platform to Windows and multiple PC platforms,” he said.
The chips also embed a number of new security features including Intel Insider, a hardware-based video copyright protection technology Skaugen said will be supported by movie services such as Cinema Now. It will be used for streaming movies over a new low latency version of Intel’s Wi-Di, a Wi-Fi variant for short-range video links.
In total, Intel rolled out 13 quad-core Ivy Bridge processors, ten associated I/O chips and five Centrino wireless devices. The CPUs include single- and dual-threaded CPUs with 6 or 8 Mbytes L3 cache. They range in power consumption from about 35 to 77W and in price from about $174 to $1,096.
