Intel is currently trying to straighten out the sinking Sandy Bridge platform, but at the same time preparing a new platform targetting enthusiasts and extreme users, the LGA2011 platform. Sandy Bridge E is said to launch in Q4 sporting quad-channel memory controller and new chipsets.
Intel’s LGA2011 platform will replace LGA1366 that has been Intel’s last resort for performance users and still is the only one where consumers can enjoy Intel’s hexa-core CPUs. We have received indications that Sandy Bridge E would launch in Q4 for some time, and even if X-bit labs claims that Q3 is on the table, Intel has decided to put the launch by the end of the year.
Sandy Bridge E builds on the same base architecture as the mid-range Sandy Bridge. Considering the good performance we’ve seen with Sandy Bridge this of course bodes and LGA2011 has more trumps to show.
One of the bigger reasons Intel’s enthusiast platform requires 2011 pins in the socket is that Sandy Bridge E comes with a quad-channel DDR3 memory controller, which should result in up to twice as high memory bandwidth as Sandy Bridge and its dual-channel memory controller.
The LGA1366 socket will be replaced in Q4 by LGA2011 and Sandy Bridge E.
Other differences include more cache, 4 to 8 CPU cores, HyperThreading, 40 PCIe channels (20 in Sandy Bridge) and perhaps the most important of all, individual bus frequencies for SATA and USB interfaces, which means bus overclocking will be back with LGA2011. This is of course very positive for overclockers.
Up until the launch of Sandy Bridge E Intel will update its current LGA1366 platform. This includes a new hexa-core flagship, Core i7-990X Extreme Edition. A processor that operates at 3.46 GHz and sports 12MB cache, and is expected to appear soon.
