Sandy Bridge-E delayed till Q1 2012

[dma0991]

Sandy Bridge-E delayed until January 2012

Wow, what's going on at Intel? It seems like the company has decided to delay its entire consumer desktop roadmap, as we've now heard from a very reliable source that Intel has pushed back the Sandy Bridge-E launch from Q4 this year to January 2012.

We have a feeling that Intel is doing an AMD and what we mean by that is that Intel is focusing on its server CPU business instead of on consumers. AMD delayed its consumer Bulldozer launch in favour of its Opteron CPUs and it's possible that this is part of what made Intel change its strategy. The Sandy Bridge-E CPUs are based on the same core as Intel's upcoming LGA-2011 and LGA-1356 Xeon processors and these are big chips which mean fewer chips per wafer. As such it's entirely plausible that Intel is trying to stock up on chips for its Xeon platforms, but this is only speculation from our side at this point in time.

As the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs are set to replace Intel's aging LGA-1366 Core i platform it looks like the enthusiast end of the market is going to have to wait another quarter before they can get their hands on the new platform. This is going to disappoint quite a few people out there, but this is still a very tiny market for Intel and it's unlikely that it will affect Intel's profits much, if at all. Hopefully there won't be any further delays, although it's also entirely possible that this is a calculated move by Intel, as the company launched a new LGA-1366 CPU only this week, but it's believed to be the last of a dying breed.

[_dangtx_]

either issues or indeed focusing on the server part or dozer scare? :D

[chrisk]

I was under the impression that Xmas this year was optimistic already no?

[zoob]

Wonder if this has anything to do with Apple's new "exclusive" CPU used in the next gen Mac Pro.

[JD]

I think we've reached a plateau of CPU performance. Clock speeds don't seem to be budging much anymore, just adding more cores, more cache and refining designs.

Really, I can't see much of a reason to upgrade any i5/i7 system out there right now, other than to show off. The only part that really needs upgrading frequently is the GPU I'd say.

And well we all know that there's no money to be had in the consumer market. All the profits come from server/enterprise gear so it's understandable that Intel would focus their efforts there. Also Sandy Bridge hasn't really penetrated the market much either, so Intel probably wants to ride that out and try to make some profit there too. That's why companies like IBM dropped out of the desktop business and only targeted the enterprise market.

I'd say the main issue is the lack of competition. Competition drives innovation. Without it, we get a stale, overpriced market. As such, AMD hasn't had the performance crown in ages, so Intel sees no reason to pour a ton of money into R&D of desktop parts.

[matsta31]

yup, I would blame no competiton makes it easier to take your time with your new products. Last time I heard Dozer is supposed to fall short of the high end Sandy chips.

[SKYMTL]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sandy Bridge-E launch from Q4 this year to January 2012.

Q4 2011 = October, November, December

January 2012 = 3 months or a FEW DAYS later.

Seriously, so what?

[Sagath]

Vague news makes for good news? I'm not sure about this either. We already knew it wasnt coming out in Oct, maybe Nov at best. So how is delaying it 4-8 weeks a big deal?

I also agree with the stagnation points made. SNB is definitely an 'up' but software is so far behind hardware (and has been for years) that it hardly matters.

[GT7R]

Originally Posted by JD

I think we've reached a plateau of CPU performance. Clock speeds don't seem to be budging much anymore, just adding more cores, more cache and refining designs.

Really, I can't see much of a reason to upgrade any i5/i7 system out there right now, other than to show off. The only part that really needs upgrading frequently is the GPU I'd say.

And well we all know that there's no money to be had in the consumer market. All the profits come from server/enterprise gear so it's understandable that Intel would focus their efforts there. Also Sandy Bridge hasn't really penetrated the market much either, so Intel probably wants to ride that out and try to make some profit there too. That's why companies like IBM dropped out of the desktop business and only targeted the enterprise market.

I'd say the main issue is the lack of competition. Competition drives innovation. Without it, we get a stale, overpriced market. As such, AMD hasn't had the performance crown in ages, so Intel sees no reason to pour a ton of money into R&D of desktop parts.

Absolutely.

[GT7R]

BTW, estimated costs, anyone?