Stefan Mileschin

Intel has finally released a range of cheap and cheerful chips based around the 22nm Ivy Bridge microarchitecture,

According to Sina.com, while all Core i5 and i7 desktop products were transitioned to the new process in April, budget chips still used the older 32nm process. The push appears to be to provide a range of cheaper chips for the "Ultrabook" Apple clones.

Over the weekend Intel released Pentium and Core i3 "Ivy Bridge" microprocessors, and refreshed its Celeron and Pentium lineups. There are 16 new mid-class and budget SKUs for socket 1155. Intel also dropped prices on a few Core i3 and Pentium products.

On the shelves ar the Celeron G465, G550T and G555 processors which are built on older Sandy Bridge cores, and they offer 100 MHz faster speeds over their predecessors.

There is a single-core Celeron G465 which kills off the G460 and supports Hyper-Threading. This means it can run two threads simultaneously. Then there is the dual-core Celeron G550T and G555 which have two CPU cores, 2 MB L3 cache, but no Hyper-Threading.

The G465 and G555 run on 65 Watts and are priced at $37 and $52. Ultra low voltage G550T boasts 35 Watt TDP, and it costs $42, if you buy enough of them.

New Pentiums use Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge SKUs based around dual-core processors with 3 MB L3 cache.

Pentium G2100T and G2120 Ivy Bridge chips supersede G870 and G860T. The CPUs even run at the same speed as their predecessors. Their only advantage is slightly better CPU performance, owing to microarchitecture "improvements", and better graphics performance.

According to Sina.com Official prices of Pentium G2120 are $86 and G2100T are $75.

The Pentium G645 and G645T, are based on Sandy Bridge. These CPUs are slightly faster versions of G640 and G640T, and all of them they are priced at $64. Pentium G2120 and G645 are mainstream SKUs with 55 Watt and 65 Watts. ULV G2100T and G645T chips are 35 Watt.

All third generation Core i3 products use Ivy Bridge. Like second-generation Core i3s, new chips have 2 cores with Hyper-Threading, and 3 MB L3 cache. Improvements on Core i3-3200 series includes better microarchitecture, improved graphics, and lower power consumption.

Core i3-3220, i3-3225 and i3-3240 are mainstream CPUs with 55 Watt TDP. Core i3-3220T and i3-3240T are ULV processors, rated at 35 Watt. The fastest Core i3-3240 runs at 3.4 GHz. All of the i3s use HD 2500 graphics, with the exception of Core i3-3225, which comes with HD 4000 integrated GPU. The prices of these range from $117 to $138.

In the mix are several quad-core Ivy Bridge microprocessors from Core i5 family. These chips have larger 6 MB L3 cache than Core i3s. However they have lower clock speeds than quad-core Ivy Bridge CPUs but are a few dollars cheaper.

There is also a Core i5-3335S with HD 4000 graphics, and Core i5-3350P with disabled GPU. Two other models, i5-3330 and i5-3330S, have HD 2500 graphics. The power ratings of i5 processors range from 65 Watt to 77 Watt TDP, and the parts are priced from $177 to $194.

Intel also cut prices on three SKUs. The price of Core i3-2130 was dropped from $138 to $117. Pentium G870 price was slashed by 13 per cent, from $86 to $75. Celeron G550, previously offered for $52, now costs $42.

http://news.techeye.net/chips/intel-...t-desktop-cpus