Sandy Bridge Pentium processors unveiled

Set to replace LGA-775?

THE FIRST DETAILS of Intel’s upcoming Pentium branded Sandy Bridge processors has turned up and although these four processors might not be the crème of the crop, they do indicate that Intel is indeed planning on dropping its older CPU sockets. We’re also curious as to why Intel has chosen to launch two different series of Pentium processors, as the initial information doesn’t seem to show much in terms of a difference between them.

The details of the new models were ousted by Expreview and you can find a nice diagram here of the four new models, alongside the previously known Core isomethingmeaningless Sandy Bridge processors. All four models are dual core processors without Hyper Threading support, but this is hardly a surprise, as that’s the same case with the current crop of LGA-1156 Pentium processors. Three out of the four models are 65W TDP parts, while the fourth is a T model with a 35W TDP. So starting with the Pentium G620T we have a 2.2GHz part with 3MB of L3 cache and a 650/1100MHz graphics core.

Next up we have the Pentium G620 which is a 2.6GHz part, again with 3MB of L3 cache, but a faster graphics clock of 850/1100MHz. Then we jump all the way to the Pentium G840 which is 200MHz faster at 2.8GHz, with the rest of the spec remaining the same. Finally we have the Pentium G850 which is 100MHz faster at 2.9GHz, but again otherwise identical as far as we can tell. These models are like to be paired up with the H61 chipset which is Intel’s entry level solution for the Sandy Bridge processors, although we has as yet to see any motherboards based on it. We’re also hearing that the H61 chipset will be what Intel will replace its LGA-775 platform with over time, although that’s unlikely to happen until the end of next year at the earliest.

Interestingly, Expreview is also mentioning some different names for Intel’s second generation of HD graphics that so far haven’t been widely used, namely Intel HD Graphics 3000 for the Core i7 models and Intel HD Graphics 2000 for the rest of the models. Earlier leaks have suggested Intel HD Graphics 100 and 200, but it’s possible that Intel is using different names on different roadmaps and decided to change the names, but we’ll have to wait and see what the final name will be. It’s also still unclear which processors will feature which graphics core, as other sources have suggested that the Core i5 2500 model should also feature the faster graphics core, something that isn’t the case according to Expreview. At least we shouldn’t have to wait too much longer now to find out what is what.S|A

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