Processors: What to Expect From CPUs in 2012 - herrerabeinglis

As the brains of most all modern computing gadget, the C.P.U. or CPU is an indispensable role of every background, laptop, call, or tablet. The processor crunches the numbers and assigns the tasks, and it's i of the chief pieces of computer hardware that square up how thick your laptop computer is or how long your phone's battery will last.

Every twelvemonth, these slabs of atomic number 14 get smaller, stronger, and more energy-efficient. That's good news for gadget mavens, as devices become faster, light, and broadly speaking more impressive As a solvent. Next year will exist no exception. In this article, I'll consider what's potential from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. It's a bit ahead of time to tell how things wish shake out–expect sizable announcements from the CES technical school deal show in January–but I'll try to fill in some of the blanks.

Crossing the Sandy Bridge

Processors: What to Expect From CPUs in 2012

In the desktop and laptop markets, there are two leading players: Intel and AMD. Of the two, Intel has gained Thomas More traction this year, bringing a enumerate of powerful, popular components to market–with the promise of untold more to come in the next year.

Intel operates on what it calls a "mark-tock" cycle. With every "tick," Intel introduces a novel manufacturing process. In 2010, Intel's "Clarkdale" screen background processors reduced the troupe's Nehalem microarchitecture to 32 nanometers, delivering landscaped performance and energy savings. With every "tock," Intel introduces a new microarchitecture. In 2011, we got Sandy Bridge CPUs, which deliver superior performance to their Clarkdale predecessors while cutting power costs and improving the integrated graphics performance.

We'll visualise the next "mark off" in 2012, when Intel shrinks the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture down to the 22-nanometer process. The resulting new CPUs, cypher-onymous English ivy Bridge, promise even meliorate power savings and performance, much as the last cardinal processor generations did.

Smaller Is Better

Most of the information we have some Ivy Bridge comes from the Intel Developer's Forum held earlier this year, plus the occasional leaked PowerPoint display. Of primary grandness is Intel's die shrink, which moves from the 32-nanometer process to the 22-nanometer process. Switching to a littler die size allows processor manufacturers to create chips that drag less Energy.

Originally this year Intel unveiled the 3D "tri-gate" transistor technology that it has enforced to make the passage to the 22-nanometer process. The New transistors are smaller, quicker, and to a greater extent power-expeditious, and bequeath be key to the operation gains that Intel claims we'll insure with Ivy Bridge.

But what does altogether of that beggarly for you? Simple: An Ivy Bridge CPU will furnish performance similar to that of a Sandy Bridge CPU patc consuming less power, and information technology testament offer greater performance while consuming the same amount of powerfulness. That means you'll see laptops that allow better battery life without sacrificing speed, likewise Eastern Samoa faster desktops that are easier on your utility budget.

Under the Hood

Intel's Screen background Chopine Roadmap

Intel has offered no ratification of what the Common ivy Bridge over lineup will look like, but leaked reports obtained away Xbit Labs give roughly information along the new processor strain's naming convention, as wellspring as its CPU frequencies. The new CPUs will purportedly follow the monetary standard naming convening for Intel's Core processors, falling into the 3000 serial publication (Sandy Bridge was the 2000 series).

A refresher course: Traditionally Intel divides the Essence political platform into tercet segments–Core i3 at the low destruction, Essence i5 for the midrange, and Core group i7 at the high-altitude end. Following that designation is a model number. You may as wel see a suffix at the finish of the model number: K for unsecured processors, S for "performance-optimized" processors, or T for "power-optimized" processors. The S and T variants are generally for OEM use merely–expect to see them in desktops and laptops happening retail shelves. An unlocked, higher-end Ivy Bridge CPU, for example, could personify named the Intel Core i7-3770K.

We also know that Common ivy Bridge testament be compatible with the LGA 1155 socket–great news for Flaxen Bridge owners, who may not need to buy an completely new motherboard to upgrade. And if you just dropped few hundred dollars on Intel's Sandy Bridge over Extreme Variant C.P.U., don't worry: When I met with Intel representatives, they told Pine Tree State that Ivy Bridge Extreme Edition will utilise the LGA 2011 socket, so you too have a clear upgrade track.

Other notable enhancements include an upgraded graphics marrow built into the CPU, allowing DirectX 11 support with Intel's intermingled graphics. We don't take in many concrete details heretofore, but with every microarchitecture looping we've seen, Intel's integrated graphics improve. Hedera helix Bridge CPUs will also bring native support for USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, which we hope will mean greater adoption of those connectivity technologies across desktops and laptops of all makes and models.

We've heard atomic number 102 word of honor on when Common ivy Bridgework CPUs and products armed with them leave arrive, but you buttocks gestate to see them old round the second fourth part of 2012. We'll surely know Sir Thomas More in January, erst Intel releases few more inside information at CES.

Beyond Dozer

Now, what about AMD? The budget-tending processor manufacturer is focused on its Fusion APUs (Accelerated Processing Units), which combine CPUs and GPUs onto a single nibble of silicon. AMD has its mold trim back out for information technology concluded the next year, however.

In October, AMD pulled the curtain back on its bimestrial-awaited Dozer computer architecture. Unfortunately, Bulldozer had a rather disappointing launch, and my possess testing showed that the optimal chip technology that AMD could muster failed to outdo Intel's midrange offerings.

The company will survey up the Bulldozer microarchitecture with Piledriver, an enhanced variant of the Bulldozer core. Actual details are slim, and code names for individual desktop and laptop computer lines abound, but we do know that AMD wish be looking to boost the performance per Watt and will personify baking in stronger GPU cores. Piledriver is notwithstandin due to represent a 32-nanometer architecture, which puts AMD at something of a disadvantage in light of Intel's 22-millimicron Ivy Bridge.

We aren't expecting to see Piledriver until sometime approximately the mid of 2012. Bulldozer arrived only a few months ago, after all. Once again, expect more news from the AMD camp around the CES time frame in (CES starts the hebdomad of January 8).

Bite-Size up CPUs

I'd be remiss to discuss processors without touching on the mobile market. Tablets and smartphones are the gadgets du jour, and although consumers might be a little more than concerned some esthetics and apps than roughly their portable bauble's innards, quite a trifle of power is at play exclusive.

It seems like exclusive yesterday we were wondering what to dress with more than two cores in our cancellous phones. In 2012, quad-core processors will rule the day, with chip manufacturers such as Nvidia and Qualcomm leading the appoint.

Nvidia's Tegra 3 is one of the first quad-core flying CPUs to come to food market, and the latest in Nvidia's Tegra system-on-a-chip channel. The scheme consists of an Limb Cortex A9 CPU with an tightly knit 12-effect GeForce GPU to exponent the graphics. Expect a deluge of Humanoid tablets to use these chips, as device manufacturers pile on the features in a never-termination arms race.

Qualcomm will be introducing space-nitty-gritty Snapdragon S4 chips in time for the 2012 holiday harden. These chips will support tablets running Windows 8. The S4 wish be reinforced on the 28-nanometer process, down from the 45-nanometer process that Qualcomm used on the current-generation S3 chips. Expect reinforced performance and attenuated power consumption.

For a thorough assessment of what to look for in mobile phones next year, glucinium sure to read "Quad-Core Phones: What to Expect in 2012."

[For Thomas More blogs, stories, photos, and video recording from the Carry Nation's largest consumer electronics show, check unconscious PCWorld's complete reportage of CES 2012. ]