VR-Zone

There are no major surprises as far as Sandy Bridge is concerned. A roadmap was leaked way back in August and comprehensively previewed later that month. The release date has been heavily rumoured to be during CES 2011 time, or specifically, Jan 9th 2011. Expreview is now confirming a detailed Sandy Bridge roadmap alongwith prices. The table is remarkably similar to the original leaks, and the final prices closely matching previous indications/rumours.



The most significant additions are the Pentium branded CPUs. The 9th Jan release date now applies only to the quad core CPUs. The LGA1155 flagship, Core i7 2600K, is priced at $317, clocked at 3.4 GHz. A locked version of the same CPU, Core i7 2600, is $23 below, at $294. The value-for-money CPU will undoubtedly be the Core i5 2500K, priced at $216, just $11 more than the locked multiplier i5 2500. The 9th January release will be rounded by lower clocked Core i5 quad core CPUs, started at $177 with the 2.8 GHz Core i5 2300; and low power versions.

The dual core range will release on 20th Feb 2011, with prices ranging from $117 for the Core i3 2100 to $196 for the low-power Core i3 2390T. The first Pentium to release will be the Pentium G620T on 27th Feb, followed by three Pentium G CPUs in Q2 2011.

The nomenclature remains as confusing as it was in the original August leaks, with four brands (Core i3/i5/i7 and Pentium) overlapping 2 chips (dual/quad) and other differentiating features such as HyperThreading, Turbo, Low Power, Unlocked Multipliers, etc.

Source: Expreview