Ivy Bridge 22nm of Intel's Finest CPU action

I don't own one of Intel's latest 22nm Tri-gate transistor Ivy Bridge HD4000 chips, but I just helped my brewing partner build two computers based on the i3 iterations of that chip flavor. Don't leave your discrete graphics behind.... While the CPU is beefy for all sorts of action, its lowly integrated HD4000 GPU setup leaves much to be desired. A low end discrete graphics card will run circles around intel's latest attempt at fusing GPU's with its (i) series CPU's.


I disliked sandy bridge so much that I gave into the Veto yet again in my Ubuntu Power PC rig (Black Box). An AMD Phenom II X4 665 Black Edition burns at the heart of this beast (got on the newegg price alert super secrete probation discount actions) ^^

I had long fantasized about 3D transistors, reading Intel shareholder reports for more than a decade. The idea of integrated stacked lithography with high speed inter-layer IO made the geek in me light up like a hyper pumped 100watt research LED. Having seen the early i7 lay down blistering CPU performance, the Tick Tock cycle leading up to IVY bridge had me foaming at the mouth like a mug with a freshly poured fill of thick IPA.

The only real problem with the Ivy Bridge platform is the GPU, Intel's Lowly HD4000 (the high end version). In every other way the Ivy Bridge chips are power efficient miracles of CPU design reality. Fret not however, you can get more dynamic turbo-boost action on the Ivy if a discrete graphics card is used in your desktop.

It looks like Intel is going to have to keep refining their HD GPU solutions. As a CPU however the Ivy chips are golden and worthy of enthusiast zeal.

It is worth noting that later this month (October 2012) Intel will be release a new driver for the Ivy Bridge HD4000 chips, that will boost the GPU performance thereof ^^ Time will tell how this works out in practice and I will post an update to this effect when the time is right!

About to go in : an Ivy Bridge i3 it its final protective plastic^^
"Collaborative PCAssembly in Washington State"
"Ivy PC Brains" In my Hands :) 

The Ivy i3 seated in the mainboard :)
I wore a grounding strap :) during the Build :)