Intel’s spiffy Sandy Bridge processors haven’t even been available for a year yet, and already their doomsday clock is ticking. Ivy Bridge, the slimmer, trimmer 22nm next generation version of Intel’s 32nm Sandy Bridge processors, are barreling down fast. So fast, in fact, that you can already pick up motherboards built to accommodate Ivy Bridge’s PCIe 3.0 support. But when is Ivy Bridge actually going to hit? Intel will only say “Early 2012,” but one source claims to know a more specific time frame.
Just how influential is Intel? If the fact that the company owns over 80 percent of the global microprocessor market doesn’t do anything for you, how about this: Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge line haven’t even been released yet – that’s why they’re “upcoming” – but manufacturers have already begun offering motherboards capable of utilizing the PCIe 3.0 slots supported by the chips. MSI kicked off the trend, and Asus’ German arm has pulled the veil off of three new Ivy Bridge mobos of its own.
We already know Intel is planning to build a better GPU for Ivy Bridge than what's currently available in Sandy Bridge, but just how much better it will be is the question. Intel provided a partial answer at this year's IDF event by detailing parts of the next-generation GPU, which the Santa Clara chip maker says will support up to a 4Kx4K (Quad HD) screen resolution.
Here's something that will strike some people as a bit odd. Coming out of the rumor mill recently is chatter that Intel is considering some cost cutting measures, including putting the brakes on plans to upgrade to a 22nm manufacturing process at its Fab 24 facility, and delaying the launch of its Ivy Bridge platform. What's going on here?
Tablets will be the death of the computer! Just ask the armchair pundits spouting their visions of PC doom over the Web on a daily basis. Here at Maximum PC, we're a little skeptical of that view – how do you shove a 12-inch long XFX Radeon HD 6990 into a tablet? – but the rise of mobile devices has made the future of laptops a little iffy. Intel, along with manufacturers like Asus, are fighting back with thin, powerful notebooks called Ultrabooks. Intel's not fooling around, either. Today, the company announced the creation of a $300 million Ultrabook fund.
It's impossible to outrun technology, though updated drivers, software, and firmware can keep your gear current for as long as possible. That typically means you have to rely on hardware manufacturers to play ball, and Gigabyte 6 Series motherboard owners will be happy to know Gigabyte is keeping them in the game with significant BIOS updates for its entire 6 Series mobo line.
Waiting for Intel to launch Sandy Bridge-E before overhauling your system? According to the latest online chatter, you'll have to hang tight until November as Intel works ferociously to tweak its Waimea Bay platform at least one more. It appears Intel is a bit concerned about AMD's FX processor refresh coming in early 2012, VR-Zone says, but at the same time will make cuts to its X79 chipset in order to get a shipping product out the door in 2011. More on this and Ivy Bridge overclocking woes after the break.
The x86 market isn’t in jeopardy by any stretch of the imagination, but Intel has seen the future, and mobile is where the moneys at. As tablets based on the arm architecture slowly evolve into convertible PC’s, Intel knows it will need to make laptops that are even more compelling if it’s going to survive the long haul. We know the Ultrabook is one of Intel’s most important strategies going forward, however in a 
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