Since Intel announced the processor in Q3 2011, there’s been a lot of talk going around about the new Ivy Bridge processor. Everyone’s beaming about how powerful Intel’s new microarchitecture is, how they’ve come up with a revolutionary new design, and how the new processors could well spell doom for graphic card OEMs. Some of you are probably wondering, though- what specifically is it about Ivy Bridge that makes it better than its predecessor, Sandy Bridge? Why is everybody so excited about it?

And what did Intel do to improve their architecture so much?

One question at a time. As far as why Ivy Bridge is better, well…it’s actually pretty simple. First, the chips use less power. That’s the first advantage. They also feature vastly improved integrated graphics (Sandy Bridge, for all its power, didn’t really do all that well in the graphics department- dedicated cards ended up doing most of the heavy lifting in systems that ran more graphics- intensive programs), and 37% better overall performance.

Basically, they blow Sandy Bridge chips out of the water. But how, exactly, do they do this? What is it about Ivy Bridge that makes it so superior to its predecessor? There are two things you need to understand, first of all.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Moore’s Law.

Basically, Moore’s Law posits that the number of transistors(basically, they’re the key infrastructure of the chip, and switch binary machine code signals either on or off) that can be effectively and inexpensively placed on a chip doubles every two years or so. You’re probably wondering how this relates to Ivy Bridge- I’m getting to that.

As for the second one..Intel’s method of updating their portfolio- known as “tick-tock.” Basically, every “tock” involves the introduction of new microarchitecture, and every “tick ” involves Intel stepping back to improve upon their previously released architecture. Sandy Bridge is a “tick”- a direct improvement of the Ivy Bridge processors, with a new 3D chip design and improved firmware.

Now, as for the ‘how’…

Ivy Bridge makes use of something known as “tri-gate transistor” technology- that’s the 3D chip design I just mentioned. It’s not a perfect analogy, but in a similar fashion to many heat-sinks being ridged in order to allow more surface area for heat dissipation, Intel’s chips are ‘ridged’ (stacking one transistor gate on top of two others in sequence) in order to give the chip more surface area than it’d have otherwise- the end result of that is, of course, better performance and considerably reduced power draw.

Not too shabby, if you ask me. As for me, I’m more excited to see what Intel’s going to bring us with Haswell.

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