An uncovered Intel Core i5-3210M (BGA soldered) inside of a laptop, an Ivy Bridge CPU

Ivy Bridge is the codename for Intel's 22 nm microarchitecture used in the third generation of the Intel Core processors (Core i7, i5, i3). Ivy Bridge is a die shrink to 22 nm process based on FinFET ("3D") Tri-Gate transistors, from the former generation's 32 nm Sandy Bridge microarchitecture—also known as tick–tock model. The name is also applied more broadly to the Xeon and Core i7 Extreme Ivy Bridge-E series of processors released in 2013.

Ivy Bridge processors are backward compatible with the Sandy Bridge platform, but such systems might require a firmware update (vendor specific). In 2011, Intel released the 7-series Panther Point chipsets with integrated USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 to complement Ivy Bridge.

Volume production of Ivy Bridge chips began in the third quarter of 2011. Quad-core and dual-core-mobile models launched on April 29, 2012 and May 31, 2012 respectively. Core i3 desktop processors, as well as the first 22 nm Pentium, were announced and available the first week of September 2012.

Ivy Bridge is the last Intel platform on which Windows older than Windows 7 and Windows Server older than Windows Server 2008 R2 are officially supported by Microsoft. It is also the earliest Intel microarchitecture to officially support Windows 10 64-bit (NT 10.0).

Overview

The Ivy Bridge CPU microarchitecture is a shrink from Sandy Bridge and remains largely unchanged. Like its predecessor, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge was also primarily developed by Intel's Israel branch, located in Haifa, Israel. Notable improvements include:

  • A new 22 nm Tri-gate transistor ("3-D") technology offers as much as a 50% reduction to power consumption at the same performance level as compared to 2-D planar transistors on Intel's 32 nm process.
  • A new pseudorandom number generator and the RDRAND instruction, codenamed Bull Mountain.

Ivy Bridge features and performance

The mobile and desktop Ivy Bridge chips also include some minor yet notable changes over Sandy Bridge:

CPU

Translation lookaside buffer sizes Cache Page Size Name Level 4KB 2MB 1GB DTLB 1st 64 32 4 ITLB 1st 128 8 / logical core none STLB 2nd 512 none none

GPU

IO

Benchmark comparisons

Compared to its predecessor, Sandy Bridge:

  • 3% to 6% increase in CPU performance when compared clock for clock
  • 25% to 68% increase in integrated GPU performance

Thermal performance issues

Ivy Bridge's temperatures are reportedly 10°C higher compared to Sandy Bridge when a CPU is overclocked, even at default voltage setting. Impress PC Watch, a Japanese website, performed experiments that confirmed earlier speculations that this is because Intel used a poor quality (and perhaps lower cost) thermal interface material (thermal paste, or "TIM") between the chip and the heat spreader, instead of the fluxless solder of previous generations. The mobile Ivy Bridge processors are not affected by this issue because they do not use a heat spreader between the chip and cooling system. Socket 2011 Ivy Bridge processors continue to use the solder.

Enthusiast reports describe the TIM used by Intel as low-quality, and not up to par for a "premium" CPU, with some speculation that this is by design to encourage sales of prior processors. Further analyses caution that the processor can be damaged or void its warranty if home users attempt to remedy the matter. The TIM has much lower thermal conductivity, causing heat to trap on the die. Experiments with replacing this TIM with a higher-quality one or other heat removal methods showed a substantial temperature drop, and improvements to the increased voltages and overclocking sustainable by Ivy Bridge chips.

Intel claims that the smaller die of Ivy Bridge and the related increase in thermal density is expected to result in higher temperatures when the CPU is overclocked; Intel also stated that this is as expected and will likely not improve in future revisions.

Models and steppings

All Ivy Bridge processors with one, two, or four cores report the same CPUID model 0x000306A9, and are built in four different configurations differing in the number of cores, L3 cache and GPU execution units.

Die code nameCPUIDSteppingDie sizeDie dimensionsTransistorsCoresGPU EUsL3 cacheSockets
Ivy Bridge-M-20x000306A9P0094 mm27.656 × 12.223 mm0≈634 million263MBLGA 1155, Socket G2, BGA-1224, BGA-1023, BGA-1284
Ivy Bridge-H-2L1118 mm28.141 × 14.505 mm0≈830 million164 MB
Ivy Bridge-HM-4N0133 mm27.656 × 17.349 mm≈1008 million466 MB
Ivy Bridge-HE-4E1160 mm28.141 × 19.361 mm≈1400 million168MB

Ivy Bridge–based Xeon processors

Intel Ivy Bridge–based Xeon microprocessors (also known as Ivy Bridge-E) is the follow-up to Sandy Bridge-E, using the same CPU core as the Ivy Bridge processor, but in LGA 2011, LGA 1356 and LGA 2011-1 packages for workstations and servers.

Additional high-end server processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture, code named Ivytown, were announced September 10, 2013 at the Intel Developer Forum, after the usual one year interval between consumer and server product releases.

The Ivy Bridge-EP processor line announced in September 2013 has up to 12 cores and 30 MB third level cache, with rumors of Ivy Bridge-EX up to 15 cores and an increased third level cache of up to 37.5 MB, although an early leaked lineup of Ivy Bridge-E included processors with a maximum of 6 cores.

Both Core-i7 and Xeon versions are produced: the Xeon versions marketed as Xeon E5-1400 v2 act as drop-in replacements for the existing Sandy Bridge-EN based Xeon E5, Xeon E5-2600 V2 versions act as drop-in replacements for the existing Sandy Bridge-EP based Xeon E5, while Core-i7 versions designated i7-4820K, i7-4930K and i7-4960X were released on September 10, 2013, remaining compatible with the X79 and LGA 2011 hardware.

For the intermediate LGA 1356 socket, Intel launched the Xeon E5-2400 v2 (codenamed Ivy Bridge-EN) series in January 2014. These have up to 10 cores.

A new Ivy Bridge-EX line marketed as Xeon E7 v2 had no corresponding predecessor using the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture but instead followed the older Westmere-EX processors.

List of Ivy Bridge processors

Processors featuring Intel's HD 4000 graphics (or HD P4000 for Xeon) are set in bold. Other processors feature HD 2500 graphics or HD Graphics unless indicated by N/A.

Desktop processors

List of announced desktop processors, as follows:

Processor branding and modelCores (threads)CPU clock rateGPU clock rateL3 cacheTDPRelease dateRelease price (USD)Motherboard
NormalTurboNormalTurboSocketInterfaceMemory
Core i7 Extreme6 (12)3.6 GHz4.0 GHz—N/a15 MB130 W2013-09-10$999LGA 2011DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0[a]Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
Core i73.4 GHz3.9 GHz12 MB$583
4 (8)3.7 GHz10 MB$323
3.5 GHz650 MHz1150 MHz8 MB77 W2012-04-23$332LGA 1155Up to dual channel DDR3-1600
3.4 GHz$294
3.1 GHz65 W
2.5 GHz3.7 GHz45 W
Core i54 (4)3.4 GHz3.8 GHz6 MB77 W$225
2012-05-31$205
3.1 GHz65 W
2.3 GHz3.3 GHz45 W
3.3 GHz3.7 GHz77 W2012-04-23
3.0 GHz65 W
2.9 GHz3.6 GHz1050 MHz2012-05-31$201
3.2 GHz77 W$184
2.9 GHz65 W
2 (4)3 MB35 W
4 (4)3.1 GHz3.5 GHz6 MB77 W2012-04-23
2.8 GHz65 W
3.1 GHz3.3 GHz—N/a69 W2012-09-03$177
650 MHz1050 MHz77 W2013-09-01$182
2.8 GHz65 W
3335S2.7 GHz3.2 GHz2012-09-03$194
$177
3.0 GHz77 W$182
Core i32 (4)3.5 GHz—N/a3 MB55 W2013-06-09$138DMI 2.0 PCIe 2.0
3.4 GHz$134
2012-09-03$138
3.3 GHz$134
$117
3.2 GHz2013-01-20
3.0 GHz35 W2013-06-09$138
2.9 GHz2012-09-03
2.8 GHz$117
Pentium2 (2)3.3 GHz55 W2013-06-09$86
3.2 GHz2013-01-20
3.1 GHz2012-09-03
2.7 GHz35 W2013-06-09$75
2.6 GHz2012-09-03
3.0 GHz55 W2013-06-09$64Dual channel DDR3-1333
2.9 GHz2013-01-20
2.8 GHz
2.6 GHz35 W2013-06-09
2.5 GHz2013-01-20
Celeron2.8 GHz2 MB55 W2013-09-01$52
2.7 GHz2013-01-20
2.6 GHz$42
2.4 GHz35 W2013-09-01
2.3 GHz2013-01-20
  1. Requires a compatible motherboard with 7 series chipsets.

Suffixes to denote:

  • K – Unlocked (adjustable CPU multiplier up to 63 times)
  • S – Performance-optimized lifestyle (low power with 65 W TDP)
  • T – Power-optimized lifestyle (ultra-low power consumption with 35–45 W TDP)
  • P – No on-die video chipset
  • X – Extreme performance (adjustable CPU ratio with no ratio limit)

Server processors

Processor branding and modelCores (threads)CPU clock rateGPU clock rateL3 cacheTDPRelease datePrice (USD)Motherboard
NormalTurboNormalTurboSocketInterfaceMemory
Xeon E76 (12)3.4 GHz3.7 GHz—N/a37.5 MB155 W2014-02-18$6841LGA 2011-1QPI DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
10 (20)3.2 GHz
15 (30)2.8 GHz3.6 GHzOEM (Oracle)
3.4 GHz$6841
$6619
$6451
2.2 GHz2.8 GHz105 W$5729
2.5 GHz3.1 GHz130 W
$5506
$5339
2.3 GHz2.9 GHz30 MB$4616
$4394
$4227
12 (12)3.0 GHz3.6 GHz$3838
12 (24)2.6 GHz3.2 GHz
2.3 GHz2.8 GHz24 MB105 W$3059
$2837
$2558
10 (20)2.2 GHz2.7 GHz20 MB$2059
8 (16)2.0 GHz2.5 GHz16 MB$1446
6 (12)1.9 GHz—N/a12 MB$1223Up to quad channel DDR3-1333
Xeon E512 (24)2.4 GHz3.2 GHz30 MB115 W2014-03-03$4394LGA 2011QPI DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
10 (20)25 MB95 W$3616
2.2 GHz2.7 GHz20 MB$2725
1.9 GHz2.5 GHz25 MB70 W$2405
8 (8)3.3 GHz3.6 GHz16 MB130 W$2108
8 (16)2.6 GHz3.0 GHz20 MB95 W$1611Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
2.3 GHz2.7 GHz16 MB$1219
6 (12)2.6 GHz—N/a15 MB$885Up to quad channel DDR3-1333
4 (8)2.2 GHz10 MB$551
12 (24)2.7 GHz3.5 GHz30 MB130 W2013-09-10$2614Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
2696v22.5 GHz3.3 GHz120 WOEM
2.4 GHz3.2 GHz115 W$2336
2692v22.2 GHz3.0 GHzJune 2013OEM (Tianhe-2)
2651v21.8 GHz2.2 GHz105 W2013-09-10
10 (20)3.0 GHz3.6 GHz25 MB130 W$2057
2.8 GHz115 W$1723
2.5 GHz3.3 GHz$1552
2.2 GHz3.0 GHz95 W$1389
2.4 GHz$1750
1.7 GHz2.1 GHz70 W$1219Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
1.9 GHz2.5 GHz$1479Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
8 (16)3.4 GHz4.0 GHz150 W$2108
3.3 GHz130 W$2057
2.6 GHz3.4 GHz20 MB95 W$1166
2.0 GHz2.5 GHz$885Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
1.9 GHz2.4 GHz70 W$1216
6 (12)3.5 GHz3.8 GHz25 MB130 W$1552Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
2.6 GHz3.1 GHz15 MB80 W$612Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
2.4 GHz2.8 GHz60 W
2.1 GHz2.6 GHz80 W$406
2.0 GHz—N/a50 W$520Up to quad channel DDR3-1333
4 (8)3.5 GHz3.8 GHz130 W$996Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
4 (4)2.5 GHz—N/a10 MB80 W$294Up to quad channel DDR3-1333
1.8 GHz$202
10 (20)2.4 GHz3.2 GHz25 MB95 W2014-01-09$1440LGA 1356QPI DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0Up to triple channel DDR3-1600
1.8 GHz2.4 GHz70 W$1424
1.7 GHz2.1 GHz60 W$1219
8 (16)2.5 GHz3.3 GHz20 MB95 W$1107
1.9 GHz2.4 GHz$832
1.8 GHz2.3 GHz60 W$1013
6 (12)2.5 GHz3.0 GHz15 MB80 W$551
2.2 GHz2.7 GHz$406
2.4 GHz2.8 GHz60 W$612
2.0 GHz—N/a50 W$607Up to triple channel DDR3-1333
4 (4)2.4 GHz10 MB80 W$250
1.8 GHz$192
8 (16)3.0 GHz3.9 GHz25 MB130 W2013-09-10$1723LGA 2011QPI DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0Up to quad channel DDR3-1866
6 (12)3.7 GHz4.0 GHz15 MB$1080
3.5 GHz3.9 GHz12 MB$583
4 (8)3.7 GHz10 MB$294
4 (4)3.0 GHz—N/a$244Up to quad channel DDR3-1600
6 (12)2.2 GHz2.7 GHz15 MB60 W2014-01-09$494LGA 1356Up to triple channel DDR3-1600
4 (8)2.8 GHz3.2 GHz10 MB80 WOEM
Pentium2 (2)2.6 GHz—N/a6 MB
1.4 GHz40 W$156
Xeon E34 (8)3.7 GHz4.1 GHz8 MB87 W2012-05-14$885LGA 1155DMI 2.0 PCIe 3.0Up to dual channel DDR3-1600
3.6 GHz4.0 GHz69 W$623
3.5 GHz3.9 GHz650 MHz1.25 GHz77 W$350
—N/a69 W$339
2.5 GHz3.5 GHz650 MHz1.15 GHz45 W$305
3.4 GHz3.8 GHz650 MHz1.25 GHz77 W$273
—N/a69 W$261
3.3 GHz3.7 GHz$230
4 (4)3.2 GHz3.6 GHz650 MHz1.25 GHz77 W$224
3.1 GHz3.5 GHz—N/a69 W$203
2 (4)2.3 GHz3 MB17 W$189
4 (8)3.0 GHz—N/a8 MB55 W2013-09-10OEMBGA 1284
2.5 GHz40 W$448
1.8 GHz25 W$320

Suffixes to denote:

  • L – Low power
  • C – Embedded applications
  • W – Optimized for workstations

Mobile processors

i7-3940XM
i7-3940XM
Processor branding and modelCores (threads)Programmable TDPCPU TurboGPU clock rateL3 cacheRelease datePrice (USD)
SDPcTDP downNominal TDPcTDP up1-coreNormalTurbo
Core i7 Extreme4 (8)—N/a45 W / ? GHz55 W / 3.0 GHz65 W / ? GHz3.9 GHz650 MHz1350 MHz8 MB2012-09-30$1096
45 W / ? GHz55 W / 2.9 GHz65 W / ? GHz3.8 GHz1300 MHz2012-04-23
Core i7—N/a45 W / 2.8 GHz—N/a2012-09-30$568
45 W / 2.7 GHz3.7 GHz1250 MHz2012-04-23
1300 MHz6 MB2012-09-30$378
45 W / 2.6 GHz3.6 GHz1250 MHz2012-04-23
45 W / 2.4 GHz3.4 GHz1200 MHz2012-09-30—N/a
35 W / 2.2 GHz3.2 GHz1150 MHz$378
45 W / 2.4 GHz3.4 GHz
45 W / 2.3 GHz3.3 GHz1200 MHz2012-04-23
35 W / 2.1 GHz3.1 GHz1100 MHz
45 W / 2.3 GHz3.3 GHz
2 (4)7 W / ? GHz10 W / ? GHz13 W / 1.5 GHz2.6 GHz350 MHz850 MHz4 MB2013-01-07$362
—N/a14 W / ? GHz17 W / 2.1 GHz25 W / 3.1 GHz3.3 GHz1200 MHz2013-01-20$346
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 2.0 GHz25 W / 3.0 GHz3.2 GHz1150 MHz2012-06-03
14 W / ? GHz25 W / 2.9 GHz3.1 GHz1200 MHz2013-01-20
—N/a25 W / 2.5 GHz—N/a3.2 GHz550 MHz1000 MHz2012-06-03$360
35 W / 3.0 GHz3.7 GHz650 MHz1300 MHz2013-01-20$346
3525M35 W / 2.9 GHz3.6 GHz1350 MHzQ3 2012
1250 MHz2012-06-03$346
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.9 GHz25 W / 2.8 GHz3.0 GHz350 MHz1150 MHz
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.7 GHz25 W / 2.6 GHz2.8 GHz1000 MHz$330
Core i5—N/a35 W / 2.7 GHz—N/a3.3 GHz650 MHz950 MHz3 MB$276
7 W / ? GHz10 W / ? GHz13 W / 1.5 GHz2.3 GHz350 MHz850 MHz2013-01-07$250
—N/a14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.9 GHz25 W / 2.4 GHz2.9 GHz650 MHz1200 MHz2013-01-20$225
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.8 GHz25 W / 2.3 GHz2.8 GHz350 MHz1150 MHz2012-06-03
—N/a35 W / 2.9 GHz—N/a3.6 GHz650 MHz1250 MHz2013-01-20$266
3365M35 W / 2.8 GHz3.5 GHz1350 MHzQ3 2012
1200 MHz2012-06-03$266
35 W / 2.7 GHz3.4 GHz1250 MHz2013-01-20$225
7 W / ? GHz10 W / ? GHz13 W / 1.5 GHz2.0 GHz350 MHz850 MHz2013-01-07$250
—N/a14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.8 GHz2.7 GHz350 MHz1100 MHz2013-01-20$225
—N/a35 W / 2.6 GHz3.3 GHz650 MHz1200 MHz2012-06-03
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.7 GHz2.6 GHz350 MHz1050 MHz
—N/a35 W / 2.6 GHz3.2 GHz650 MHz1100 MHz2013-01-20
35 W / 2.5 GHz3.1 GHz2012-06-03
Core i37 W / ? GHz10 W / ? GHz13 W / 1.4 GHz—N/a350 MHz850 MHz2013-01-07$250
—N/a14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.9 GHz1100 MHz2013-01-20$225
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.8 GHz1050 MHz2012-06-24
14 W / ? GHz17 W / 1.6 GHz900 MHzJuly 2013$261
—N/a35 W / 2.6 GHz650 MHz1100 MHz2013-01-20$225
35 W / 2.5 GHz2012-09-30
35 W / 2.4 GHz900 MHzJuly 2013
1000 MHz2012-06-24
25 W / 2.5 GHz—N/a4 MB2013-09-10$241
Pentium15 W / 2.0 GHzOEM
2 (2)35 W / 2.1 GHz650 MHz1000 MHz1 MBJune 2013$86 (India)
35 W / 2.5 GHz1100 MHz2 MB2013-01-20$134
35 W / 2.4 GHz2012-09-30
17 W / 1.9 GHz350 MHz2013-06-09
17 W / 1.8 GHz1000 MHz2012-09-30
7 W10 W / 1.1 GHz850 MHz2013-01-07$150
Celeron7 W10 W / 1.0 GHz800 MHzApril 2013$153
—N/a35 W / 2.2 GHz650 MHz1000 MHz2013-01-20$86
35 W / 2.1 GHz
35 W / 1.9 GHz2013-06-09
35 W / 1.8 GHz2013-01-20
17 W / 1.8 GHz350 MHz
17 W / 1.6 GHz2013-06-09
17 W / 1.5 GHz2013-01-20
17 W / 1.4 GHz900 MHz$134
1 (1)17 W / 1.5 GHz1 MB$107

Suffixes to denote:

  • Y – Fanless Ultrabook: Dual-core extreme ultra-low power (TDP 13 W, SDP 7 W)
  • U – Fanned Ultrabook: Dual-core ultra-low power (TDP 17 W)
  • C – Communications
  • M – Dual-core
  • QM – Quad-core
  • XM – Quad-core extreme performance (adjustable CPU ratio with no ratio limit)
  • ME – Dual-core embedded

Roadmap

Intel demonstrated the Haswell architecture in September 2011, which began release in 2013 as the successor to Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge.

Fixes

Microsoft has released a microcode update for selected Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs for Windows 7 and up that addresses stability issues. The update, however, negatively impacts Intel G3258 and 4010U CPU models.

See also

Notes

Further reading

  • Angelini, Chris (April 23, 2012). . Tom's Hardware.
  • Intel (May 4, 2011). . YouTube.
  • Kanter, David (April 22, 2012). . Real World Tech.
  • Gavrichenkov, Ilya (September 19, 2012). . X-bit Labs. Archived from on September 23, 2012.
  • Gavrichenkov, Ilya (September 25, 2012). . X-bit Labs. Archived from on September 26, 2012.
  • (PDF). Super Micro Computer, Inc. January 2014.

External links

  • Media related to Ivy Bridge (microarchitecture) at Wikimedia Commons