Details emerge on Sandy Bridge-E processors

Yesterday, XFastest published a roadmap of Sandy Bridge-E microprocessors, covering the rest of this year and the first half 2012. "Sandy Bridge-E" is a variation of Sandy Bridge core, used in the next generation of Core i7/i7 Extreme processors. According to the roadmap, there will be three new SKUs released in the 4th quarter 2011. The fully-unlocked flagship model, with 6 cores, 3.3 GHz clock frequency and 15 MB level 3 cache, will replace Core i7-990X or its successor, which may or may not be released in the third quarter. Core i7-980, or its successor, is going to be superseded by unlocked hexa-core 3.2 GHz CPU with 12 MB L3 cache. The third Sandy Bridge-E part will be a Core i7-960 replacement. This quad-core processor will be clocked at 3.6 GHz, and will incorporate 10 MB of the last level cache. Overclocking of this chip will be in some way limited. All three Extreme processors will be compatible with socket LGA2011.

The published slide also confirms Q2 launch date of Westmere-based Core i7-980 microprocessor. This processor is expected to have specifications similar to Core i7-980X extreme model, although its clock multiplier will be locked.

Specifications of new processors are provided in the table below:

Model/Market Segment	Cores	Frequency	L3 cache	Socket Type	Multiplier
XE market segment	6	3.3 GHz	15 MB	Socket 2011	Unlocked
P2 market segment	6	3.2 GHz	12 MB	Socket 2011	Unlocked
P1 market segment	4	3.6 GHz	10 MB	Socket 2011	Limited unlocked
Core I7-980	6	3.33 GHz	12 MB	Socket 1366	Locked