Mobile Pentium "Ivy Bridge" CPUs are on the way

Less than two weeks ago Intel launched large number of budget and mainstream processors for desktop market, including 4 Pentium SKUs. Two of them were "Ivy Bridge" Pentium microprocessors, positioned as better performing products in the legacy market segment. Two other Pentiums were based on Sandy Bridge core, and they were offered as less expensive, albeit slower, alternatives to Ivy Bridge counterparts. In the fourth quarter Intel is going to release new mobile Pentium CPUs, that will follow the same approach: use "Ivy Bridge" models as the Legacy segment leaders, while keeping cheaper products on older Sandy Bridge architecture. New Ivy Bridge Pentiums are mainstream 2020M and ultra low voltage 2117U. Sandy Bridge Pentium processors are 987 and B980, and we already reported on these two SKUs.

Based on limited information, that we have at hand, Ivy Bridge Pentium parts do not differ much from their predecessors. With two CPU cores and no Hyper-Threading, the new chips can execute only two threads at once. The processors integrate 2 MB L3 cache, and HD graphics.

Pentium 2020M has 35 Watt TDP, and it's compatible with Socket G2. The CPU operates at 2.4 GHz, i.e. on a par with upcoming B980. Despite of identical frequency, the 2020M should perform a few percent faster due to improvements in the microarchitecture.

Intel 2117U is a BGA chip with 17 Watt TDP. This Pentium runs at 1.8 GHz, and by our estimates it should perform up to 25% better than the 987 Sandy Bridge processor.

New Pentium Ivy Bridge CPUs will be launched in Q4 2012. Their known specifications, as well as details of not yet released Sandy Bridge parts, are summarized below:

Model	Core	Cores	Threads	Frequency	L3 cache	Socket Type	Graphics	TDP
Pentium 987	Sandy Bridge	2	2	1.5 GHz	2 MB	BGA1023	HD graphics	17 Watt
Pentium 2117U	Ivy Bridge	2	2	1.8 GHz	2 MB	BGA1023	HD graphics	17 Watt
Pentium B980	Sandy Bridge	2	2	2.4 GHz	2 MB	Socket G2	HD graphics	35 Watt
Pentium 2020M	Ivy Bridge	2	2	2.4 GHz	2 MB	Socket G2	HD graphics	35 Watt