Ivy Bridge E is based on Intel’s latest 22nm microarchitecture, using a 3rd generation Hi K+ metal gate process. It brings improved CPU performance, Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 as well as Hyper threading support to the high end. This is of course an unlocked processor, it fits the LGA 2011 socket, and has a 130W TDP.
It is compatible with Intel X79 chipset series but gaming enthusiast will like the fact that the new processor supports 40-lane PCI Express 3.0, that will be enough for more than three graphics cards. The new processor and the rest of the Ivy Bridge E platform comes with a support for four channel DDR3 1866MHz, something that overclockers can only appreciate.
We still don’t understand why Intel decided to wait for almost a year to replace the Sandy Bridge E, but it might be due to a fact that AMD is not pushing Intel hard enough in this market segment. In other words, they don’t have to rush and existing parts will do just fine for the time being, with the possibility of boosting the clock speed of Core i7 3970X successor as soon as Q1 2013.
The successor part, based on Sandy Bridge E, if necessary can run at more than 3.5GHz basic clock and 4.0GHz Turbo.