Intel Dual-Core Ivy Bridge CPUs Will Arrive One Month After Quad-Core Parts

In the second quarter of next year, Intel will release its first CPUs built using the Tri-Gate 22nm fabrication process, code named Ivy Bridge, but allegedly not all parts will arrive at the same time since dual-core chips will launch about a month after their quad-core counterparts.
 This information was uncovered by the SweClockers website, who got its hands on a series of internal Intel documents that explain the development schedule of the company's 22nm processors.

According to the development roadmap, Intel plans to release two series of engineering sample chips, which are going to be followed by a batch of qualification samples.

The latter won't arrive until the second week of November 2011, and the first Ivy Bridge processors are expected to enter mass production in the final week of December 2011.

However, the initial production run will include only quad-core CPUs, as dual-core parts will only enter mass production in the first or second week of February.

According to Intel's documents, this means that dual-core SKUs won't reach the retail market until April or May of 2012.

Intel's Ivy Bridge processors are a die 22nm shrink of the Sandy Bridge chips and feature the same architecture with a few minor tweaks and an improved graphics core.

This will receive DirectX 11 support as well as 30% more EUs than the HD 3000 GPU used in current second generation Core processors.

Other CPU features include better AVX performance, an integrated PCI Express 3.0 controller as well as native USB 3.0 support thanks to the Panther Point chipsets, which are also expected to enter mass production in the final week of December 2011.

Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge processors use the same LGA 1155 socket as their current counterparts, so most Sandy Bridge motherboards should be compatible with these chips after a simple BIOS update.