People are wondering why Intel was came up again into another different socket for the new Sandy Bridge processor. They released the new Intel socket 1155 processor leaving us many questions. Let me help you to answer some of these.
There's a big confusion between the previous Intel i3, i5 and i7 processors. In this way it's hard for them to identify which one is dual core and quad core except for the six core because i7 is the only one. One more thing is that they uses different socket that doesn't fit to each other making it harder for us to upgrade.
The Sandy Bridge
Finally, Intel releases the Sandy Bridge socket 1155 processors. Socket 1155 is totally different from socket 1156 although they differ in only one pin. Physically 1155 processors doesn't fit in the socket 1156 and also they have a complete different architecture. In short, they are not compatible to each other.
Intel does a great job here in making a standard socket for all i3, i5 and i7 processors which is the socket 1155. Good news for the consumers. Sandy bridge processors use a 4 digit number which is the 2000 series such as 2100, 2300, 2400, 2500 and so on.
The new architectural design for this type of processor is the integrated graphics processor (IGP). The inclusion of the IGP on the sandy bridge processor is their main advanced features just like what they did in socket 1156 architecture.
Intel has taken the integration of the IGP into the main processor giving them more advantage. Having the IGP enables the Quick Sync, an Intel features that provides a faster conversion of videos into a different a format. Despite of its fast performance it consumes relatively less power.
The inclusion of the IGP on the processor itself enables them to control the video display and the memory that makes it even faster considering the travel time. This eliminates the northbridge chipset that makes it less expensive in the production for its motherboard.
Conclusion
I agree that Intel does a great job here to came up in a one socket fits all just like the AMD. The integration of the IGP is a big factor for them thus, making it much cheaper for the manufacturing of motherboard that supports them. Unlike socket 1366 that uses a high price X58 chipset to support the graphics and memory. I think Intel came up with this kind of idea for them to answer the AMD lower price processors. This is good news for us consumer to have the freedom to choose the best price processor with more advanced in technology.
