The last couple of years have been relatively calm on the processor market, with Intel mostly dominating the market with its current Ivy Bridge architecture. Recently there has been an information leak regarding the next products that will come from Intel: the Haswell microarchitecture processors. We will cover what we can expect from the new processors and some technical details that have leaked in this article so stick with us.

Source: Engadget.com
Intel Haswell
The next generation of Intel processors will use the same manufacturing 22 nm process as Ivy Bridge processors do. It will also use 3D tri-gate transistors, which is a technology that is carried over from Ivy Bridge. The processors will come in 2 core or 4 core versions and will have native support for DDR3. Intel Haswell will have 64 kB of L1 cache and 256kb to 1 MB of L2 cache per core. They will also have up to 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The main improvement will be noticeable in the integrated graphic area, with the new integrated graphics being up to 3 times better than previous one. The integrated graphics will support Direct3D 11.1 and OpenGl 4.0, but they will come in 3 different versions, each providing different performance. The new processor will also come with a new socket, the LGA 1150. The LGA 1150 will also be used on the generation after Haswell, so if you plan on making an upgrade, it should be interesting to know that your new motherboard will support the next 2 generations of Intel processors. The processors are also more energy effective and are suited for use in handheld mobile devices and Ultrabooks, which is a new class of mobile devices. The processors should also have about 10% more performance than Ivy Bridge processors. When it comes to energy efficiency, the processors will fall into 15-57 W range when it comes to mobile processors and 35-95 W range for desktop processors.
Intel Haswell motherboards
As we have mentioned, the new processor will use a new socket called LGA 1150. The main question is if it’s the right time to upgrade or not? In the end, it all comes down to your specific situation. If you have an older processor and you’ve delayed upgrading for long enough, the Haswell and LGA 1150 could be the enough for you to do so, as the LGA 1150 will support the generation after Haswell, the Broadwell processors. If you already have the latest Ivy Bridge processor, the 10% performance increase might not be a reason enough for buying a new processor and motherboard. There is of course the increase in performance of integrated graphics card, but most people who care about graphic performance use a dedicated graphics card or even several of them. Another reason for getting Intel Haswell motherboards is the support for USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt interfaces, so if you need a faster way to connect your peripherals, a new motherboard and processor could be a way to do it.
Intel Haswell and the things to follow
Intel stirred the things up by stating that after they release Broadwell processors, their future solutions will be soldered directly onto motherboards. That would make upgrading a processor impossible, as you would need to buy a new motherboard as well. That statement, while not officially confirmed, encountered a lot of negative criticism from the public and motherboard manufacturers. While it’s not really realistic to expect that to happen, it is possible that their low and mid end solutions will come soldered to a motherboard, while their high end solutions will remain swappable.



