The highly anticipated 3rd generation CPU from Intel has arrived at OVERCLOCKERS UK who is offering a wide range of Ivy Bridge CPUs as well as an extensive range of Z77 systems and Z77 overclocked bundles, constructed to allow you to get the very best performance from the latest Intel Core processors.

The new generation builds and improves on many Sandy Bridge features such as Intel Turbo Boost, Quick Sync and Rapid Response, whilst providing numerous performance gains and new features including increased speed and responsiveness and amazing graphics, with new 3D and display technology. Thanks to the ground-breaking, three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors, as opposed to the usual two-dimensional planar, dramatic improvements in the overall visual experience have been made meaning better than ever on-board graphics.

Although at a much "smaller" scale, Raspberry Pi did to mini computers what iPad did to tablets (wake up a nearly dead product segment), and now a section of the market likes computers to be as small and potent as the ARM-driven Raspberry Pi. Although at a different end of the price and performance spectrum from the Raspberry Pi, Intel has reason to believe its NUC mini computer could achieve market success. NUC (Next Unit of Computing) is a mini box computer for the retail channel, which is roughly the size of a modern wireless router, but as powerful as a mainstream laptop.

The NUC owes its computing power to Intel Core i3/i5 "Sandy Bridge" dual-core processors (probably in the BGA-1023 package), with Intel HD 3000 graphics, and dual-channel DDR3 memory (SO-DIMMs). The logic board measures 100 x 100 mm, and has all the essential connectivity crammed into it, including umm...10 Gb/s Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n, and HDMI with multi-channel HD audio. This board is smaller than VIA's NANO-ITX (120 x 120 mm) form-factor. The rest of the ABS plastic enclosure's volume is spent housing the cooling assembly. Informed sources predict that while the NUC won't be priced in the hundereds or thousands of Dollars, it most certainly won't be priced at $25. A starting price of $100 seems realistic.

Ricoh Japan introduced a FB19M, an Intel HM76 Express chipset based mobile-on-desktop motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor. The motherboard can seat mobile Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors in the PGA988 package, and includes a fan-heatsink that can handle these chips (up to 55W). The platform is then wired out to desktop interfaces. 24-pin ATX and 4-pin ATX connectors are used to draw power, the CPU is wired out to full-sized DIMM slots, expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, two PCI-Express 2.0 x8 (electrical configuration not known), and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1.

All six SATA ports from the HM76 PCH are wired out as internal ports, including six SATA 6 Gb/s, and four SATA 3 Gb/s. Display outputs include DVI, D-Sub, and LVDS. Other modern connectivity includes 2-channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces, four USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. There is quite some legacy connectivity, including two serial RS-232 ports, and headers for other serial and parallel interfaces. The board is fit for industrial PCs and other embedded systems.

While SSDs with single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash are relegated to enterprise segment owing to their high-cost and write endurance (unless they are low-capacity cache SSDs), one company made efforts to bring them to the PC enthusiast market. SupperSSpeed took advantage of the fact that SandForce SF-2281 supports SLC NAND flash, backed it up with Intel-made 25 nm SLC NAND flash memory, and made it available in capacities common in the PC segment: 60 GB and 120 GB. The 120 GB variant packs cutting-edge 128 Gbit SLC NAND flash chips, while the 60 GB variant packs more mature 64 Gbit ones. Thanks to SandForce and its overprovisioning mojo, the drives lack external DRAM caches. Expreview put the two drives through its battery of tests, and concluded that these are the best SSDs in terms of transfer speed yield, and random-access performance, not to mention that by design, these drives have higher write endurance.More numbers follow.

With the obvious intention of clearing out inventories of previous-generation Core i7-2600K and Core i7-2700K "Sandy Bridge" processors, Intel decided to cut prices of these chips. The cuts aren't exactly significant, but just enough to restore the two models' price-performance ratios post-Ivy Bridge. The Core i7-2600K gets a price cut of around 10€, sending it down to 255-260€. The Core i7-2700K, on the other hand, got a price cut of 15€, sending its price down to around 275€.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 3.7% year over year to $301 billion in 2011, according to the latest version of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF). The industry weathered the macroeconomic uncertainties in the U.S and Europe, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, China's slow down in the second half of the year, and floods in Thailand. Meanwhile, device applications, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers, automotive infotainment, notebook PCs, datacenter servers, and wireless and wired communication infrastructure drove robust consumption of semiconductors.

IDC's SAF tracks more than 100 semiconductor companies. Over 40 of these companies experienced year-over-year revenue growth greater than 5%, while about the same number of companies saw their revenue decline by more than 5%.

After last Monday's launch, Intel's new Core "Ivy Bridge" processors started selling in the retail channel, today. At least six quad-core models under Core i5 and Core i7 brand extensions were listed on US retailer Newegg.com, which included the Core i7-3770K (3.50 GHz, Unlocked) at US $349.99, Core i7-3770S (3.10 GHz) at $319.99, Core i7-3770 (3.40 GHz, locked) also at $319.99, Core i5-3570K (3.40 GHz, Unlocked) at $249.99, Core i5-3550 (3.40 GHz) at $219.99, Core i5-3450 (3.10 GHz) at $199.99, and Core i5-3450S (2.80 GHz) also at $199.99.

ORIGIN PC announces the availability of their smallest laptop yet, the powerful, lightweight, new EON11-S and Intel's new 3rd Generation "Ivy Bridge" Core Processors. The new compact high performance laptop debuts with ORIGIN PC's exclusive new laptop design, Intel's 3rd generation mobile processors, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics, and NVIDIA Optimus Technology. Origin PC is also offering Intel's 3rd generation "Ivy Bridge" processors to their full line of award winning desktops and laptops for gamers, artists, enthusiasts and professionals.

Acer revealed that a few Intel Ivy Bridge Core-powered models among its V3 series notebooks will start shipping first in Japan, starting this weekend (ahead of other markets). The Aspire V3-571-H78F is part of the launch. This 15.6-incher will be driven by Intel Core i7-3612QM quad-core processor clocked at 2.10 GHz (3.10 GHz Turbo Boost), 8 GB of DDR3 memory, and a sad resolution of 1366x768 pixels. This model will be priced a little over the equivalent of US $1100. The V3-571-H78F, and other Aspire V3 series notebooks will start shipping this Sunday onward.

AMD gained CPU market share at Intel's expense in the first-quarter of 2012, according to the latest data by Mercury Research. Intel's CPU market share dropped from 81 percent last quarter, to 80.2 percent, while AMD's rose from 18.2 percent to 19.1 percent. Principal analyst at Mercury Research, Dean McCarron said that AMD benefited from improvements in hard drive supplies. AMD is strong in desktop processors, with 43 percent of the market, the same as last year. Customers also opted for lower-priced laptops, many of which had AMD's chips. Supplies of AMD's A-series chips code-named Llano were restored after manufacturing issues were resolved, McCarron said.

Lenovo today launched its latest effort to eliminate slow boot up times with Lenovo Enhanced Experience 3 (EE3) for Windows 7. As the third version of an exclusive certification only available on Lenovo Think and Idea-branded PCs, EE3 certified products feature supreme Windows start-up performance and other optimization features. Lenovo EE3 will come standard on a wide range of Think and Idea-branded PCs shipping beginning in April.

Customers using traditional spinning disk hard drive (HDD) Lenovo PCs can start their PC on average 40 percent faster than typical Windows 7 PC1 users, thanks to Lenovo's RapidBoot technology, featured on all EE3 certified Lenovo PCs. RapidBoot uses optimized processes and hardware settings to allow Lenovo PCs to boot up faster.

With its 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" CPU and 7-series "Panther Point" platform turning into a reality, Intel is moving on to development of the new 22 nm "Haswell" architecture. Entry-thru-performance segment Core "Haswell" processors will be built on the new LGA1150 package, and will be driven by a new series of platform controller hubs, codenamed "Lynx Point". We already know a tiny bit about the way Haswell+Lynx Point platform is structured, and the features that could come standard with it. A new VR-Zone report lists out all the chipset models Intel will carve out using the silicon.

The lineup is quite predictable. At the top of the pile is the feature-rich Z87, which has all the features of the platform, plus overclocking features. This is followed by Z85, which apart from features such as Rapid Storage Technology, could lack RAID for its SATA ports (could only feature AHCI and IDE modes). Then there's H87, which has all the features of Z87, except platform overclocking features. Q87 and Q85 are for large business desktops, and feature various client management features. Then there's B85, for small businesses. Lynx Point could feature as many as six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Rapid Storage Technology will be updated to present users with a level of customization. Then there's Fast Boot, which speeds up system startup, provided an Intel SSD is used for caching.

PC enthusiasts with Ivy Bridge engineering samples, and reviewers at large have come to the consensus that Ivy Bridge is a slightly warmer chip than it should be. An investigation by Overclockers.com revealed a possible contributing factor to that. Upon carefully removing the integrated heatspreader (IHS) of an Ivy Bridge Core processor (that nickel-plated copper plate on top of the processor which makes contact with the cooler), the investigator found common thermal paste between the CPU die and the IHS, and along the sides of the die.

In comparison, Intel used flux-less solder to bind the IHS to the die on previous-generation Sandy Bridge Core processors in the LGA1155 package. Attempting to remove IHS off a chip with flux-less solder won't end well, as it could rip the die off the package. On the other hand, the idea behind use of flux-less solder in CPU packages is to improve heat transfer between the die and the IHS. Using thermal paste to do the job results in slightly inferior heat transfer, but removing IHS is safer. One can be sure that making it safe for IHS removal couldn't have been the issue behind switching back to conventional thermal paste, as everything under the IHS isn't user-serviceable anyway, and off limits for them. Perhaps Intel kept extreme overclockers in mind.

HP's China online store listed out the company's new Envy 4 series that spans across six models occupying key price points starting at 5,499 RMB (US $872), and going up to 6,299 RMB (US $1000). The six models include relatively entry-level 1005tx and 1019tx, followed by 1004tx and 1021tx in the middle, ending with somewhat high-end 1006tx and 1021tx Ultrabooks. The slower models among these are driven by Intel Core i3-2367M, while the faster ones by Core i5-2467M. All six models are slim-category 14-inch notebooks.

DisplayLink, the leading provider of technology for virtual graphics and USB-connected computing, today announced its support for 3rd generation Intel Core processors and supporting mobile Intel HM76 and Intel B75 express chipsets with SuperSpeed USB 3.0.

DisplayLink's DL-3000 chip platform with USB 3.0 is shipping today in adapters, monitors and docking stations from leading vendors. The broad availability of onboard USB 3.0 in systems using 3rd generation Intel Core processors means that a huge new segment of the market now has access to easy-to-use docking, and multi-display possibilities.

MSI announces that its Intel-based H61 (G3) series now offers the latest ME8 BIOS and Driver with support for 3rd generation Intel 22nm processors. Its Intel H61 motherboards are also the fastest in the world, with DDR3 memory support up to 2400MHz. With its solid R&D ability, MSI has created H61 motherboards with superior efficiency that is the best choice for users wishing to upgrade to next-generation 22nm processors from Intel.

As a commitment to long-time MSI users, MSI releases the ME8 upgrade package and related upgrade guide for the most robust update solution, allowing consumers of MSI H61 (G3) / Z68 (G3) motherboards to easily adopt the latest Intel 22nm processor. This solution offers amazing DDR3 memory speeds of up to 2400MHz, efficiency never seen before.

Intel Corporation today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Cray Inc. to acquire certain assets related to its high-performance computing (HPC) interconnect program. With the agreement, Intel gains access to Cray's world-class interconnect personnel and intellectual property.

The Cray interconnect team is responsible for the award-winning Gemini interconnect as well as the upcoming Aries interconnect, designed to work in Cray's next-generation supercomputer, codenamed "Cascade," which will integrate Intel Xeon processors. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the current quarter, subject to customary closing conditions being met.

BOXX Technologies, the leading authority on dedicated rendering and innovator in high-performance computing systems for product design, visualization, engineering, visual effects, and more, today introduced the 3DBOXX 4925, the industry's first single Intel Xeon processor workstation with support for up to four GPUs. The latest addition to the BOXX 4900 series workstation line, 4925 enables users of Autodesk Revit, Autodesk 3ds Max, SolidWorks, CATIA, and other professional software applications, to simultaneously design and render without bogging down the processes.

Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES) is supporting the 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor across eight industry-standard form factors -- COM Express, 3U VPX, 6U VPX, 3U CompactPCI, 6U CompactPCI, VME, air-cooled PrPMC/XMC, and conduction-cooled PrPMC/XMC. The XPedite7470 3U VPX Single Board Computer (SBC) and XCalibur4401 6U CompactPCI SBC are the first products available from X-ES to support the 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor.

3rd generation Intel Core i7 processors provide higher performance and lower power compared to 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processors. 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processors also include Intel HD Graphics with DirectX 11, supporting OpenGL 3.1 and OpenCL 1.1.

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform manufacturer and subsidiary of MiTAC International Corp., announces new CPU support for the S5515 and S5517. These embedded motherboards now support the 3rd Generation Intel Core processor product family (codename: Ivy Bridge) with a quick bios update. These two platforms now deliver the benefits of Intel's 22 nm Core i3/i5/i7 processor architecture with stronger performance, consistent reliability, and low cost in small form factor that targets various applications in the embedded industry.

TYAN's S5515 and S5517 embedded motherboards now offer support for 3rd Generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Processors. Existing motherboards will only need a BIOS update to support the new processors. Intel's 3rd Generation Intel Core processors offer greater performance with multiple expansion options such as PCI-E x16 Gen.3 slots, SATA 6G/3G controllers, U-DDR3 1600/1333/1066 w/o ECC memory slots and USB 3.0 ports. These two products deliver enhanced computing performance, greater 3D (tri-gate) effect and more RAM support. This makes them the ideal platforms for customers with critical requirements from telecom, networking, storage, medical imaging, embedded severs, security and surveillance appliances.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks, high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is now supporting the Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme along with the Intel Core i7-3820QM, Intel Core i7-3720QM and Intel Core i7-3610QM in the Eurocom line of Notebooks including: EUROCOM Neptune 2.0, Racer 2.0 and Monster.

Eurocom's line of high performance Mobile Workstations and Gaming Notebooks will be bolstered by the introduction of the Intel Ivy Bridge processors and complete line of Intel 22nm processors. The Eurocom notebooks will be some of the world's first Ivy Bridge notebooks with Intel HM77 and HM76 chipsets using the uFPGA988B socket. Eurocom Notebooks are ideal for professionals and teams who frequently travel and need access to high performance computing.

Acer's first desktop PCs with the 3rd Generation Intel Core Processors will be available immediately in several configurations ranging in price from $699.99 to $1,199.99. Both Acer and Gateway-branded desktop PCs will be equipped with the new processors. Below are two examples of systems that will be available from retailers this next week.

Several models of the Acer Predator AG3620 desktop line will be the first with the new processors. The Acer Predator delivers performance and graphics benefits for power-users who want an advanced PC for entertainment, gaming and digital media. The Acer Predator AG3620-UR21P is equipped with a 3rd Generation Intel Core i7 3770 processor running at 3.4GHz as well as NVIDIA GT 630 graphics to deliver blazing fast speed and realistic graphics. The system also has 16GB of memory and 2 TB of storage space. It has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1,199.99.

MSC Vertriebs GmbH presents the first COM Express modules based on the 3rd generation Intel Core processor family (formerly codenamed 'Ivy Bridge'). The 3rd generation Intel Core processor family utilizes Intel's advanced 22nm process technology with three-dimensional transistors for higher performance at lower power. The new COM Express modules feature a further leap forward in computing power, graphics and video performance in comparison to modules based on the previous generation Intel platform. Important innovations of this new product generation are lower power consumption at higher clock frequencies and improved graphics and video performance. For the first time, the new Intel platform supports DirectX 11.

MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, uncages the GT70 and GT60, two mobile gaming beasts featuring Intel HM77 Chipset, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M graphics processing unit (GPU), Killer E2200 Game Networking, Steel Series backlit keyboard, and more. Designed with the serious gamer in mind, both units provide unmatched power while fortifying MSI's arsenal of award-winning G Series family of gaming notebooks.

Bringing a new standard to mobile gaming, the GT70 comes with 17.3-inches of Full HD anti-reflective display to maximize visual experience under all lighting conditions, Steel Series full color backlit programmable keyboard with 1000 customizable color combinations, amplified gold plated audio connections for crisper sounds, 12 GB of DDR3 for superb speed, and more. For gamers looking for even more power, the GT70 is also available with 16 GB of DDR3, BD Burner, and MSI's Super RAID 0 configuration, a unique combination of 128 GB (2 * 64 GB) of SSD RAID 0 and 750 GB at 7200 RPM for unprecedented storage capacity.

Intel finally got the ball rolling on its third generation Core processor family codenamed "Ivy Bridge", which will go into making most of the company's client processor portfolio for 2012. These chips are characterized as being the world's first microprocessors built on the 22 nanometer silicon fabrication process. Intel aided miniaturization of circuits to such tiny scale thanks to 3D Transistor technology, a space-efficient nano-scale transistor design that enables chip-designers to achieve higher transistor densities, and come up with ever more powerful chips.

The third-generation Core processor family is based around a single die design (pictured below), from which it will carve out numerous SKUs in the client market in May-June, and enterprise market (under its Xeon brand, towards the end of June). These SKUs will be carved out by toggling the various parallel components (such as x86 cores, cache banks, processor graphics cores, and of course clock-speeds). The new Core processor family is expected to feature higher performance per clock-speed, and higher efficiency. Intel's Kirk Skaugen has been quoted by the BBC as saying "This is the world's first 22 nm product and we'll be delivering about 20% more processor performance using 20% less average power."