Intel Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge
The terms Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge refer to lines of Intel Processors. These lines of computer processors are also termed as architectures.
Sandy Bridge
Intel introduced Sandy Bridge at the start of 2011. Sandy Bridge replaces the Nehalem architecture.
- 32 nanometer manufacturing process
- planar double-gate transistors
Ivy Bridge
Intel introduced Ivy Bridge in 2012 to replace the Sandy Bridge architecture. Ivy Bridge processors are backwards compatible with the Sandy Bridge platform, but such systems might require a firmware update.
- 22 nanometer manufacturing process
- FinFET ("3D") tri-gate transistors
The Ivy Bridge CPU microarchitecture is a shrink from Sandy Bridge and remains largely unchanged. The new tri-gate transistors reduce power consumption by half while offering the same performance level as 2-D planar transistors.
comparison
Ivy Bridge uses the Sandy Bridge architecture. Most of the changes involve power consumption reduction and size. The processing die has been reduced in size from 32nm to 22nm. In order to achieve the reduction in size, Intel developed a new kind of 3D "Tri-Gate" transistor. Additional advancements include support for PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 and DDR3L (low-voltage) memory, and better integrated graphics, the latter being a consideration for MythTV for Linux small system builders.
