Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge
	Top of a Core i5-2500
General information
Launched	January 9, 2011
Discontinued	September 27, 2013 (mobile and desktop units); November 24, 2013 (workstations and servers); December 27, 2015 (embedded devices)
Marketed by	Intel
Designed by	Intel
Common manufacturer	Intel;
Product code	80619 (extreme desktop); 80620 (server LGA1356); 80621 (server LGA2011); 80623 (desktop); 80627 (mobile)
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate	1.60 GHz to 3.60 GHz
QPI speeds	6.4 GT/s to 8.0 GT/s
DMI speeds	4 GT/s
Physical specifications
Transistors	504M to 2.27B 32nm;
Cores	1–4 (4-6 Extreme, 2-8 Xeon);
GPUs	HD Graphics; 650 MHz to 1100 MHz; HD Graphics 2000; 650 MHz to 1250 MHz; HD Graphics 3000; 650 MHz to 1350 MHz; HD Graphics P3000; 850 MHz to 1350 MHz
Sockets	LGA 1155 (desktops and workstations); LGA 2011 (high-end servers); LGA 1356 (low-end, dual-processor servers); Socket G2; BGA-1023; BGA-1224; BGA-1284;
Cache
L1 cache	64 KB per core
L2 cache	256 KB per core
L3 cache	1 MB to 8 MB shared; 10 MB to 15 MB (Extreme); 3 MB to 20 MB (Xeon)
Architecture and classification
Microarchitecture	Sandy Bridge
Instruction set	x86-64
Instructions	x86-16, IA-32, x86-64
Extensions	MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX; VT-x, VT-d; AES-NI, CLMUL, TXT;
Products, models, variants
Product code name	Gesher;
Model	Celeron; Pentium; Core i3/i5/i7/i7 Extreme; Xeon E3/E5;
History
Predecessors	Nehalem (tock); Westmere (tick)
Successors	Ivy Bridge (tick); Haswell (tock)
Support status
	Unsupported

Sandy Bridge (SNB) is a 2011 CPU microarchitecture designed by Intel, manufactured using the company's 32 nm process; as the tock in Intel's Tick–tock model, it succeeds both Nehalem and Westmere. Sandy Bridge-based processors are marketed as the second generation Core, in addition to various models of the Xeon, Pentium and Celeron lineups. Intel demonstrated an A1 stepping Sandy Bridge processor in 2009 during Intel Developer Forum (IDF), and released first products based on the architecture in January 2011.

Sandy Bridge-based processors use soldered contact between the die and integrated heat spreader (IHS). Its 22 nm successor, Ivy Bridge, uses only thermal interface material (TIM) instead. However, the Sandy Bridge family was produced up until September 27, 2013 for desktop and mobile units, November 24, 2013 for workstation, high-end desktop and server units, and the end of 2015 for embedded devices.