AnandTech Sandy Bridge 2820QM review

Here is a review of a laptop with a 2820QM processor. A few of my impressions.

1) Check out the LV/ULV lineup! Intel appears to want to get these out sooner rather than later. The battery life should be very good (see below).

2) The notebook itself is lousy, but never mind (it's a proof of concept). The 2820QM is extremely powerful for a laptop processor -- it beats even the desktop i7-920 by quite a bit and it consistently crushes the overpriced 920XM.

3) Intel's integrated graphics is now better at transcoding video than everything else out there. It's also capable of low-end gaming and you can even try to reach into the mid-range (though you might have problems there). I wouldn't personally want to use it for gaming, but Intel is definitely making progress.

4) Holy cow, look at the battery life! OK, that's with a 71Wh battery, but still, 7-8 hours when idle/surfing the web with a high end quad-core? That type of battery life has quite recently been the domain of wimpy low voltage designs (and Atom).

EDIT: Here are a couple of other reviews of the same "proof of concept" machine. One is from Hot Hardware and one is from PC Perspective. Here is also a list of reviews, but they're mostly for the desktop version.

 

I just got done going through that. Freaking awesome. I can't wait. $750 netbook/notebook with a quad core and able to play any game available on low-medium settings and still get 7-8 hours battery life.

 

Cant wait to get a new cpu next laptop upgrade.

Now one thing is that you stated how it crushes the 920XM and the i7-920 however the advantage both have is that they overclock easy.

The 920XM cost a lot yes, but it overclocks to 3ghz+ easy on a good laptop so it still takes lead in performance.

Same with the i7-920 people push those to 3.6-4ghz rather easily.

Im sure there are many people running the 920 at stock speed but you would be foolish to buy an extreme series cpu without intentions of overclocking it since that is what they are all about with unlocked multipliers and things.


Here is the most alarming thing I have seen about sandy bridge

</sup>


<sup id='cite_ref-AnandTech_3922-Page8_8-0' class='reference'>Seems intel has finally taken a stand against enthusiast users taking a much cheaper cpu and overclocking it to meet/beat performance of the more expensive ones. Now by very design of the sandy bridge cpu's you can not overclock them, unless you buy the "K" edition and that is the equivilent to the current "extreme" editions that cost tons of money.</sup>


<sup id='cite_ref-AnandTech_3922-Page8_8-0' class='reference'>This means somebody can get a i7-720 and do 4ghz and crush the performance of the new Sandy Bridge chips for way less money (desktop use here) and no longer can you just reverse that challenge by overclocking the new model to match. Sandy Bridge is not going to be a good enthusiast processor it looks like

This sucks big time for me as a low income guy I always have done this. My Q6600 has been doing 3.6ghz 24/7 since the day I bought it years ago for like $200 and before that I had a AMD Opteron 148 doing 2.4ghz 24/7 (100% overclock) I much prefer these $200 cpu's to the $1000 ones when they are made the same just come at different set speeds, its a big ripoff to have to pay tons more for the same product just set to a faster speed.
</sup>

 

Yes, if you want to overclock, you'll need the 2920XM which will crush even the overclocked 920XM (but unfortunately, it is quite expensive).

On the desktop, they've actually solved this problem: as long as you buy a Sandy Bridge CPU with a "K" at the end, you get an unlocked multiplier and it can be effortlessly overclocked to 4.4GHz (it reaches higher than 4GHz with Turbo Boost so your constraints are thermal). The "K" edition only costs $11 (not a typo) more than the ordinary one so you can still get it for just over $200. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have such a CPU for laptops -- if you want to overclock them, you'll need to shell out the grand.

 

You really think they "K" edition will only cost $11 more? I have a feeling it will be the same as all current unlocked cpu's and cost at least 2x more.

However I really really hope its true.

I'll be updating my desktop to a 2600K 8GB of RAM and a new mobo in no time

a 4ghz i7 should give me a good 20% boost in encoding power vs my current 3.6ghz C2Q

I would like to get rid of my P55 mobo anyways I hate how if I use another PCI-E slot that it slows down to 8x instead of 16x, not really good when I am pushing resolutions of 5980x1200 for games.

 

While the 2630QM isn't priced due to it's OEM release, the quad core 2720QM is $378 and the tested 2820QM is $568. So I doubt you'll find a netbook/notebook at that price with one of those quad core CPUs.

 

The prices from Intel are listed in the review -- the ordinary 2500 costs $205 while the 2500K costs $216. Now it could be that Newegg & Co. will decide to jack the prices for the "K" editions up by $20, but there's no way they'll cost double. Intel has backed away from only offering unlocked multipliers at the extreme high end (except for laptops ).

 

Just think what Ivy Bridge is going to bring to the table ? 10 hour ?

I prefer the 'tock'

 

Heh now I need to start researching motherboards and decide to upgrade my system now or build a new one from the ground up so I can sell my current computer or put it to another use.

 

Its crazy that all current sockets will be obsolete in a few days (when CES starts up and Sandy Bridge/Bobcat/Bulldozer are officially released)... assuming Bobcat and Bulldozer are officially released at CES...

Socket 1366? Gone. Socket 1156? Gone. Socket AM3? Gone..

Say hello to 1356, 1155, LGA 2011, and AM3+.

Guess we can also say goodbye to PCI-E 2 and 2.1.... PCI-E 3 will be out this year.

Oh and bye to USB 2 and SATA 2 as well.. those are now old technologies thanks to USB 3 and SATA 6...

What about Light Peak? Thats supposed to be out this year on motherboards too..

And then DDR-4 in 2012...

Ugh... This year is going to be expensive for anyone trying to stay on the cutting edge.

 

Probably, but it's coming out for another year. Also, this is the battery life for the second-to-highest end quad-core which has a nominal TDP of 45W and since the display is 17", a lot of power has to go towards just that. It will be extremely interesting to see what the battery life is for the 17W low voltage parts paired with ultra-portable machines. I suspect it is substantial because so are Intel's prices. It's quite likely that these will play in the same physical territory as Bobcat, but with much greater performance and a similarly greater price.

 

that review really did made my start into the new year awesome. after a great weekend, this market the back-to-business moment with "omg THIS YEAR WILL BE AWESOME"

then again, i'm still waiting for an ulv quadcore

 

The performance of these new CPUs rock! Any idea how much they'll go for in the real world? Specifically how much do you guys suppose an Asus G73 would cost with a i7-2720QM shoehorned into it?

 

I know with the desktop it requires a new socket for the sandy bridge so probably the same with the mobile market. Even if the socket is the same it could be a issue with bios and stuff.

As for how much a G73 would cost with a sandy bridge, thats easy

Asus G73SW-A1 17.3" FHD/GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5/i7-7260QM/8GB DDR3/1TB 7200rpm SSD Hybrid/BD/ Pre-Order: GenTech PC Store

 

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the turbo frequencies. With such high turbo even with all four cores active, dual cores are practically obsolete! other than price, quads are the better choice in all situations now! (other than a very poorly cooled laptop, of course) This makes Nahalem TB look like a proof of concept!

 

920XM seems to be on-par only the low end SB Quad core....i cant imagine the power of the SB 2920XM processor~

 

oMg. Clarksfield were never really good CPUs imo, hot, power consuming, low-clocked, suffering from 45nm vs 32nm, but now they look downright miserable next to this. Sandy Bridge scores on all fronts, and this time it looks as if Intel has kept its promises about battery life. Awesome.

 

my favorite line of that article

and the integrated graphics seem just about at the level of a GeForce 9650M GT

 

Only GTX 460? Meh

 

It is not just the Ivy Bridge that I am waiting but some evolution in notebook design as well like take away the optical drive so there are more headroom for more battery power. Use SSD(may be m-SATA form factor) so there would even be more headroom.

Give me a notebook that has 10 hours battery life for typical usage(wireless internet)

 

Good gravy that's pricey!!

I hope Best Buy will still offer a slightly stripped down version for around $1200.

 

1800 was the price I paid for my first Pentium(P5) notebook, time flies.

 

The most I've ever spent was $1200 on a Macbook. That's my cap and that's what I plan on sticking to.

 

I know what you mean, my cap is even lower nowadays, no more than 3 digits US, preferrably 500.

 

Hoping the same here. 1500 I can probably get by the wife 1800 don't think so. Now 1500 now and then some upgrades later that would definitely work.

 

I hear ya. I splurged on my Alienware M15x.. dropped $2300 on it... And its had a ton of troubles. So much that I'll probably never spend that much again on a laptop.

Also, gaming laptops are so dirt cheap anymore I don't feel the need to spend that much money anymore when I can get an i7 quad core + 5870 video card for < $1500.

 

its not that bad... the G73JH was $1800.. I spent 2400 on it.. Hopefully it dies so many times after next year so i can get a sandy bridge replacement

Panther214

 

@#$% I got my Nehalem machine last month... I didn't expect SB to be that good... Hopefully that means that I can snatch a 820qm or 640m for cheap on ebay soon.

 

Yeah, its up there but for what it has its way cheaper than competition. Sometimes your stuck in a position that doesnt suit you.

Do you need a blueray drive?

Do you need two 500gb SSD HDD's?

Maybe not, but they are standard on a G73 now pretty much.

I am happy to get the HDD's bout would welcome a $100 price cut for no blueray.

Expect the 3D model to be out soon and cost maybe $200 more for the super awesome 120hz Matte screen and support for Nvidia's 3D tech.

 

Can I put a SB processor in a laptop with a Q57 chipset? Or have the sockets changed?

 

The socket changed. This is a whole new arch, after all.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I think the benchmarks are scamming us in a way because they are run at turbo frequencies. when the CPU heats up and it runs at the base frequency the performance will be dramatically lower.

Intel Core i7-2820QM Mobile Sandy Bridge Processor - HotHardware

anand's own benchmarks suggest the 2820qm is as fast as the 3.5ghz i72600k. this is a really really misleading review

 

Not if you read the whole thing -- they address this. You got the answer in the other thread, but here it is again:

The point about the 2600K being too close to the 2820QM is valid though -- I've asked AnandTech about it.

 

to cheat on you anandtech would have to artifically cool the laptop all the time, then, which they sure don't. most likely they get worse results, as they use it much more than an ordinary person uses it (except when gaming).

turbo works and it works very well. that's why it's there, and that's why it delivers these results. calling it a scam is stupid.

 

As a very experienced overclocker I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about.

Core speed alone has very little impact on heat, its mostly voltage increase that produces a ton of heat in overclocking.

Your looking at this backwards, you think intel is overclocking the cpu's but infact they just have them underclocked and let them clock up to where they could be running.

If thermal limits were going to be an issue it would have shown on the benchmarks.

Dont buy a laptop that cant handle the cpu thats in it


Even in the tests where they saw the cpu downclock over time "due to heat" it was just how the cpu was programmed it was not heat unless that notebook had issues.

When monitoring my cpu temps it gets to max temp in pretty much less than 8 seconds under 100% load, it would not slowly over the course of several minutes get hotter and hotter causing the cpu to downclock. I have never seen this happen on any system be it desktop or laptop as long as it has active cooling.

 

Ok. let me rephrase then. The rendering benchmarks are EXTREMELY misleading to those of us who will be doing 2 hours renders utilizing the cpu at 100%.

for those people who only use cpus for light loads turbo is awsome. I understand the turbos will be useful for shorter bursts of activity like photoshop.

 

and you are completely lying when you state EXTREMELY

the performance drop over extended periods is documented. it's not like it goes to crawl, it will just not be as fast as in the first minute.

so, again, it's not as if you LOSE anything. it's that, over longer time, you don't GAIN EXTRA. but most renderings are short-term renderings to verify your settings are right (quick render just the parts you care, did this all the time in studio max and cinema4d). there, you will gain. only those long renders that will run over night anyways will be a bit less fast than those quickrenders.

the cpu can't do magic. but unlike previous cpu's, this one can detect where it can get a bit more, and then use it.

 

Probably will be a way with a problem like throttlestop to lock those multipliers in place and keep them from clocking down.

Again I state I have a hard time seeing it be a real thermal issue and probably is more or less by design. I have never seen a cpu take minutes underload to heat up it gets full temp instantly and then takes about 10 more seconds for it to equalize between how fast the heatsink can supply cooling and how much heat the cpu produces.

 

he's just paniking. it's new, it's different, and the result: people panik. in the end, if he get a sandy bridge, he will just notice one thing: it's fast, it's well performing, and worth the money.

 

Dave: Ok. Calm down. No need for this to get personal. Im not saying SB is bad. It's just not as good as the benchmarks suggest. Especially given the thermals vary from notebook.

No need to use terms like lying and stupid. We're talking about a piece of silicon here. calm down.

 

yeah, and you say there is a MASSIVE slowdown when it's more warm. while it's shown that there is NOT. there is a slowdown. but nothing massive. an instant drop to half speed, that would be massive. having longer tasks to take a bit longer than slower tasks is not massive.

you have not shown prove of your claim, so i declare it a lie. this isn't personal.

 

.........ok.

 

The turbo can't push it past the TDP, right? If so, then shouldn't it be able to handle at least near max turbo for extended periods and the only reason it would be forced to stay at base speed is throttling? That's at least how it works for Nahalem, I think. Anyway, if a notebook can only manage base speeds with SB in it, then whoever designed, tested, and approved that cooling system for an SB notebook needs to be slapped back into 2009.

 

It can. Intel's philosophy is to design things for a finite task so Turbo can go past the TDP for as long as the temperature doesn't go too high and then drop to a sustainable level. However, note that in practice, Turbo is actually very conservative for desktops and quality laptops so it might be able to stay close to the max forever.

 

OH Mah Gosh!!

Battery life + power is what I've been dreaming of for years!
A quad core getting 7-8 hrs on a 71 whr battery (basic usage)!!!
That means a standard 6 cell 56 whr battery can get about 5 hrs. Does this mean gaming and portability can be friends now?

 

Don't for get that that was a 17-inch laptop. It might be a bit more, like 5.5 or even 6.

 

^^ seriously. Just mind blowing.

 

Macpod here is the answer for you, from jarred:

now could you please drop the conspiracy theories, which could well be regarded as paranoia to some?

 

Done. Sorry i overreacted initially, but that was due to my enthusiasm for the SB platform. Hopefully we'll get some more reviews coming in and see what difference cooling and other factors make on the SB turbo.

Really would like to see what prime 95 does to SB in an asus G53 or alienware Mx15.

My apologies for the overreaction