What is the Difference Between Sandy Bridge and Nehalem Architecture?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚Sandy Bridge and Nehalem are two microarchitectures developed by Intel, with Sandy Bridge being the successor to Nehalem. There are several differences between the two architectures, including improvements in performance, power consumption, and specifications. Some key differences are:
- Manufacturing Process: Sandy Bridge uses a 32 nm process, while Nehalem uses a 45 nm process.
- Performance: Sandy Bridge offers a 17% improvement in performance on a per-clock basis compared to Nehalem.
- Power Consumption: Nehalem has a 30% lower power consumption for the same performance as its predecessor.
- Branch Prediction: Sandy Bridge has an improved branch prediction, with a single branch target buffer (BTB) that holds twice as many branch targets as the L1 and L2 BTBs in Nehalem.
- Integrated Graphics: Sandy Bridge offers around twice the integrated graphics performance compared to Clarkdale, which is based on the Nehalem architecture.
- Memory Ports: Nehalem has one load, one store address, and one store data units, each attached to an individual memory port. In contrast, Sandy Bridge has two load units, one store address unit, and one store data unit sharing a single memory port.
Overall, Sandy Bridge architecture provides improvements in performance, power consumption, and graphics capabilities compared to the Nehalem architecture.
Comparative Table: Sandy Bridge vs Nehalem Architecture
The Sandy Bridge and Nehalem architectures are two Intel processor microarchitectures that have several differences in terms of technology, performance, and features. Here is a table comparing the main differences between the two:
| Feature | Sandy Bridge | Nehalem |
|---|---|---|
| Technology | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Performance | 17% improvement in terms of per-clock basis compared to Nehalem | No specific percentage available, but it provides a 15-20% clock-for-clock increase in performance per core compared to previous architectures |
| Microarchitecture | Sandy Bridge is the successor to Nehalem | Nehalem is the predecessor to Sandy Bridge |
| Cache | Uses 64 KB L1 cache, 256 L2 cache, and a shared L3 cache | Also uses 64 KB L1 cache and 256 L2 cache, but the L3 cache was larger at an 8 MB minimum |
| Branch Prediction | Improved branch prediction compared to Nehalem | No significant improvement in branch prediction compared to previous architectures |
| Instruction Set | Supports Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) with 256-bit wider vectors for floating-point arithmetic | No specific mention of AVX support |
Overall, Sandy Bridge architecture offers improvements in terms of technology, performance, and features compared to the Nehalem architecture.
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