Intel Sandy Bridge architecture dissected

Sandy Bridge was once known by the codename Gesher, meaning bridge in Hebrew. While most Intel codenames are geographic in nature, in this case, it can be interpreted as a rather apt metaphor. Sandy Bridge is a synthesis of three separate worlds within Intel - blending the microarchitectures of the Pentium Pro and the Pentium 4 and a new implementation of the GenX graphics architecture. The result is tightly integrated with a novel system infrastructure into a single chip manufactured on Intel’s 32nm process. This article is the first in a series and focuses on the microarchitecture of the Sandy Bridge microprocessor, subsequent articles will deal with the graphics architecture and productizations..