Intel Launches Haswell Processors

The start to this month brought us Intel's newest CPUs: The Haswell Bridge. It is the Tock in the Intel Tick-Tock release schedule and as such comes with a major architectural refresh (which means a new socket type : LGA 1150 and a new set of motherboards.)

Featuring a new box art, amongst other things, the biggest change this time around is not core counts or frequencies, rather a "better" experience. Intel claims the biggest battery life increase in Intel's history and unprecedented graphics in ultra-thin computing. It is clear from this that Intel is aiming at the mobile world more and more as PC and Laptop sales continue to fall in face of the lower cost, lower power ARM microprocessor powered cell-phones and tablets. In that light Haswell will be trying to make mobile PCs (Ultrabooks for example) perform more like smartphones and tablets with increased battery lifes and instant wakes.

What does all of this mean for the Desktop side of things? Well while the architectural improvements will increase overall efficiency, custom-builders have, at the moment, little need to upgrade to the newer CPU. The speeds are not all that faster and there are no more cores than the previous generation. So if you are looking to build a whole new system, it would make sense to try Haswell out, however if you already are on Sandy or Ivy Bridge, you can safely stay away from upgrading just yet.

The biggest thing to note will be that if you are going to buy Haswell Bridge, take some time and search PSU which are compatible with the new CPU as power operating states have changed dramatically and you will need a high quality power supply to ensure steady power to the PC. Check with a manufacturer for Haswell low-power compatibility.

The Model List and Launch Prices are as follows

Model	Cores/Threads	CPU Clock (GHz)	Turbo Boost (GHz)	Cache	IGP	TDP	Launch Price (USD)
Core i7-4770K	4/8	3.5	3.9	8MB	HD4600	84W	339
Core i7-4770	4/8	3.4	3.9	8MB	HD4600	84W	303
Core i7-4770S	4/8	3.1	3.9	8MB	HD4600	65W	303
Core i7-4770T	4/8	2.5	3.7	8MB	HD4600	45W	303
Core i7-4765T	4/8	2.0	3.0	8MB	HD4600	35W	303
Core i5-4670K	4/4	3.4	3.8	6MB	HD4600	84W	242
Corei5-4670	4/4	3.4	3.8	6MB	HD4600	84W	213
Core i5-4670S	4/4	3.1	3.8	6MB	HD4600	65W	213
Core i5-4670T	4/4	2.3	3.3	6MB	HD4600	45W	213
Core i5-4570	4/4	3.2	3.6	6MB	HD4600	84W	192
Core i5-4570S	4/4	2.9	3.6	6MB	HD4600	65W	192
Core i5-4570T	2/4	2.9	3.6	4MB	HD4600	35W	192

Suffixes:
K: Unlocked Multiplier

S: Performance Optimized, i.e Lower CPU frequency, reduced TDP

T: Power Optimized, i.e Lower CPU frequency, lower Turbo Boost frequency, greatly reduced TDP 

Also the Integrated Graphics is now called Iris. 

Initial tests show a modest gain in performance across various benchmarks for Haswell and the newer generation sits above the previous one, although, as stated before, by a very narrow margin.