- Intel i7-3520M
- Codename: Ivy Bridge
- Cores: 2
- Threads: 4
- Turbo Frequency: 3.60 GHz
- Base Frequency: 2.90 GHz
- Cache: 4 MB Intel® Smart Cache
- Bus Speed: 5 GT/s
- TDP: 35W
- Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cpuid_fault epb pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase smep erms xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts md_clear flush_l1d
The Intel Core i7-3520M is the fastest mobile dual-core processor in Q2 2012 and is based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. Thanks to Hyperthreading, the 2 cores can process up to 4 threads simultaneously. In contrast to its predecessor Sandy Bridge, which was still produced in 32 nanometres, it is manufactured in a smaller 22 nanometre process with 3D transistors. With a clock speed of 2.9 GHz (maximum Turbo: 3.4 GHz for 2 cores, 3.6 GHz for 1 core), the i7-3520M is 100 MHz higher than the i7-2640M of the previous generation and has a 4 MB L3 cache.
Ivy Bridge is a die shrink of the Sandy Bridge architecture, which has only been improved in a few places. Among other things, PCI Express in the new version 3.0 and DDR3(L)-1600 are now supported. There were no changes in the feature set, which still includes, for example, the encryption technology AES-NI, the instruction set extension AVX and Turbo-Boost 2.0. The biggest changes were in the integrated processor graphics card and the multimedia features.
The performance of the i7-3520M is about 5 % higher than an equivalent clocked model of the Sandy Bridge architecture due to minor improvements in the per-MHz performance. The older i7-2640M is thus beaten by just under 5-10 % in combination with the extra clock. While the single-thread performance clearly outperforms older quad-core models in some cases, an i7-2630QM is already considerably faster when all cores are utilised. Nevertheless, the performance is sufficient to master demanding applications such as HD video editing or current 3D games.
The Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated in the processor with 16 so-called Execution Units (EUs) is responsible for the graphics output. Using Turbo mode, the output clock rate can increase from 650 MHz to 1250 MHz. The performance is about 40 % higher than that of the predecessor (HD Graphics 3000), which also matches the graphics solution of Llano (Radeon HD 6620G as the fastest model).
Like most dual-core models in the Sandy Bridge range, the i7-3520M has a TDP of 35 watts, which also includes the graphics unit.