Even though it doesn’t officially get released until the 4th, the first real world tests and details on the desktop version of the Intel 4000 series Core i processors codenamed Haswell are finally starting to be released. At first glace, they seem to be very disappointing but much of the focus for this revision has been on the mobile segment especially at the lowest power usage designs. So here are some of the basic details that are coming out on the desktop side:

• New Socket – Unlike the third generation that used the same socket LGA 1155, the Haswell chips use a new LGA 1150 socket primarily because of the movement of the voltage regulators from the motherboards to the processors. Thus you will not be able to take an older LGA 155 motherboard and simply upgrade the processor like you could with the Ivy Bridge or 3rd generation processors.
• Intel Pro Graphics – The new Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 is only available on a specific R series model desktop processor. Why is this significant? because it is a BGA package that can only be soldered directly to the motherboard and likely will only be sold through fully integrated PC systems.
• Limited Overclocking Potential – With the integrated voltage regulators being touted as a big feature and the opening of the BCLK there was much hope for high overclocking potential. While some units have gotten high, most of the overclock benefits seem to be with the memory controller and clock speeds gains are on par with the Ivy Bridge models which are modest compared to what was achieved with many Sandy Bridge (2nd Generation) processors.
• Performance Gains – Running at a similar clock speed to the past Ivy Bridge processors, the new Haswell processors will only post single digit gains in most computing tasks. The greatest benefits are to those that use a lot of floating point calculations which have almost 20% gains. The problem is that most of the highest systems are sold towards gamers which will likely only see a couple of frame rate gains over the Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processors.

So what does this all mean to buyers? Well, if you are in the market for a completely new machine, the Haswell desktop processors are still the way to go. This has more to do with the motherboards and chipsets that are used to support it gaining additional features such as up to six 6Gbps SATA ports natively. For those who have a decent Sandy or Ivy Bridge PC, it doesn’t look like it will be worth the cost of the upgrade. This is especially true for gamers who would see greater gains from either upgrading their graphics cards or moving to faster solid state drive storage if they haven’t already. I myself have an overclocked Sandy Bridge system that has worked fine for me for the past two years and don’t plan on upgrading to the new processors for my personal desktop system.

All of this information though is specific to the desktop processors and the higher end Core i7 and Core i5 models at that. Test details on mobile parts still haven’t been officially released but the potential power savings with corresponding extended battery life can have huge implications especially for items like ultrabooks. Hopefully these details with hard numbers will come out before the official release this coming week.

For those wanting more in depth coverage on the Haswell desktop processors, here are a few of the sites that I recommend:

• (Linux Experience)
• (Also Highlights a Few Motherboards)