Aug 10, 2011 20:01 GMT  ·  By

Intel has just confirmed that its next-generation Ivy Bridge processors will feature an enhanced version of the Quick Sync technology introduced with its current second generation Core chips, which, among other features, will enable on-the-fly encoding for HD video conferencing.

Intel will talk about these new capabilities in a technical session entitled “Media innovations in the Intel microarchitecture codenamed Ivy Bridge,” that will be held during the 2011 Fall IDF.

“In this session, you will hear about the media innovations (feature, performance and quality) in the new Intel Microarchitecture Codename Ivy Bridge. These innovations continue to improve the user experience on client PC platforms and enable exciting new applications.

“You will also hear from Intel and Microsoft experts on the details on how to build end to end high definition video conferencing solutions that will be brought to main stream by the Intel Quick Sync Video technology in Ivy Bridge,” reads the session's descriptions as posted on the Intel IDF website.

Ivy Bridge is the code name used for the 22nm die shrink of the current Sandy Bridge chips and features basically the same architecture, but with a few minor tweaks and improvements.

This includes a new on-die GPU that will come with full DirectX 11 support as well as with 30% more EUs than Sandy Bridge, in order to offer improved performance.

In addition, the processor cores have also received some minor tweaks as their AVX performance was slightly increased and Intel has updated the integrated PCI Express controller to the 3.0 standard.

The move will benefit multi-GPU systems as well as users who use high-performance PCI Express SSDs and other such devices that require high data bandwidth.

The rest of the changes brought with Ivy Bridge come from the new 7-series Panther Point chipsets, which pack native USB 3.0 support.