If you're a regular reader you might've read our article from a few days ago about Intel bringing back adjustable base clock for Ivy Bridge, well, we know have the specifics and they're less complex than you'd think. However, what goes hand in hand is the fact that Intel will have base clock limitations for Sandy Bridge-E, just a few more options on offer than for Ivy Bridge.

We were disappointed to learn that Intel will only offer a single base clock option for Ivy Bridge beyond the 100MHz of Sandy Bridge, name 133MHz. For those of you that hoped to be able to overclock Ivy Bridge to your heart's content, well, it ain't gonna happen. Apparently Intel is worried that Ivy Bridge will compete with its LGA-2011 platform if it was to add more base clock options and as such things aren't set to improve much over Sandy Bridge.

As for Sandy Bridge-E, well it shares one component with the upcoming Ivy Bridge platform and you can see it quite clearly in the diagram above which is from a YouTube video that we've embedded at the bottom. The little chip marked CK505 at the bottom is the clock generator and this is what controls the base clock. As you can see there's a mention of a PEG/DMI ratio mechanism and this is what allows several different base clocks.

Unlike Ivy Bridge, Intel has enabled several options for Sandy Bridge-E and we're hearing that we can expect base clock frequencies of 100, 125, 166, 200 and 250MHz if memory serves. This might still change before the launch of the Waimea Bay platform as Intel tweak things to work as well as possible for overclockers. Still, with four rather large jumps between each of the base clocks we have a feeling that the overclocking community isn't going to be impressed. We might see the X58 platform live on for quite some time next year, despite the fact that many are feeling like it's a platform of the past already.