If you're in no hurry to upgrade then it can't hurt to wait, but if you're expecting big things from Ivy then you're likely to be disappointed; it's just a die shrink of Sandy, don't expect big changes until Haswell arrives in 2013.
Yes it is.
Pretty much, I swear I can't keep track of Intel codenames though, is Haswell right after Ivy, or the next but one, with Kessler in the middle?
EIther way, Sandy-e end of this year, 4-6 cores it seems 32nm, then Ivy on 22nm which has seemingly been pushed back to at least April, which will be current Sandy replacement, should almost certainly be same socket and mostly compatible with current boards is the general thinking on it.
Its mostly a die shrink, with improved IGP(IE 50% bigger IGP but realistically, still completely rubbish for gaming) but not a whole lot of other tweaks. Power usage is already pretty immense on Sandybridge's with proper power gating, so not sure Ivy will really drastically improve power usage for anyone, and while it might clock higher, most people going beyond 4Ghz on overclock are simply using more power, but not really getting any benefit so not sure how worthwhile that is right now.
The next architecture after ivy is said to be bringing 6-8 cores to mainstream, was aimed at late late 2012 but that was before Ivy was delayed by 4-6 months. From now that chip AFTER Ivy is the next really major improvement in Intel chips, I wouldn't wait 3 extra seconds for a Ivy over a Sandy, buy now and get more use out of it before Haswell, or if you've got a decent quad, just wait till you can get a quality 6/8 core without spending silly money on one.
