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    Silvermont - The 22NM Atom Redesign

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by H.A.L. 9000, Aug 28, 2012.

  1. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Platform code name: Bay Trail
    CPU Arch - Silvermont (Redesigned from the Bonnell core from previous designs)
    GPU - 4-core Intel HD, supporting all the API's that HD 4000 supports including OpenGL 4.0 and DirectX 11.
    RAM - Supports up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM.

    Time to market - mid-late 2013

    Some more details:

    New quad-core Intel Atom SoCs target PCs, servers, and tablets | Ars Technica
    AnandTech - Intel's Silvermont: A New Atom Architecture

    Thoughts? I know I'm kind of excited to see where they take this. Atom hit a dead end when netbooks died, so this will sort of be a re-invention of that market... only this time they'll be aiming this at the tablet market and the ultra-light market.
     
  2. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Atom was always underpowered with limited RAM capacity. I hope they add a little more clock speed and a quad core option. Although they just need to kill the atom in netbooks and go with a ULV i3.
     
  3. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    They have upper clock limits of 2.4GHz and also quad-core options in the pipe.

    This will be at a different price point as an i3.
     
  4. timfountain

    timfountain Notebook Consultant

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    Intel need to up the name, something like Proton, Neutron etc....
     
  5. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    LOL. I like it.

    10NM should be Higgs Boson.
     
  6. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    a year too late...Intel could own the tablet market if they kept Atoms on their current process/fab???(nm) because no one could keep up. They always sucked because they are always too power hungry...well they weren't power hungry because they made them under powered so they dont eat power up. 45nm CPU in a 32nm age is pointless. A 32nm CPU in a 22nm age is dumb. That is why the ULV was the best bet for a good balance was on current nm process and good architecture.

    HT this is more aimed at tablets i think than netbook. I think manufactures and Intel got the picture that everyone really wanted a ULV in a netbook.
     
  7. Jayayess1190

    Jayayess1190 Waiting on Intel Cannonlake

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    The thing is when we get to 14nm, Atom and Core will both be there at the same time.

    intelchiproadmap.jpg
     
  8. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    cool about time that is when i buy a tablet :)
     
  9. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Well in that case, A15 ARM CPU's will be on the market. Even quad core versions with GPU's more powerful than the 4-core Intel HD.
     
  10. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    probably eat way more energy because they are way behind on nm than intel
     
  11. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    LOL. You must be joking.

    Are you? Apple's A5X, which is actually quite a bit larger than Ivy Bridge, only carries a 3.5W TDP.

    Samsung is already moving to 22NM HKMG. Scheduled to make it to market late next year. Qualcomm is on 28NM Poly-Si right now with a scheduled die-shrink in the same time period as Samsung. That why this Atom business is going to get interesting. I'm seriously wondering if Intel can keep things within a certain power envelope while still delivering performance at or above it's ARM contemporaries. As it stands, Atom Z2460 is seriously outclassed by current offerings from Samsung and Qualcomm.
     
  12. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    interesting got any technical papers on that? I would like to read up on that. How can they have a CPU that is higher nm and be better with less power usage?

    sounds like they used a dash of magic in the fabrication process
     
  13. R3d

    R3d Notebook Virtuoso

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    No x86 bloat, I would think. ARM is a really power optimized architecture, though I highly doubt it will be faster than what Intel is going to offer.
     
  14. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Exactly. But ARM is already much faster than Intel's Atom Medfield, mostly because the platform it's aimed at (Android) has to have binary translation. Qualcomm's S4 outclasses it completely in a BIG way though. IPC for S4 is much higher than Atom Medfield, even without taking into account the binary translation mess.

    A15 is be a HUGE leap over Intel's current Bonnell core. Silvermont better be good.
     
  15. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    if intel really tried to make a good chip for Atoms i would be my money on intel so i am excited to see silvermount and the following generation good to see some competition and options
     
  16. Generic User #2

    Generic User #2 Notebook Deity

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    is there a particular source that says A15 will be significantly better than Krait?
     
  17. R3d

    R3d Notebook Virtuoso

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    On a related note, AMD's new low power Jaguar core look very promising as well.
     
  18. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    A9 has an IPC of ~1.5-1.7 depending on several factors. Krait has an IPC of 2. A15 has 2.5. It's not significantly better, but will be noticeable with higher clock frequencies that A15 is targeting. Krait will have higher floating point performance than A15, though.

    I haven't been watching that one as much as I should have... but it DOES look like a nice competitor. AMD has always trumped Intel in the Netbook-form-factor market with their offerings.
     
  19. davidricardo86

    davidricardo86 Notebook Deity

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    Can't call it Neutron, Corsair will sue.
     
  20. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    LOL. Intel's lawyers spend more on lunch than the entirety of Corsair is worth.
     
  21. Generic User #2

    Generic User #2 Notebook Deity

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    wouldn't the key being whether or not A15 chips would be able to hit those freqs?


    qualcomm has quite a bit of a lead in terms of production runs.