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Intel releases key details of its Atom redesign |
May 06, 2013
Intel revealed key details of its redesigned Atom microprocessor product line this morning. Code-named Silvermont, this all-new microarchitecture marks the first time that Intel will use its 22nm manufacturing process and 3D Tri-gate transistor technology to build a system-on-a-chip (SoC) platform for devices ranging from smartphones and tablets to microservers.
IntelIntel's next step with Atom will be to build the same basic microarchitecture using a 14nm manufacturing process.
Intel’s current Atom line is based on the five-year-old Bonnell microarchitecture introduced back in 2008. Although Intel switched from a 45nm manufacturing process to a 32nm process in 2012, resulting in the current Saltwell platform, Saltwell is not fundamentally different from Bonnell.
As a result of the age of their underlying architecture, Atom processors have not been competitive with mobile CPUs based on designs from the UK’s ARM Holdings. The Apple A series, Nvidia Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon, and Samsung Exynos mobile CPUs that power the vast majority of modern smartphones (and many non-Windows tablets) are all variations on one or another ARM platform.
IntelSilvermont will carry over several key technologies behind Intel's Core series of microprocessors designed for laptops and desktop PCs.
Intel claims that will all change with Silvermont, and that Atom processors based on this new microarchitecture will deliver three times the performance while consuming five times less power (compared to its current-generation Atom cores, at least). “This is not just a tweak of Saltwell,” said Intel Fellow and chief architect Belli Kuttanna and at an embargoed press briefing last week, “it’s a fundamentally new design.” Kuttanna explained that many of the features present in Intel’s powerful Core series of desktop CPUs have been brought over to Silvermont, and that Silvermont SoCs will be available with up to eight CPU cores.
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Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2037549/intel-releases-key-details-of-its-atom-redesign.html#tk.rss_all
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