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Shark Bay 1 Chipset Goes Pentium
In the universe where Haswell comes as two-chip platform, formally referred to as Shark Bay 2-chip platform by Intel, there will be three mobile chipsets. The HM86 is targeting at mainstream consumers, HM87 targets Premium consumers and SMBs, while the top one QM87 targets the hard working corporate market.
Things get a bit simpler with the Shark Bay 1-chip platform. The value consumer chipset is simply called Baseline, while the next one is simply called Premium. It can’t get any simpler than that. The Shark Bay 1-chip Platform has same I/O, or what we call a chipset, integrated on either Haswell U or Haswell Y processors line.
The Premium chipset supports Windows 8 connected stand by, Intel Active Management Technology 9.0, Intel Small Business Advantage, ACHI and Raid Rapid storage technology, Intel Insider, Intel Anti-Theft Technology, wireless display and three independent displays.
The list goes on with 8 USB ports where two to four can be USB 3.0 ports, up to 6 devices with PCI express 2.0 5GT/s, four SATA ports capable of 6Gbps. The chipset doesn’t have VGA or LVDS as the CPU has the graphics on it, but the Premium chipset has two sensors interface with I2C and UART, 1.5 to 5MB firmware support, Anchor Cover, Platform trust technology and Platform Flash Armoring technology.
Getting away from numbers and naming the chipset simply Premium means that U and Y line of CPUs are meant for tablet and Ultrabook markets, where manufacturers want you to love the product as a whole, not specifics. Premium and Baseline chpisets for Y and U line Haswell processors capable of TDPs as low as 13W are coming in Q3 2013.
Dual Core 35w Haswell Coming In Q3
We found out peculiar fact that some members of Intel’s M Processor line, 35W dual-core products, won’t get the Haswell upgrade until Q4 2013. Haswell starts in very late Q2 2013 and is still scheduled to launch in late May or early June, but most of the parts are aimed at the very expensive quad core MX line and MQ line edition parts.
When it comes to dual-core 35W Core i7 and Core i5 Haswell parts they won’t come at least until Q4 2013, at least this is the current part. Core i7 3540 launched in this quarter, Q1 2013, and it is a 3GHz dual-core with four threads and a top turbo frequency set at 3.7 GHz. It is a 35W, 22nm Ivy Bridge part with 4MB of cache memory. A replacement part might be on the way with a slightly higher clock in Q3 2013, but the Haswell based replacement is set for Q4 2013. With an official price of $348 it is not really the cheapest kid on the block.
Core i5 3380 remains the fastest dual-core 35W Pentium part until Q4 2013 Haswell reinforcement. The 2.7GHz / 3.4GHz turbo clocked dual-core will remain the fastest in this league at least until Q3 2013, when it might get slightly faster version of the Ivy Bridge based core, but it won’t be replaced by Haswell 35W dual-cores before Q4 2013.
Intel definitely wants to prioritize the quad-core 55W i7-3940XM $1096.00 replacement called Core i7 4930MX and Core i7-3840QM replacement in $568 market segment, branded as Core i7 4800 MQ, as it can simply make more money on these pricey these parts. These quad-core Haswell parts start selling in Q2 2013, followed by 17W Ultra low voltage dual-cores in Q3 2013 and only after these two lines rolls out, Intel will introduce the rest of the Haswell line-up.
Intel’s Pentium Getting Updated
Intel is going to update its desktop Pentium family with several slightly faster Ivy Bridge-based processors.
According to CPU World the chips should hit the shops in the second quarter of 2013 which is a quarter after January’s refresh of budget desktop families, and one quarter before the launch of Haswell. The new chips have the original titles of Pentium G2030, G2030T, G2120T and G2140. They will have two cores, but lack Hyper-Threading technology, and can run two threads before getting all confused.
Both the G2000 and G2100 series CPUs support only basic features, like Intel 64 and Virtualization. They do integrate HD graphics which are clocked at 650 MHz and dual-channel memory controller, that supports DDR3-1333 on the G2030 and the G2030T, and up to DDR3-1600 on the G2120T and the G2140.
Pentium G2030T and G2120T are low-power models, replacing G2020T and G2100T but are clocked 100 MHz higher, that is at 2.6GHz and 2.7GHz respectively. However they still fit into 35 Watt thermal envelope. Pentium G2030 and G2140 mainstream microprocessors will be faster than “T” SKUs, and they will have 57 per cent higher TDP. Intel expects these to replace the G2020 and G2130 SKUs. The G2030 will run at 3 GHz. The G2140 will operate at 3.3 GHz. No word on prices yet.
Will Intel’s Haswell Debut With Bugs?
According to a report over at Hardware.info that managed to get their hands on an internal Intel document, it appears that Intel’s Haswell platform might have a problem with its USB 3.0 host controller.
Although it is not as serious as the Cougar Point SATA 3Gbps bug, the USB 3.0 controller on Haswell platform will have issues with the S3 sleep mode and devices that are connected via USB 3.0 port. Apparently, when waking from S3 sleep, applications that are accessing the data from, for example, USB 3.0 storage device might freeze and force the user to reopen them manually.
Thankfully, the bug will be more of a nuisance rather than a problem as any loss of data is excluded. Intel does not plan to delay the launch and it is still scheduled for mid-2013, according to an Intel representative comment for Hardware.info. Intel is apparently still researching what other consequences this issue could possibly have and plans to resolve the problem in a future CPU stepping.
Intel Takes A Shot At ARM
ARM chips practically rule the mobile chip market, but Intel is trying to carve out a foothold with its new x86 chips, with relatively little success.
Intel claims its parts can outperform ARM chips in benchmarks and its manufacturing process lead should help it deliver faster and smaller chips. However, in spite of Intel’s claims, few vendors seem interested in its mobile chips.
Speaking to CNN, Intel mobile chief Mike Bell stressed that Intel has the software and systems competence to be the most successful player on the market. He pointed out that Intel can develop software to get the most out of its hardware and that Intel single core chips outperform multicore ARM designs.
“It’s a question of whether you’d rather have a jet engine or two propellers,” said Bell.
Granted, Bell has to tout the company line, but his engine comparison works both ways. Crop dusters and ultralight planes don’t need jet engines, or two piston engines for that matter. That is what really matters and Intel knows it. Not everyone needs a turbojet or turbofan, and not everyone needs an Intel core, especially not in mid- to low-end devices.
Intel believes its next generation 22nm mobile parts, with integrated LTE, will allow it to score some tablet and smartphone partners in late 2013 or 2014. However, Intel will have nothing to take on new A15 class ARM chips this year.
Quantum Computing Making Strides
Researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria have managed to transfer quantum information from an atom to a photon, which is being seen as a breakthrough in the making of quantum computers.
According to Humans Invent the breakthrough allows quantum computers to exchange data at the speed of light along optical fibres. Lead researcher on the project Tracy Northup said that the method allows the mapping of quantum information faithfully from an ion onto a photon.
Northup’s team used an “ion trap” to produce a single photon from a trapped calcium ion with its quantum state intact using mirrors and lasers. No potential cats were injured in the experiment. The move enables boffins to start to play with thousands of quantum bits rather than just a dozen or so. This means that they can get a computer to do specific tasks like factoring large numbers or a database search, faster.
Will Intel Haswell V2 Be Efficient?
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It is being said that Intel made a bold battery life claim that hasn’t been really advertised by the company so far.
At this point it doesn’t benefit Intel to announce it, as such news can change in a heartbeat, but it looks as if the Haswell 2 chip platform, a part of Shark Bay 2013 platform, should have significantly better battery life than the previous Ivy Bridge 2012 generation.
Our sources close to Intel claim that we can expect as much as up to 70 percent more battery life compared to an equivalent Chief River (Ivy Bridge) platform. This is a huge success. Compared to an existing generation platform and even in the Shark bay Ultrabook baseline feature Intel dares to share that we can expect whole-day battery life.
When Intel and other companies talk about all-day battery life, it usually means a working day, or eight hours, so don’t be tricked into thinking that whole day battery life means 24 hours. Most Ultrabooks today can deliver 5 to 6 hours and it looks like this is about to change with Shark Bay Ultrabooks, that are expected in Q3 2013.
Haswell just got a bit more attractive in our eyes as it will bring a lot of computing power and decent battery life that makes it much more competitive against tablets. It appears that Haswell convertible notebooks really have a chance in the war against ARM based tablets, but they will still be pricier.
Intel Makes Changes To Haswell
Intel has started dividing its mobile market segments into processors lines, where the Y processor line goes up to 11.5W TDP, U line covers chips in the 15W to 25W range, while the M line covers 37W, 47W as well as 57W TDP space, with two to four cores and graphics up to GT2.
The high performance H processor line is yet another BGA package processor line that also aims for 37W, 47W and 57W TDPs, with quad-core processors and up to GT3 graphics with on-package cache memory.
Intel expects that high performing gaming and workstation PCs will go use these processors and they fit some thick clamshell designs, no Ultrabooks with 57W unless you would want to use one for welding.
Intel currently doesn’t detail the processor number and the number of SKUs but it is obvious that they will end up with quad-core Core i7 branding for QC1+ and QC2+ market segments.
Intel’s Haswell Goes 13W
Intel’s Haswell Y-series processors as we said a few weeks ago have yet launch. The current plan is to launch two Ivy SKUs in Q1 2013, both dual-cores, and later in 2013 Intel plans to replace them with Haswell Y series parts, with even lower TDP.
The faster one is called Core i7 3689Y and has two cores and two threads, as well as a base clock of 1.5GHz. With the help of Intel Turbo Boost 2.0, the top single-core turbo clock is an impressive 2.6GHz, while the maximum dual-core turbo clock stops at 2.4GHz, which is still impressive. This core comes with Intel HD graphics 4000 clocked between 350MHz and 860MHz with turbo.
This new core supports both DDR3 and DDR3L at 1600MHz, has 4MB of cache and impressively low 13W TDP. We have explained that SDP stands for Standard Dissipation Power and Intel expect it to be at 7W for this part.
The runner up is called Core i5 3439Y and has the same two cores and two threads with 1.5GHz base clock, but the single core turbo clock stops at 2.3GHz, while the dual-core top clock is 2.10GHz. The graphics speed, TDP and memory support remain the same, but there is a difference in cache size. Core i5 3439Y comes with 3MB instead of 4MB for Core i7 Y series 3689Y part.
Is The x86 Falling
According to Mercury Research, worldwide shipments of x86 parts saw a sharp decline in Q3. Researchers claim the drop was the biggest seen in more than a decade, 9 percent year-over-year.
Despite the drop, Intel still has something to brag about. Intel’s share hit 83.3 percent, up from 80.6 percent sequentially. AMD’s share dropped to 16.1, down from 18.8 percent, while VIA garnered a 0.6 percent share.
Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron told PC World that both AMD and Intel experienced declines, but AMD took more of the hit than Intel.
“AMD was simply hit by what OEMs saw in the markets… and hitting the brakes,” he said.
What’s more, the third quarter is supposed to be traditionally strong for x86 chipmakers, thanks to the back-to-school shopping frenzy. However, x86 CPU shipments dropped 4 percent in Q2, followed by 9 percent in Q3. Things aren’t looking good for Q4, either.
“The key is how the macroeconomic situation is, which is not looking good for the next couple of quarters,” McCarron said. “Hopefully things will improve next year.”