In a somewhat surprising fashion, Intel has decided to announce (again) the Core M processor family that will be shipping this fall and winter using the Broadwell-Y SoC. I was able to visit Portland and talk with the process technology and architecture teams back in early August so much of the news coming out today about the improvements of 14nm tri-gate transistors, the smaller package size of Broadwell-Y and the goals for thinner, fanless designs is going to be a repeat for frequent PC Perspective readers. (You can see that original story, Intel Core M Processor: Broadwell Architecture and 14nm Process Reveal.)
What is new information today are specifics on the clock speeds and SKU offerings.
| 5Y70 | 5Y10a | 5Y10 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cores/Threads | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 |
| Base Freq | 1.10 GHz | 800 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Max Single Core Turbo | 2.6 GHz | 2.0 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
| Max Dual Core Turbo | 2.6 GHz | 2.0 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
| Max Quad Core Turbo | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 5300 | Intel HD Graphics 5300 | Intel HD Graphics 5300 |
| Graphics Base/Max Freq | 100/850 MHz | 100/800 MHz | 100/800 MHz |
| LPDDR3L Memory Speed | 1600 MHz | 1600 MHz | 1600 MHz |
| L3 Cache | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB |
| TDP | 4.5 watts | 4.5 watts | 4.5 watts |
| Intel vPro | Y | N | N |
| Intel TXT | Y | N | N |
| Intel VT-d | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel VT-x | Y | Y | Y |
| AES-NI | Y | Y | Y |
| 1K Pricing | $281 | $281 | $281 |
Intel has planned three options, all with the same $281 pricing, though obviously based on volume and other deals with OEMs, these are likely to shift. The Core M 5Y70 is the highest performance part with a base clock speed of 1.10 GHz that can scale up to 2.6 GHz with one or both cores active. The other two parts launching today both feature 800 MHz base clocks and 2.0 GHz maximum Turbo speeds.
With that scaling information, and the wide range that the Intel HD Graphics 5300 can hit (100-800 MHz) Intel is doubling down on the benefits of fast and reliable Turbo Boost technology to give you high frequencies only when you need it most. This conserves power consumption the vast majority of time and allows Intel's partners to build fanless designs that are incredibly thin.
The 5Y10 and 5Y10a differ only in that the non-A variant has a configurable TDP down the 4.0 watts should the vendor opt for that.
Intel is also giving us a more detailed look at the Broadwell-Y PCH that includes a lot of I/O for such a small platform. Two channels of USB 3.0 can support four total ports and as many as four SATA 6G storage units can be integrated as well. These Y-SKUs look like they have 12 lanes of PCIe 2.0 available to them should a notebook vendor decide to use PCIe storage solutions (like M.2) rather than relying purely on SATA.
At least one partner has already announced a Core M product: the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix. It appears to be an amazing 11.6-in convertible tablet design. Without a doubt we'll encouter numerous other designs at the Intel Developer Forum that starts next Tuesday.
Will the benchmarks on these
Will the benchmarks on these -Y parts show us an early indication of desktop Broadwell CPU improvements or are they completely different?
281 just seems super pricy
281 just seems super pricy for 1.10 base clock. It kinda seems pricey for a 2.6 boost, it even would be pricy for a 2.6 base clock these days, I understand the low tdp, the crazy low x86 tdp, but it still seems pricey to me.
I am hoping this post doesn’t bring on a power8 rant. And the reply post is: