Quote:
Originally Posted by BenSkywalker
Moderate CPU loads are the issue. Why power up a high amp core when you can get buy with a very low amp one?
Intel has other problems, they can never match the die size of the ARM cores due to their rather excessive baggage they lug around for legacy support. On desktop chips where neither die size nor power are that big of an issue, it doesn't matter. For mobile parts the 5 CPU core Tegra 4 devotes most of its die space to GPU cores and still comes in smaller then Intel's parts which have two functional CPU units and a dated and tiny GPU in comparison.
Intel's only hope is the one thing they are always better at then everyone else. Fabrication technology. Given enough of a lead in fab tech, the rest is just noise.
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I'm pretty sure the die area for legacy x86 instructions is under 10% or so, and getting smaller all the time. I can't find the exact source though. Regardless, Intel has a fab advantage that it will start executing with 22nm Atom chips at the end of this year and 14nm chips in late 2014.