Atom SoC roadmap for next 2 years reveals 64-bit SoCs & 15x GPU performance

[AFQ]

Today, Intel has released an updated Atom SoC roadmap revealing company’s plans for the next two years. The new roadmap indicates that 64-bit Bay Trail based Android tablets are in the making to counter iPad’s A7 SoC. It also reveals that Intel is planning to increase CPU performance by five times along with GPU performance by fifteen times by 2016, that is a huge performance gain.

I've still yet to see Intel chips in popular tablets. I think Intel should get rid of Atom brand new and do a complete rebranding. However, its kind of amazing to see what Intel is targeting for their GPUs. 15x more performance in two years; thats impressive.

http://www.chiploco.com/intel-atom-soc-roadmap-revealed-64-bit-socs-making-30704/

 

[NTMBK]

However, its kind of amazing to see what Intel is targeting for their GPUs. 15x more performance in two years; thats impressive.

Not hard when you're starting off so far behind the competition :awe: Glad they're putting their focus where it's needed- their Atom CPU performance is pretty damn stellar, now they need to get the GPU up to speed.

 

[Erenhardt]

I could not find where the "fifteen times" comes from. I guess its marketing talk: 15 faster then tech in 1997...

 

[Khato]

I could not find where the "fifteen times" comes from. I guess its marketing talk: 15 faster then tech in 1997...

Page 20 - http://intelstudios.edgesuite.net/im/2013/pdf/2013_IM_Eul.pdf - with the footnote stating that it's 15x graphics performance of the Z2760 in GLBenchmark 2.5.1 1080p Offscreen. One score I find for the Z2760 in that case is 8.9 fps - http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?D=Samsung+500T+ATIV+Smart+PC - so exactly 15x would be 133.5 fps. Adreno 330 is already up to 68.3 fps, and I believe the announcement of Snapdragon 805 said a 40% gain for Adreno 420... and it'll only take another 40% gain from there to be at pretty much the exact same 133.9 fps.

Which is to say that at best Intel might be close to parity... and more likely they'll be some amount behind once more.

 

[cbn]

Does the graphics really need to be so strong?

I thought the x86 ecosystem (Windows and Linux) was based mostly on CPU?

Maybe I am mistaken, but to me integration (eg, that Sophia chip) would be a more important feature to most x86 phone/Tablet customers.

 

[Sweepr]

Page 20 - http://intelstudios.edgesuite.net/im/2013/pdf/2013_IM_Eul.pdf - with the footnote stating that it's 15x graphics performance of the Z2760 in GLBenchmark 2.5.1 1080p Offscreen. One score I find for the Z2760 in that case is 8.9 fps - http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?D=Samsung+500T+ATIV+Smart+PC - so exactly 15x would be 133.5 fps. Adreno 330 is already up to 68.3 fps, and I believe the announcement of Snapdragon 805 said a 40% gain for Adreno 420... and it'll only take another 40% gain from there to be at pretty much the exact same 133.9 fps.

Which is to say that at best Intel might be close to parity... and more likely they'll be some amount behind once more.

I think its too early to draw any conclusions based on that. In H2/2014 they'll have 16 EUs (4x more than Bay Trail) and a new graphics architecture. Cherry Trail-T should be able to play lots of X360/PS3 console ports and PC exclusive titles at 720p. Thats a much better way to put a 2014 tablet SoC graphics performance to good use than whats available on Google Store/App Store for ARM devices IMHO.

 

[cbn]

I think its too early to draw any conclusions based on that. In H2/2014 they'll have 16 EUs (4x more than Bay Trail) and a new graphics architecture. Cherry Trail-T should be able to play lots of X360/PS3 console ports and PC exclusive titles at 720p. Thats a much better way to put a 2014 tablet SoC graphics performance to good use than whats available on Google Store/App Store for ARM devices IMHO.

IMHO any game that uses only 16EUs will probably be fairly old......and only need one or two fast cores. (Not four slow cores).

P.S. I am somewhat concerned Intel is following the wrong path here and trying to compete with HSA. Instead, I wish they would take a different type of market leadership: Integration.

With that mentioned, I don't understand integration as much as I would like to. It could be that some parts used as discrete chips in a phone don't use much power and thus don't need to be integrated on a cutting edge process. Still, I have to think there comes a point when too much graphics is just too much.

 

[ShintaiDK]

BayTrail is already 64bit. So nothing new in that area.

 

[mikk]

15x would be pretty bad considering that Cherry Trail comes with 16EU Gen8 and Intel mentioned yesterday that in particular the Gen9 graphics in Broxton is another big jump.

 

[Khato]

15x would be pretty bad considering that Cherry Trail comes with 16EU Gen8 and Intel mentioned yesterday that in particular the Gen9 graphics in Broxton is another big jump.

Eh, I wouldn't necessarily call it bad - depends on the corresponding power consumption. If Intel is limiting itself to staying under 2 watts then it's doing pretty well to see that kind of improvement.

Keep in mind that Intel's Haswell HD Graphics 5000 (the 15W GT3 SKU) only obtains around 120 fps in that benchmark. So that would be slightly higher performance at roughly an eighth the power consumption.

 

[cbn]

15x would be pretty bad considering that Cherry Trail comes with 16EU Gen8 and Intel mentioned yesterday that in particular the Gen9 graphics in Broxton is another big jump.

But then realize this is all supposed to happen on 14nm.

So how does Intel increase performance without increasing power consumption?

Larger die for iGPU at even lower voltage?

Or maybe uarch improvements for iGPU?

(I certainly hope most of the gain comes from the latter.)

 

[cbn]

Looking back on the Bay Trail chart:

Z3770 and Z3740 are both listed as supporting 2560 x 1600.

4K is only ~double increase in the number of pixels.

And yet Intel is planning such a large increase in iGPU......for the x86 ecosystem.

Forgive me, but I am having a hard time understanding this one.

 

[Shivansps]

its probably idle, browser and multimedia power, full load IGP its likely to be higher.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I think Intel should get rid of Atom brand new and do a complete rebranding.

Intel branding is so far beyond f'd up that it constantly amazes me. I try to keep up and I can't follow it. I can't imagine what the typical consumer thinks. How could they possibly attach any meaning or have any kind of brand loyalty to meaningless names like 'Atom', 'Pentium', 'Celeron', 'Core <blah>'?

 

[IntelUser2000]

I've still yet to see Intel chips in popular tablets.

Actually I think in the Bay Trail generation, with cumulative sales from various manufacturers, the sales would be good enough to be called a real "trigger".

I've been looking at Amazon sales charts for some time now, and Bay Trail based devices went right up there. Clover Trail devices could barely make it in the 70-80th position with significant price cuts. With much better pricing and reviews, you see more popular models like the Venue 8 Pro at 30-40 in average. Right now you only have like 3 models. Next year you'll see available models increase substantially.

Also, Asus's detachable T100 stands at #1-3 in the Laptop sales charts.