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Framerate improvements are around 10 percent in games, up to 30 percent in GPU compute; also bumps new Core M chips

At the IFA 2014 (Sept. 5-10th) mobile electronics trade show in Berlin, German a hot topic was Intel Corp.'s (INTC) brand new fifth-generation Core processors, based on the chipmaker's Broadwell architecture.  Broadwell, a die shrink of Haswell, is the first widely available commercial CPU based on a 14 nanometer process.  Not suprisingly PC OEM partners are lining up to adopt these new chips, which afford substantial power and heat savings to mobile devices.

The current family of cores is branded "Core M" and currently consists of two chips currently -- the SY10 (and its downclocked 4 W variant) and the SY70.  By default both Core M chips are dual-core designs with a 4.5W TDP.

IIntel Core M models

These cores will be joined later in the year by beefier Broadwell U cores, which will be used in Core i3, i5, and i7 branded processors for desktops and heavy gaming laptops.  Broadwell U will be followed (or perhaps accompanied by) another ultramobile release, the lower-end Airmont, the 14 nm die shrink of the Silvermont.  These new lower power Atom cores will launch in different segments; the Bay Trail replacement for laptops, convertibles, and tablets, for example, is expected to be dubbed Cherry Trail.

For now, though Intel is primarily focused on ongoing sales of older Haswell-based chip stock for the desktop and gaming laptop market; Intel Atom (Silvermont) for budget smartphones, tablets, and convertibles; and the Broadwell-based chips for the high end ultramobile market.

Intel Broadwell

With that in mind Intel has just rolled out a new set of graphics drivers which enhance both its new and old chips alike.  The new drivers support:
  • Core M
    • Intel HD Graphics 5300
  • Haswell
    • Pentium
      • HD Graphics (10 EU unit module) (found in Pentium 3XXX M/U/Y)
    • Celeron
      • HD Graphics (10 EU unit module) (found in Celeron 2XXX E/M/U/Y)
    • Core i3/i5/i7
      • Intel HD Graphics 4200/4400/4600/5000 (found in chips ending in 'H', 'K', 'M', 'S', 'U' 'T', 'Y' "0U", "EQ", and "MQ")
      • Intel "Iris" Graphics 5100 (denoted by chips ending in "8U")
      • Intel "Iris Pro" Graphics 5200 (denoted by chips ending in 'R' or "HQ")
It's worth noting that the Intel HD Graphics 5300, is the new GPU found on-die in Core M processors.  It is clocked at 850 MHz and adds support for 4K graphics.

Intel HD 5300

However, as the Intel Core M-based ultramobile devices won't be available until next month, the immediate effects of the drivers will be felt most in ultramobiles based on fourth-generation Core i3/i5/i7 processors.  These include Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) latest MacBook Airs (Intel HD 5000) and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Surface 3 Pro (Intel HD 4200 @ $799; Intel HD 4400 @ $999, $1,299 USD; Intel HD 5000 @ $1,549, $1,949 USD).

Microsoft Surface Pro 3

Whether you're dealing with a fourth- or fifth-generation Core series, Celeron, or Pentium chip with an Intel HD or Iris on-die GPU (dGPU), the new drivers should offer a number of gains including:
  • GPU compute
    • 30 percent faster OpenCL 2.0 performance
    • Accelerates your browser's rendering engine, Adobe Systems Inc.'s (ADBE) Photoshop, etc.
  • Support for new gaming standards
    • OpenGL 4.3 support
    • DirectX 11.2 support
  • Support for new algorithms
    • Conservative morphological anti-aliasing (CMAA)
      • A new technique for lower-end devices to perform anti-aliasing, the smoothing of jagged edges
    • Adaptive rendering
      • Only rerenders frames when the scene changes
      • Saves power in low-framerate games like puzzle games or Angry Birds
  • Game framerate improvements
    • Generally 8-12 percent in select titles, 3-7 percent in some additional titles

      Intel update
       
  • Improved control panel interface
    • Supports portrait mode (on tablets)
    • Lists connected displays
    • Adaptive contrast support
  • Bugfixes
    • Fixed slowdown in Netflix Inc.'s (NFLX) Dolby 5.1 enabled video/audio stream
    • Better responsiveness for mouse movement on wireless displays with Miracast
The new drivers can be grabbed here.

Overall Intel is bragging that its new Core M processors are "two to three times faster" than the Snapdragon 805, a 28 nanometer tablet and smartphone system-on-a-chip (SoC) from Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM).

Intel Core M SoC
Intel claims it has the best SoC out there with the Core M [Image Source: Intel]

However, the Snapdragon 805 is believed to have a 2-2.5 watt TDP for smartphones; 4 watt for tablets, so you're talking about a chip that uses anywhere from 15 to 50 percent less power(as Qualcomm claims it to be 20% lower power consumption than the Snapdragon 800 which had quoted TDPs of 2.5-3 W for smartphones and 5 W for tablets).  

Plus the Snapdragon 805 has built in circuitry to process camera output and to perform baseband processing on incoming and outgoing cellular data.  Thus Intel's decision to compare the Core M to the Snapdragon 805 is somewhat curious given the substantial differences between the chips.

And the final unmentioned differentiator is price.  So far most convertibles based on the Core M we've seen start at around $999 USD.  By contrast the cheapest Snapdragon 805 devices may be half that price.  Based on that, we're guessing the Snapdragon 805 is significantly cheaper than a Core M, but how much cheaper is speculation at this point.

Sources: Intel [1], [2; PDF]



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dedicated circuitry
By coburn_c on 9/9/2014 4:49:04 PM , Rating: 3
A core series processor doesn't need fixed function circuitry to perform real-time imaging functions. I find it hard to believe it is only 2-3 times more powerful.. they must not be using any of its many optimizations.. we're talking a chip that doesn't have true out-of-order operation next to a chip with AVX2 and FMA3.




RE: dedicated circuitry
By karimtemple on 9/9/2014 6:16:33 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah I was surprised to see that number too.


RE: dedicated circuitry
By coburn_c on 9/9/2014 8:56:01 PM , Rating: 1
I just realized, that's probably a multi-threaded comparison. It's a dual core vs a quad core. I'm betting the per core performance is at least 5-fold.


RE: dedicated circuitry
By Mitch101 on 9/9/2014 9:49:53 PM , Rating: 2
This is a good sign too because I believe Core M is 14nm and this would mean they have working silicon.


RE: dedicated circuitry
By althaz on 9/9/2014 11:11:11 PM , Rating: 3
They've had working silicon for a while now.


RE: dedicated circuitry
By Mitch101 on 9/10/2014 12:57:23 AM , Rating: 2
SRAM mostly Intel had to push 14nm Chips back they publicly said its hard and had a few issue which is to be expected its new territory and a large jump from 22nm.

Lets see how quickly they can get speed numbers up and Haswell's die shrink going because Im in the market for a few new CPU's. I believe the new chips are broadwell but I don't follow this as closely as I used to. From my understanding it will be 5% better performance and a significantly lower power usage.


RE: dedicated circuitry
By FaaR on 9/10/2014 6:05:31 AM , Rating: 2
Core series processors may not NEED fixed function blocks for <whatever>, but sticking one in there can lead to a big performance gain and power draw reduction. The only downside is it takes up a (generally quite insignificant) portion of die space, but with ever-shrinking dies and not particularly expanding CPU cores, you eventually end up in a situation where you'll be I/O pad limited, and simply can't shrink your die any more, so you might as well put the die area to use somehow, perhaps by throwing in some fixed function stuff.

This is the reason we were originally gifted with Intel integrated graphics to begin with, there was leftover die area in their chipsets, so hey - why not put it to good use, eh? This was terrible for users at the time, but awesome for intel as the graphics was essentially "free" (from die space POV), but they could charge a premium for it on top of what they ordinarily receive for a chipset...


RE: dedicated circuitry
By Milliamp on 9/13/2014 8:08:20 PM , Rating: 2
Core M is only a 4.5W TDP chip so its not exactly desktop class (~85 W TDP) we are comparing here.


How does this help Surface Pro 3?
By CharonPDX on 9/10/2014 6:01:43 PM , Rating: 2
It may help the next generation of MacBook Air, and the next generation of Surface Pro - but it certainly doesn't do anything for the current Surface Pro 3 . Any more than ARM's next core would help the iPhone 6. It may help the next generation, but a new CPU won't help the current generation at all - because it doesn't come in the current generation.

Call me when this is in the Surface Pro 4.




RE: How does this help Surface Pro 3?
By koenshaku on 9/11/2014 12:47:39 AM , Rating: 2
Did you read the article entirely? The current drivers available for Surface pro 3 and MacBook air increase "GPU compute
30 percent faster OpenCL 2.0 performance
Accelerates your browser's rendering engine, Adobe Systems Inc.'s (ADBE) Photoshop, etc."

Anyway this driver says it is not validated for my Surface pro 3... I wonder if I should install manually if Microsoft already installed it through the firmware update..


RE: How does this help Surface Pro 3?
By xdrol on 9/11/2014 12:14:52 PM , Rating: 2
OpenCL 2.0 is only supported by the new Core M's GPU.

On Haswell, you can only use OCL2 on the CPU, and that is pointless (except maybe for developers targeting Core Ms without Core M hardware, what is again pointless.)


By cbf on 9/10/2014 8:59:53 PM , Rating: 3
Jason --

Why not just write a short article about the new drivers (which is what your headline seems to be about)?

Anandtech already has enough articles about the Broadwell product map, no need to recap them here. Or, if you really do have new info on Broadwell, it'd be better to put that in a separate article.




Impressively thin
By hubb1e on 9/10/2014 12:33:51 AM , Rating: 2
The prototype Asus they were showing with Core M is impressively thin and feels strong and well made. They are targeting the 2 in 1 market which is tablets with docking keyboards and it looked very interesting. The guy I talked to thought the performance should come in near my 1st gen surface pro but at less power, passive cooling, and impressively thin. I'm able to use the Surface as my primary machine when connected to a display and peripherals.




Awesome so...
By ballist1x on 9/10/2014 11:07:32 AM , Rating: 1
10% of 10fps is what, 1fps? so you'd now get 11fps?




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