Intel Haswell to lower ultrabook power, up others

First details of Intel's Has well architecture has emerged through presentation slides leaked [reg. required] through ChipHell. The 22-nanometer design will focus most on Intel's promises of more advanced ultrabooks and will lower the peak power of a dual-core, low-voltage chip to 15W, helping battery life in systems like the MacBook Air. It should also support low-power DDR3 memory and get integrated GT3 graphics that, like on Sandy Bridge, are faster than on the desktop.

The lineup will unusually demand more power than expected. On the desktop, chips will run at 35W, 45W, 65W, and 95W depending on the number of cores and clock speed, going back to 2011-era power levels despite the 2013 target and slower GT2 graphics. Outside of the ultrabook processor, regular mobile processors will go up two watts each to 37W, 47W, and 57W, suggesting that the GT3 graphics may be adding to the power draw. Improved idle states might help reduce the overall power use.

The platform as a whole may be closer to its ancestor than most such redesigns in the past, but it will still have significant changes. The FDI interface to route video output will have been scrapped in favor of a simpler design, but chips will get support for new AVX 2.0 media extensions and updated AES-NI instructions. The overall platform, Shark Bay, and its Lynx Point chipset will add NFC support for short-range pairing, payments, and other tap-to-activate features. PC vendors will have option of lowering the peak power or the link power management to either minimize the energy use or give a processor more headroom than it might otherwise have.

Haswell is most likely to be introduced at the CES expo in January 2013 and launch soon afterwards. [via VR-Zone]

By Electronista Staff

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Intel, computers, industry, MacBook Air, Sandy Bridge, Haswell, Ivy Bridge, ultrabook, Lynx Point, Shark Bay