Intel's Pineview to hit shelves in second half of '09
NOTEBOOK MAKERS SAY Intel will be launching its next generation Atom CPU, dubbed ‘Pineview', by the second half of this year.
The new CPU, Pineview-M is set to be teamed up with a new chipset - Tiger Point-M - to form the Pinetrail platform, with a single core version of the chip set to be bunged inside netbooks whilst the dual core version will be reserved for nettops.
There appears to be some dissonance about whether Pineview will feature a 45nm or 32nm process, but the latter would imply Pineview might only see the light of day in Q4 '09, to fit in with Intel's roadmap, whereas if it is in fact 45nm, it may well be released in Q3.
Smaller than the Intel Atom N270, Pineview will only take up a tiddly 773mm squared of motherboard space compared to the 2174mm the Atom chip takes up. Pineview will purportedly also be able to use a four layer PCB design, rather than the six layer design used by Atom. This should, it's hoped, make the chip a little cheaper.
Core frequency of Pineview won't see any change from that of Atom's, remaining at 1.6GHz, however memory support will get a boost to DDR2 667, compared to Atom's DDR2 533.
The platform's integrated graphics core won't see much change from Atom either, still sporting the GMA950, but at an increased core frequency of 200MHz as opposed to Atom's 133MHz.
Average power will also go down a tad from Atom's consumption rate, with Pineview expected to only need 2.0W rather than 2.5W. The CPU will also sport a fanless cooling system and see TDP dropping from 8W to 7W.
Intel has yet to confirm details on the product. µ
L'Inq
DodgyTimes
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What I find funny is that if they move the northbridge functions onto the CPU (grpahics core + memory controller etc) then there will be chipset business to be had by nVidia. Kiss bye bye to Ion, I bet Intel wont allow it to be used with a discreet graphics controller either. Clever, very clever.
I would like to see two CPUs in a desktop PC, one without fan like Pineview, and another one operating with the fan turned off in standby mode, something like a modified i7, which kicks in whenever some serious CPU power is needed. Almost all daily tasks can be done with an Intel Atom, except for compiling large software project, simulations, games etc.. With this concept my computer in my office would be quiet while I focus on my work, and my computer at home would be quiet while I watch a movie - until I start a game (in the office:-).
Intel, do you hear me?
ARM processors have been built into single-chip SOCs for donkeys years with all kinds of peripherals on board. The fact that Intel have integrated their north bridge is nothing special - it's a necessity in order to reduce the footprint and power of their chipset. This is the only way to put it on any kind of footing with the countless ARM chipsets available. They still have a long way to go, in my opinion, before they can compete with the countless offerings out there.
NVIDIA need not worry. As processors other than Intel become more pervasive in the netbook/sub-desktop space, this whole north/south bridge chipset nonsense will fade away as new form factors and standards emerge.
All I say is watch out for Intel when they start getting desperate.