valleyview
Latest
Intel roadmap leak outlines Bay Trail-based Atom for tablets in detail: 3D cameras, half the energy draw
Intel isn't having much success keeping its upcoming Bay Trail-era Atom platform under wraps. If the previous overview leak wasn't enough, a roadmap uncovered by Mobile Geeks has just explored the finer points of the tablet-oriented Bay View-T and its Valleyview-T processors. The most surprising leap may be in graphics: while we knew the GPU core would be much faster, we're now seeing that the new Intel hardware can output to as much as a 2,560 x 1,600 display and record stereoscopic, 1080p 3D video in the event that 3D-capable tablets come back into vogue. Likewise, battery life should be rosier than you'd expect; Bay Trail-T can reach the same performance at half the power, which should lead to about two extra hours of video playback for at least some of the 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz processors in the lineup. Don't get too excited by the potential, however. If the leak is accurate, Bay Trail for tablets isn't expected until early 2014, by which point 22-nanometer Atoms will be a step behind the cutting edge.
Intel's full Atom 'Bay Trail' roadmap leaked: 22nm, Ivy Bridge graphics, quad-core
We saw a leaked hint of what was coming for Intel's Valleyview system-on-a-chip (SoC), but now the full plan appears to have been outed by Chinese blog Expreview. The lineup will feature four models of the 22nm chips, with the D- and M-series looking to replace the Cedar Trail 32nm SoC chips used in current netbook and low-end desktop devices. The I-series is for embedded and industrial use, while the T-series would appear in tablets and other small form-factor devices, according to the leaked slides. That model would supersede the Clover Trail SoCs, which are only just arriving themselves in upcoming Windows 8 slates like the Acer W510 or Asus Tablet 810. The chips should offer a burly horsepower bump over their predecessors, with up to four cores and clock speeds topping out at 2.4Ghz. The icing on the cake will be the integrated Gen 7 graphics engines of Ivy Bridge fame, featuring the same HD 4000 and HD 2500 GPU's as the grownup chips, but with only four "execution units" instead of the 16 you'd find there. That would offload functions like video decoding and 3D rendering from the CPU and allow simultaneous display to a TV or monitor. Bay Trail would also support 8GB of DDR3 RAM, double that of the "last" gen, as well as USB 3.0, SATA 2.0 and a host of other connection options. If the leak is accurate, the processors would arrive sometime next year, we'll just have to wait and see if that's soon enough for Intel to take a run at its formidable competition.
Intel leaks: ValleyView chip could bring 4x graphics boost to netbooks in 2013
One of many reasons to still be excited about Ivy Bridge is the integrated HD4000 graphics, which are zippy enough to handle Skyrim at modest settings. Desktoppers may not be so enthused if they stick to discrete GPUs anyway, but the potential for better graphics in cheaper, low-power mobile PCs is huge. That's why we're hyped to hear talk of a forthcoming 22nm "ValleyView" processor, described by Intel insider Jesse Barnes as a "CedarView-like chip but with an Ivy Bridge graphics core". That implies HD4000 may not only be destined for desktops, laptops and Project Fionas, but for future netbooks too. Meanwhile, leaked slides (shown above and after the break) from an outfit called Advantech spill more beans. Listed under a chipset codenamed "Balboa Pier", the Cedar Trail successor is described as fanless, packing "4x Gfx performance" compared to current PowerVR-equipped Atoms, and scheduled to arrive early next year. Will it be enough to bring netbooks back into vogue? It can't hurt.
