Future Atom Processors to Use GMA500 and go in Smartphones
UMPC Portal has posted an interesting article with some details on the Intel Atom Roadmap that have come out of the recent Intel Developers Forum.
Intel have four Atom platforms in the works with each to be targeted towards a specific market sector:
- Pinetrail – Netbook platform. Atom CPU + GMA500 GPU
- Menlow – MID platform. Atom ranging from 800Mhz-2.0Ghz + GMA 500 GPU (with PowerVR SGX core)
- Moorestown – Smartphone platform. Atom CPU (clockrate unknown) + GMA 500 GPU (With PowerVR SGX core)
- Sodaville – Set Top Box/CE platform. Atom CPU + PowerVR SGX core.
Interestingly each platform will use the GMA500 or PowerVR GPU core. As noted in our GMA950 VS GMA500 article, even though the GMA500 has the more recent technology the current GMA500 netbooks are slower than their GMA950 counterparts.
This speed deficit is believed to be entirely driver related however, and if the software has matured by the time Pinetrail is released then it could well be a faster platform overall.
We also see that Intel have designs on entering the mobile phone market. Each new platform will be making the Atom+GMA combination smaller and more power efficient (albeit at the cost of overall performance). Time will tell if it can compete with the ARM and Samsung processors already holding the lion's share of the market.
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September 29th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I would be careful about assuming that all these chips will be coupled with PowerVR GMA500 graphics cores it – bizarrely – appears that Pinetrail will still be coupled with an Intel graphics core.
There have been driver teardowns that still show Intel graphics references for Pinetrail rather than SGX references and it appears that this update will keep Intel graphics inside.
It makes NO sense whatsoever to do this, but maybe it is Intel going for the cheap/higher power consumption offering on one of their chips and in the netbook/nettop market, while leaving the less power hungry GMA500 based solutions for the markets requiring lower power consumption – MIDS, smartphones.
Also Sodaville is a set top box/CE platform not a phone platform.
I have ulterior motives for wanting all Intel platforms to be GMA500 based, but there appears to be pretty conclusive evidence that Pinetrail isn’t.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Thanks for that Ken, I have updated the reference to Sodaville.
Its really all rumor until the devices ship but it would make more sense to use 500’s as you say.