Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is betting big on Broadwell-based processors that will be used in low-power devices like tablets, and more mainstream devices like notebooks. At the IDF, Intel showed off a 12.5-inch reference design tablet running a Core M 5Y70, which features a 2 GHz dual-core 64-bit CPU, 4 MB L3 cache, dual-channel LPDDR3 memory controller and a GPU with 24 execution units and 192 stream engines.
The tablet was put through Cinebench’s R11.5 multi-threaded benchmark and managed a score of 2.7, which is around 70% of that of a Core i3 4330, and significantly more than anything in the Atom line, or AMD’s Beema and Mullins series. In the OpenGL test, the Core M scored 16.96 FPS.
In Futuremark’s 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark, the reference tablet scored 46,097 which is twice as fast as what the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 managed. Similarly, in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, the tablet’s score of 142.8 is far better than anything in this segment.
The benchmark scores are not the only metric when judging a CPU, but it is encouraging to see Broadwell doing so well. With a TDP of 4.5W, Intel is claiming a battery life of 9 hours, which is also a positive change from previous generations. One of the main reasons for Intel’s failure to lock in hardware wins has been due to overtly high energy consumption with the Atom series, and with Broadwell, it looks like Intel managed to fix those issues.
It should be interesting to see the price points at which Broadwell-based will launch, as well as the real world benchmarking figures they can achieve. October cannot come soon enough.
