Intel Centrino Duo: new-generation mobility
For new generations of Intel mobile PC platforms under the
common name Centrino , the first quarter
has traditionally become the time of official emergence to the world.
It seems like just the first month of year will be traditionally the
time for that. In 2005, January became the month for announcement of
another version of Intel Centrino
codenamed Sonoma, and this January
– of version Napa. I won't be
surprised if the next generation of Centrino – the Santa
Rosa, will also take its official launch also in January, but in 2007.
Announcement of a new Centrino version is always the largest
event in the industry, but this year Intel decides to merge a number of
no less important events concurrently with that announcement. Above
all, it is the first official emergence of the innovative technology Intel
Viiv for home-based PCs (Entertainment PC).
We will certainly devote one of our further materials to the
"entertainment" PCs based on the new Intel Viiv technology
which allows to view, control and jointly use digital entertainment
media for all the family members. Of course, we will introduce our
readers to both the technical points of the Intel Viiv architecture and
its specific implementation details - the volume of materials on the
subject and specific examples has finally reached a sufficient level.
There aren't any doubts that among all other facts the Intel Viiv is
obliged to the thrilling success of the mobile Centrino platform for
its emergence. In fact, mentioning the Intel Viiv in this article
doesn't mean an "abstract talk" because today the following is known
for sure: chips of the Intel Core Duo family will operate not only as
part of the mobile PC of the Intel Centrino Duo platform, but also in
some models based on the Intel Viiv technology.
Inspired by successful sales of Centrino kits for many years,
Intel last year decided to re-use the experience of delivering finished
and mutually certified base components for building reliable computer
systems (not just standalone components) in other sectors –
servers, desktop PCs, smart-phones, and communicators. We will see very
soon what will come of the idea of turning a desktop computer into an
item of household electronics together with TV-sets, audio/video
systems, vacuum cleaners, because deliveries of systems based on the
Intel Viiv have already started. But that is a matter of another
material.
Another event that accompanied the announcement of the new
generation of the Centrino platform is Intel's complete
rebranding. Putting it in a human, not marketing talk, Intel
has started this year with a mass replacement of its slogans and
trademark names, as well as changes to the exterior of numerous logos -
corporate, branding, product-related.
For those who are used to finding their ways in the PC world
by the word "Pentium" heard over the TV are in for uneasy times: they
will have to learn new unknown terms which will now be used in
combination with the company name.
For reference: Intel's current rebranding is merely the third
for the whole history the company has been around. Of the previous
versions, we can now recall the Intel Memory
brand introduced in 1985, then the Intel Pentium
which was introduced in 1987 and further commercialized in 1988, as
well as Intel Centrino which was the
first try of Intel's in the field of platforms that came into being in
March 2003. Try memorizing the below logos: while today they still can
be seen on various products, they will be a museum exhibits in quite a
short time.
So, what comes as a replacement? In exchange of the old logos,
there have come new ones made in a unified style. For instance, this is
how Intel's new corporate logos look:
This is how logos for mobile and desktop PC platforms look
(above the line) and the logos of Intel's processors for mobile,
desktop and server systems:
In the solid residue - the way the inscription of the company
name has been changed, the delineation started looking absolutely
different, and new brands have come into being. Today, we are talking
about introductions for the mobile platform, which are not only for
image-making.
The path of Centrino: from the platform concept to the
industry standard
The fourth generation of Intel Centrino for mobile PCs in the
form of Intel Centrino Duo presented
these days used to be codenamed Napa. The key improvements which make
the new version stand out from the previous platform codenamed Sonoma
can be classified over the four vectors of progress:
- Performance increase
– an increase up to 68% due to the use of new 2-core
processors (results of the SPECint_rate_base2000 test)
- Elongation of the offline battery-powered
operation – by up to 28% (according to
MobileMark 2005 tests for the processor, chipset and wireless components
- Building systems in a finer and lighter
form factor - reduction in the size of portable PCs by
over 30% due to shrinking the physical dimensions of the platform
components
- Expansion of wireless communication
capabilities – support for the most recent
security standards and wide selection of wireless connections
The name of the new platform - Intel Centrino Duo - quite
vividly shows its key design feature: use of Intel Core
Duo processors, first 2-core Intel chips for mobile PCs
(formerly having the working name Yonah)
created following the 65-nm process technology. Besides that, the full
kit of Intel components to assemble a notebook computer that pretends
to bear the Intel Centrino Duo logo, must contain the new-generation
chipset Intel 945 Express and the
wireless LAN adapter Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
with support for 802.11a/b/g protocols.
Prior to going into the technical details, let's finish with
the marketing details of the new Intel's mobile platform. In fact,
together with the notebooks which bear Intel Centrino Duo logos we'll
soon see novelties labeled as Intel Centrino
on the retail shelves. The major distinction between these versions, as
is easy to guess, is the use of 2-core (Yonah DC) and single-core
(Yonah SC) processors, respectively. Moreover, on the market there will
soon be notebooks with new 65-nm Intel's processors - both single-core
and dual-core, but in combination with third-party chipsets and
wireless adapters. As before, such portable PCs can't pretend for
bearing Centrino logos, but this time Intel has introduced special new
logos for mobile processor brands - Core Duo and Core Solo. Here is a
summary table for a distinct definition of the brand marking:
|
Napa
platform components
|
| Logo
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
| Platform |
Centrino Duo
|
Centrino
|
-
|
| Processor |
Core Duo
|
Core Solo
|
Core Duo
|
Core Duo
|
Core Solo
|
Core Solo
|
| Chipset |
i945GM, i945PM
|
Third-party
(other than Intel)
|
i945GM, i945PM
|
Third-party
(other than Intel)
|
| Wireless
LAN module |
Intel 3945ABG
|
Partners' (other
than Intel)
|
But the issue of marking to be used for Core Duo/Solo series
processors with the cut-down L2 cache is still "in the air" (I am
absolutely sure that chips similar to Celeron M will emerge within one
or two quarters). Most likely, the respective logos will just be
presented at the moment of their announcement.
Describing the overall specifications of notebooks based on
Intel Centrino Duo for mobile PCs, Intel accentuates the improved 3D
graphics, use of the HDTV, support for 7.1-channel Intel High
Definition Audio with Dolby Digital. On the whole, notebooks
demonstrate an increasing productivity due to a higher performance in
the multitasking environment and improved facilities for shared work,
as well as support for IP-telephony, IP-videoconferencing and prolonged
time of offline battery operation.
The new platform also supports Intel Active Management
Technology and Intel Virtualization Technology which improve the
manageability and security of the PC, with the small dimensions of
components making it possible to create notebooks of varied designs
within a wide size range. It should be also mentioned that the
operation life can be prolonged with the operating costs cut down with
Intel Stable Image Program, There is also the possibility to prepare it
for Windows Vista due to graphics optimized for the new Aero GUI.
Intel Core Duo and Core Solo processors
Along with the new 65-nm process technology used in the
production of Core Duo (Yonah) chips, which allowed to reduce the
dimensions of transistors and increase the density of positioning
components on the chip, processors built on the Yonah core offer a
number of the following characteristics:
- Parallel execution of task branches on two cores with the
processor resources distributed
- Integrated L1 cache: 32 K for instructions and 32 K for data
- L2 cache - Intel Smart Cache,
2 MB in size, with support for the Advanced Transfer
Cache architecture that provides for efficient usage of
cache memory and the processor bus to boost performance of the 2-core
system and reduce the power consumption
- Intel Digital Media Boost - a
new item in the processor architecture to optimize processing of
instructions of the Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 class (SSE2)
and Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3),
which offers a much higher performance for resource-intensive tasks -
processing audio/video, images, 3D graphics, or scientific computations
- The Advanced Branch Prediction architecture which combines three
types of prediction– Global,
Bi-Modal, and Loop
Detector. The processors selects the most optimum
algorithm automatically, which cuts down the number of mis-predicted
branching
- System bus of 667
MHz speed, optimized for power consumption - uses the Source-Synchronous
Transfer (SST) protocol for transferring addresses and
data synchronously, which provides for increased bandwidth and data
transmission at a speed as 4 times as much of the system bus speed. The
Advanced Gunning Transceiver Logic (AGTL+),
a version of the GTL+ technology, with additional power-saving
- The Intel Dynamic Power Coordination
with the Dynamic Bus Parking feature -
"on-demand" coordination of the cores performance. Advanced features
for reducing the power consumption due to the Dynamic Bus Parking allow
cutting down the chipset's power consumption while the processor is
running at reduced clock speeds. The Intel Dynamic Power Coordination
allows each core to switch to the Halt, Stop Clock, and Deep Sleep
states dynamically, and in the 2-core mode – synchronously to
the Deeper and Enhanced Deeper Sleep modes. The distributed logic of
the chip's power consumption control coordinates operation of the
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep mode as well as switching between the
C-states, which results in low supply voltage operation for Core Duo
chips and minimum heat dissipation in the active state
- The advanced Intel Deeper Sleep
technology with the Dynamic Cache Sizing feature
- implies that the core voltage on the processor can be reduced to a
level even less than that defined by the Deeper Sleep technology.
Dynamic Cache Sizing – a new power-saving mechanism that
allows the Intel Smart Cache system to disengage the system memory
dynamically on demand or whenever it is not in use
- Support for the new generation of supply voltage control
system - Intel Mobile Voltage Positioning (Intel MVP VI)
optimized for 2-core mobile chips
- Intel Advanced Thermal Manager
using the Digital Temperature Sensor. Intel
Advanced Thermal Manager is in charge of a more precise control of
thermal modes and more precise control of acoustic performance of the PC
- Support for Execute Disable Bit
- Intel Virtualization Technology -
hardware extension for client and server systems, which combined with
respective software allows to raise performance and efficiency of
concurrent use of a number of corporate and user applications
- Options of the housing make: Intel Core Duo - Micro
Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array (Micro-FCPGA),
for 479-pin ZIF-connector (Zero Insertion Force), more known as mPGA479M,
and Micro Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array (Micro-FCBGA)
for assembly with soldering, Low Voltage and Ultra Low Voltage Core Duo
- Micro-FCBGA
Commenting on the changes that have appeared in the Yonah chip
as compared to the previous generations, apart from implementation of
the 2-core mechanism with shared distributed resources, we can also
note the increase of the bus speed– from 533 MHz in the
Dothan core to 677 MHz in Yonah, as well as the newly added support for
SSE3 instructions, plus the mechanism of merging micro operations SSE,
SSE2 and SSE3 on the background of improved algorithm for
floating-point computations and some other instructions of the SSE set.
Of the huge set of new "4 Ts" technologies which includes the
LaGrande hardware security, Vanderpool virtualization, support for
64-bit EM64T extensions (Extended Memory 64 Technology, i.e. Clackamas)
and multithreading on the level of a single core - Hyper-Threading, the
Intel Core Duo chips feature in support for the Vanderpool, which is
still at the level of future implementation. Anyway, we shouldn't dream
of the LaGrande implementation until the Microsoft Vista (Longhorn) has
been released, whereas support for EM64T and the 36-bit of physical
address (64 GB) memory space seems to be implemented in Merom cores.
Frankly, for those who are into using Core Duo chips according to its
intended use – in notebooks, it's not a great loss, but those
who are after building new blade-servers will have to be content with
what's there or wait for the next generation of chips. With
Hyper-Threading, the situation is still the same: until the
SMT-architecture is implemented, we'll use 2-core Yonah in the 2-thread
mode due to two cores.
A few words on the scheme for marking the new generation of
Intel mobile processors - the so-called Processor Numbers.
Marking of all Intel Core/Core Duo chips is made up of the
single-letter prefix and a 4-digit number. The letter has a direct
connection to the classification of the TDP chip. Currently, there are
four letters reserved for Intel Core/Core Duo processors:
- E - TDP over 50 W
- T - TDP about 24 - 49 W
- L - TDP about 15 - 24 W
- U - TDP below 14 W
The first digit of the 4-digit index stands for the number of
cores: the 2-core Intel Core Duo (Yonah DC), therefore, is indexed as
2XXX, whereas the 1-core Intel Core Solo (Yonah SC) as 1XXX. The
remaining three digits stand for the performance index relative to
other chips of the family, in 100 increments, although I wouldn't be
surprised if the increment turns smaller once new buses or other
improvements to the cores come up.
To date, the line of 2-core Intel Core Duo processors includes
the chips T2300, T2400, T2500 and T2600 which sell at the wholesale
prices (for 1000 pcs onwards) set to $241, $294, $423, and $637,
respectively. The Core Duo T2700 chip of 2.33 GHz clock speed is
expected to be released in the second half of 2006, most likely in the
third quarter, then we can expect the news of the emergence of first
Merom chips. The family of single-core Intel Core (Yonah) processors is
currently represented by one chip - the T1300 (package FCBGA6/FCPGA6)
which offers 2 MB of L2 cache, supports the 1.66 GHz clock speed and
FSB 667 MHz (wholesale price - $209).
At the same time, Intel has also started deliveries of Low
Voltage 2-core Core Duo L2400 and L2300 processors which offer 2 MB of
L2 cache, support for 667 MHz FSB, and clock speeds 1.66 GHz and 1.50
GHz ($316 and $284, respectively). To be fair, I note that Intel's
documentation also mentions the first Ultra Low Voltage 2-core Intel
Core Duo U2500 processor, but it is not yet included
into the price list, so I can't yet tell the specifications, except
that the system bus of Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core Duo processors runs
at 533 MHz, with the nominal clock speed being 1.06 GHz. They say that
U2500 along with its single-core brother Intel Core Solo
U1300 will appear soon enough.
As regards the wholesale price of the kit required to obtain
the Centrino Duo/Centrino logo, let me bring in a couple of examples.
The "maximum kit" comprising a processor T2600, integrated Intel 945GM
chipset, and a Wi-Fi module Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG will cost $706;
a kit made up of a single-core T1300, discrete Intel 945PM and Intel
PRO/Wireless 3945ABG adapter will cost merely $274 of wholesale price.
For details of the list with the additional price info, read the
official Intel's
price-list page.
The key specifications of all the new-generation Intel mobile
chips have been summarized into the below table.
|
Key
specifications of Intel Core Duo/Solo platform processors
|
| |
Max
performance
|
Battery
power supply
|
|
Brand
|
CPU
|
Clock speed
|
TDP
|
Core
|
Clock speed
|
TDP
|
Core
|
| Core Duo |
T2600 |
2.16
GHz |
31 W |
1.63 -
1.3 V |
1 GHz
|
13.1 W
|
0.95 V
|
| T2500 |
2 GHz |
| T2400 |
1.83
GHz |
| T2300 |
1.66
GHz |
| L2400 |
1.66
GHz |
15 W |
1.21-1 V |
| L2300 |
1.5
GHz |
| Core
Solo |
T1300 |
1.66
GHz |
27 W |
1.63-1.3 V |
As you see, things have not yet got round to chips with TDP of
50 W, however, it is probable that such chips will work as part of
notebooks of the DTR class (Desktop Replacement) or in systems of the
Intel Viiv platform. Processors of the ULV class will fall within the
category indexed U, while the classical versions - within the class T,
and LV versions - within the L category.
I'd like to draw your attention to the fact well seen from the
above table: the clock speed of all the new Intel Core Duo/Solo
processors with the SpeedStep technology enabled drops to a level below
1 GHz. Despite that the TDP of 2-core Core Duo chips is normed at 31 W,
in the saving mode at the core voltage 0.95 V the chips are able
"fitting within" the TDP at merely 13.1 W, which can be called an
excellent indicator for such an important component of the new
generation of notebooks.
According to the documentation for the previous generation of
Centrino platform, Dothan processors offer TDP at about 27 W, the LV of
the Dothan version - about 10W and ULV of the Dothan version - about
5.5 W. With Yonah cores, the classification turns somehow complicated:
the TDP of a typical 2-core Yonah DC chip of T class is normed at 31 W,
for the single-core Yonah SC - at 27 W, of the 2-core LV Yonah DC chip
- 15 W, the ULV version of Yonah DC chip - 9 W, single-core Yonah SC
chip - 5.5 W. As you see, there is some reduction of the dissipated
power even among 2-core chips as compared to their 1-core predecessors.
However, we won't be happy for long: the new generation of 2-core Merom
chips will offer the TDP of about 34 W, which will make the indicator
get closer to 35 W in the good old Pentium 4-M of three years age.
 |
Top Stories: |
 |
 |
|
MoBo:
| |
|
|
VGA Card:
|
|
|
|
CPU & Memory:
|
|
