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Next-gen Atom to clock above 1GHz

'Moorestown' CPU gets auto-overclock tech

IDF Intel's 'Lincroft' Atom system-on-a-chip for handheld internet devices - including high-end smartphones - will clock to more than 1GHz, it has emerged.

The chip giant isn't saying what the part's 'standard' clock speed will be. The gigahertz frequency is what the chip - the main processing component of the upcoming 'Moorestown' Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform - can achieve momentarily through its Burst Performance Mode.

Like the Turbo Boost facility introduced with the 'Nehalem' desktop and mobile CPU architecture, BPM allows Lincroft to automatically overclock itself if data from its thermal sensors show it can do so safely.

The logic of this sudden burst of performance is that it allows Lincroft's processor to get the job in hand done more quickly. In turn, the CPU is able to return to idle mode sooner, saving power. According to Intel, it's better to spend power overclocking the CPU briefly than running it at a lower frequency for longer.

Lincroft will also overclock its memory bus - its memory controller will support regular DDR 2 and low-power DDR 1 chips - to minimise latency while the CPU is itself overclocked.

Exceeding 1GHz is a key goal for Intel's Atom designers, not least because rival ARM-based mobile processor, Qualcomm's 8250, clocks at 1GHz today.

Lincroft, the successor to today's 'Silverthorne' Atom processors incorporates not only a CPU core - the same 'Bonnell' design found in Silverthorne - but also a graphics engine, memory controller, and video decode and encode engines.

It will be accompanied an I/O chip, 'Langwell', and is due to ship mid 2010. ®

Latest Comments

Overclock mode

Will devices using this chip(set) have "turbo" buttons and the obligatory 3-digit display for the FSB speed?

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Anonymous Coward

Overclocking?

When I were a lad, 'overclocking' meant pushing a chip above and beyond what it was warranted for by the manufacturer, sometimes beyond the bounds of stability.

Are we now saying that Intel are shipping chips which may not work at top speed, which may even be unstable? If not, where's the overclocking? I realise that most Windows systems wouldn't notice hardware instability if it hit them in the face, they'd usually quite rightly blame the OS, but users of phones based on something other than Windows Mobile might care.

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The future

In 10 years i reckon desktop/notebook/mobile cpus will be pretty much the same speed.

Insane.

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This round will go to ARM as well

@Wilco 1: In addition the Cortex-A9 has higher performance per clock than the Atom, so the Atom will really need its Burst Performance Mode hackery to compete. In addition I am not convinced that Intel knows what a mobile SoC should be - i.e., a single chip (maybe a MCM for the RAM, like the iPhone) that incorporates all of the application processor needs.

I assume the article means "brick with a screen and phone" when it writes "high-end smartphone" in relation to Atom?

To be fair to Atom, I expect the next generation 800MHz Atom to use less power than the current generation, and to be far more aggressive (like a badger) in idle. The generation after (on 22nm) will be the one to look out for, that will be up against 28nm ARM Cortex A9s I expect.

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How about <1W first?

The competition next year will be 40nm dual core 800MHz Cortex-A9 using 0.5W (in total, not per core). Current Atoms need 2-4W per core. Let's see whether Intel can do less than 1W with one core close to 1GHz - now that would be an achievement.

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