Intel’s first two 32nm CPUs are code-named Clarkdale and Arrandale. The first is for the desktop market and the latter is for mobile platforms and notebooks. Together they are the first Nehalem-based processors to launch with a new manufacturing technology and the next tick of Intel’s “Tick, tock, tick, tock” model, which states that an architecture is first shrunk to a new process before a new architecture is introduced with said new process.
Clarkdale and Arrandale spawns from the Westmere architecture and much like Lynnfield it is still Nehalem at the very bottom, it’s just even smaller transistors being used.
This enabled Intel to, right next to the CPU cores, install a GPU chip inside the processor, which is really Intel’s first attempt on a CPU-integrated GPU. You should know that the integrated GPU is still made with 45nm technology and dubbed Graphics Media Accelerator HD with genes from Intel’s older integrated graphics circuits. The processors sport dual CPU cores with HyperThreading technology for up to four simultaneous threads.
According to Intel performance will be up to 50% higher than the current X4500HD chip found inside Intel’s latest chipsets and at IDF they offered some performance previews where they also talked about the new processors.
The better performance aside the new GPUs of the Westmere CPUs has full support for playing digital high definition audio formats (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD), which has been tricky not just with Intel’s integrated circuits but also AMD’s and NVIDIA’s solutions (only Radeon HD 5800 series fully supports this). This is in a system that consumed less than 30W when idle.
More information on Intel’s exciting 32nm processors can be found in the previews below.
:: Anandtech :: HotHardware :: Bit-Tech :: X-Bit labs ::
mini-ITX motherboard paired with Clarkdale in Intel’s demonstrations
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