Unlocked Socketed 65W Broadwell Iris Pro Desktop CPU Demoed by Intel at GDC15
by Ian Cutress on March 5, 2015 1:22 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Trade Shows
- Overclocking
- Broadwell
- Crystal Well
- Iris Pro
- Unlocked
- 65W
- 14nm
- GDC15
The next twelve months are set to be exciting times for the desktop space for Intel. While the current fifth generation mobile processors are coming to market, and the sixth generation being talked about in hushed tones, Intel demonstrated a PC that was listed as having a Broadwell desktop part (Broadwell-DT). The interesting culmination of factors surrounding this part is that it was listed as being socketed, unlocked and containing Iris Pro internal graphics.
The key elements here include the CPU being socketed (replaceable), unlocked (overclockable) and having Iris Pro, or Intel’s extended eDRAM segmentation usually under the Crystal Well name but with the much improved Generation 8 graphics architecture. While we have heard that an unlocked Iris Pro has been coming to desktop since March last year, very few details were given at the time, and the news today at least puts a TDP on such a part: 65W. Normally the high end SKUs from Intel are 77W to 85W, suggesting that this component may not in actual fact be an i7, or it could be an Iris Pro part but using one of the low power monikers such as ‘S’.
Image from Intel
The news also puts on a more firm date, so rather than ‘2015’ we get ‘mid-2015’, which puts it within the May to September timeframe. There are two important events occurring between those dates - Computex in June and the Intel Developer Forum in August, suggesting that Intel may aim for one of these events to have a formal launch.
Despite the launch of 14nm on the desktop, there has been recent talk of Intel’s next architecture, Skylake, also occurring within the year. This puts Intel in an interesting dynamic of releasing two different platforms for desktop within the same year. One could speculate and suggest that these will synergistically work in tandem, with Skylake-DT taking a segment and Broadwell-DT taking another segment. Where mobile fits into all this as well is difficult to tell, especially given the launch of Broadwell-U and Core-M within the past few months.
As much as we would like more information, it seems that the only thing we can tell is that the motherboard being used looks like an EVGA design due to the right angled power connector. Intel is also stating that the Iris Pro model will be great for all-in-ones (no argument there) which could also feature its RealSense camera, enhancing compute power and interactivity. It would be interesting if a socketed Iris Pro was truly aimed at the AIO market, but then such a SKU would not need to be unlocked. Unlocking for the purposes of overclocking is naturally aimed at the desktop market, although usually for gamers with discrete GPUs rather than Iris Pro.
Naturally we want to get our hands on a sample for review. Ryan is at GDC this week so if he gets a chance to spend a few minutes with the system it would be interesting to hear what they actually represented in the demo as well as more information about the system itself.
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D. Lister - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
4K@60fps gaming with an iGPU, and an Intel iGPU no less? LOL... that is all. :)Novacius - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
They just mean display support, not gaming. That would be ridiculous.D. Lister - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Yeah I got it :), he said "60fps", instead of "60Hz".MrSpadge - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Crystal Well also works as cache for the CPU, or at least that's how it worked with Haswell. This can give double digit performance increases in some applications (and nothing in others). People should not only dismiss Iris Pro just because they're using a discrete GPU. A 4.5 GHz Broadwell with a 10% performance boost from Crystal Well is almost as fast as a 5.0 GHz Broadwell without the cache.Samus - Friday, March 6, 2015 - link
If Intel doesn't launch this, I'm switching to AMD for my next platform based on principle alone. I upgraded my motherboard from an H87 to H97 last year SPECIFICALLY to be guaranteed an upgrade path. If Broadwell DT becomes vaporware I think a lot of people (millions of people) are going to be pissed for the same reason. What was the point of the 90-series chipset (other than adding bootable "M2") if they aren't going to make a CPU for it?D. Lister - Friday, March 6, 2015 - link
"I'm switching to AMD for my next platform based on principle alone."Absolutely. AMD is the one to side with, i.e. if one cares the slightest for professional integrity. Well spoken sir, well spoken indeed. Not many men have the moral strength to spend money on a technologically inferior product just for upholding their principles. We must all take the example of this great man and buy AMD CPUs from now on. *two thumbs up*
Samus - Friday, March 6, 2015 - link
LOL. Well put.I think some people, like me, are just tired of being bent over by Intel. But of course many people like being ass raped, lied to and thrown around like a ragdoll by the Intel pimp.
D. Lister - Friday, March 6, 2015 - link
"I think some people, like me, are just tired of being bent over by Intel."This is modern business mate - everyone wants to bend the customer over. So if you KNOW you're gonna get bent over, then better bend over for the ones who know what they're doing.
"But of course many people like being ass raped"
<nitpicking> If someone likes it, you can't technically call it rape. lol, maybe they're just into rough love. </nitpicking>
Anyhow, *ahem* moving on...
CPUGPUGURU - Saturday, March 7, 2015 - link
"I think some people, like me, are just tired of being bent over by Intel."Why did you buy a Intel rig, nobody forced you to, you had the choice to waste your money on a hot watt sucking IPC cripple obsolete AMD CPU but you instead choose to get, "bent over by Intel, WHY?
Was it because Intel offered a massive performance per watt advantage, or was it because Intel CPUs don't bottle neck high end GPUs and give you a SLI option when needed without choking your GPU investment to a slow stuttering death.
If you hate Intel so much for pushing new tech why did you feel compelled to buy Intel, please tell us all why you submitted to being bent over by Intel when you're so in love with AMD and its hot watt wasting IPC cripple CPUs ? People want to know why did a AMD lover buy a Intel rig ?
Do tell, please do tell us all why a AMD fan boy who hates Intel pushing new tech ends up buying a Intel rig?
Kutark - Sunday, March 8, 2015 - link
I'm still laughing at the lack of response from him. I love how people equate not having EXACTLY to the T a product they specifically want, and that equals getitng raped/bent over, etc by the company. It would be like me complaining that Ford doesn't offer bright neon pink as a standard color option on the mustang, and if i want that i'd have to pay extra for some shop to repaint it, and Ford is bending me over, etc.