Intel "Skylake-U" Ultra Low Power CPU Lineup Detailed

[btarunr]

Intel's upcoming Core "Skylake-U" low-power processors, for ultra-portable notebooks, tablets, convertibles, and fan-less desktops, is where the fruition of Intel's 14 nm process takes shape. These dual-core chips, spanning all five brand extensions - Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium, and Celeron, offering TDP as low as 7.5W, and no more than 15W. The lineup is kept slim, with no more than 2 SKUs per extension. All three Core extensions feature Intel HD 520 graphics, clocked around 350 MHz, with 1000 to 1050 MHz boost, while the Pentium and Celeron models feature slimmer HD 510 graphics, ticking at 300/900 MHz.

The lineup is led by the Core i7-6600U and i7-6500U. Besides HyperThreading enabling 4 logical CPUs, these two chips feature 4 MB L3 cache, 1050 MHz iGPU boost frequency, and the highest CPU clock-speeds in the series. The Core i5 chips differ from their Core i7 counterparts with sub-3 GHz CPU clock speeds, 3 MB L3 cache, and maximum iGPU boost frequency of 1000 MHz. The Core i3 parts are almost identical to their Core i5 counterparts, except they lack CPU Turbo Boost. The Pentium processors feature very low CPU core speeds, and are almost identical to Core i3, but feature lower 950 MHz iGPU boost frequency, and 2 MB L3 cache. Celeron parts lack HyperThreading. Some of these parts will launch in 2015, others in 2016. Find the exact clock speeds for each SKU in the table below.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[tabascosauz]

Disappointing: i5 ULV still at 3M of L3, TDP not reduced below 15W.

Nice: 2.6GHz base clock at 15W for i7-6600U (i7-4510U @ 2GHz)

I guess this still leaves room for a Core M announcement. Looking good for efficiency so far. I wonder if Carrizo's 15W variants will be of some competition this time.

 

[Sakurai]

So... my family is looking for a laptop. How longer should I hold out for a skylake and Windows 10 laptop? Next month?

 

[zsolt_93]

I want to see HQ and MQ Intel... Not even Broadwell got into the stores in my country. It seems late to buy a Haswell chip now, and dont want to downgrade from the Sandy quad i have. I am upgrading as my laptop is used more than my home pc and it started to show its age, no SSD , weak GPU, bad screen at low res, etc. But i just cannot go dual core now, not even the fastest one with base speed equaling mines turbo clock will beat it still.

 

[hojnikb]

Finally, Celerons and Pentiums are back with BIG cores.
None of that silvermont nonsense.

 

[zsolt_93]

That Silvermont nonsense, usually beats these pentiums/celerons in multithread. And these chips are pretty rare, why sell it as Celeron when it can do at least an i3s performance, i dont think the yield is so bad that many chips come out with deffective ht or cannot turbo succesfully to the designated frequecy. And you get a horrible GPU, some Silvermont notebook models come with a Geforce 920M recently which puts them on par with the rest of the field on graphical perf.

 

[techy1]

those "base" clocks are only for the "paper" - they will plumet below 1.0 MHz... as soon as they will get warm or the algoritm catches itself, that it will drain battery in 10 minutes (if it will keep clocks above 2.0 MHz)

 

[hojnikb]

That Silvermont nonsense, usually beats these pentiums/celerons in multithread.

What chips ?

There is no way in hell, that silvermont beats full blown broadwell/skylake cores. Even when we compare 4 core silvermont vs 2+2 big core.

Silvermont is great for tablets and setop boxes, but thats pretty much it.

 

[hojnikb]

those "base" clocks are only for the "paper" - they will plumet below 1.0 MHz... as soon as they will get warm or the algoritm catches itself, that it will drain battery in 10 minutes (if it will keep clocks above 2.0 MHz)

Speaking outta your a*** i see.

 

[tabascosauz]

those "base" clocks are only for the "paper" - they will plumet below 1.0 MHz... as soon as they will get warm or the algoritm catches itself, that it will drain battery in 10 minutes (if it will keep clocks above 2.0 MHz)

The saying goes, "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." I'd like to add all ignorant misinformation to the mix, as you don't seem to have owned a i7-4510U, like I have.

I have a Dell Inspiron 14 7000. I know full well that it allows a single core to boost to 3.1GHz, but when both cores come online at full load, 2.0GHz is the order of the day. Not one bit more, not one bit less. Does it have an impact on my battery life? Yes, of course. Will it drain in 10 minutes? Probably not. Would it perform worse if the laptop was horribly designed? Yes. Are you pulling random stuff out of your ass to present as "facts"? Most definitely.

The world needs more information and less BS.

 

[Easo]

those "base" clocks are only for the "paper" - they will plumet below 1.0 MHz... as soon as they will get warm or the algoritm catches itself, that it will drain battery in 10 minutes (if it will keep clocks above 2.0 MHz)

Do you have some kind of hate against CPU's?
I have HP 840 G1 with i7-4600U at work, and I can tell that you are just writing some BS...

 

[zsolt_93]

Intel Pentium 3558U - Cinebench R15 multicore: 129
Intel Pentium N3540 -(Silvermont nonsense) -Cinebench R15 multicore: 157
from the data at notebookcheck.com

 

[Prima.Vera]

I have to understand something. Why would anyone buy anything less than an i3 ?? Just curious.

 

[zsolt_93]

Maybe because you can get a laptop for the office for the price of a midrange smartphone?

 

[crsh1976]

I have to understand something. Why would anyone buy anything less than an i3 ?? Just curious.

There's a huge market for sub-$500 laptops, and frankly for people like my parents, they don't need much more than a Celeron chip to allow them to go on Facebook and watch a video or two.

 

[GreiverBlade]

There's a huge market for sub-$500 laptops, and frankly for people like my parents, they don't need much more than a Celeron chip to allow them to go on Facebook and watch a video or two.

yep sub 500$ are sweet that's why i got a Dell Vostro 15 3549 with a i5-5200U 4gb C11 (upgraded to 8gb C9) and a 500gb 5.4k(replaced with a 500gb 7.2k to test but the 5.4 was enough) well the other in the price range where only pentium celeron and some i3

after a couple of week with it (and win10 upgrade to test it) quite satisfied, even handle light gaming
strongly reduced settings for some game but in 768p not that bad

 

[GhostRyder]

It looks like (Based on the charts) the i5 6300U is going to be the sweet point of performance of all the processors based on its specs. If the price is right, its going to be the best all around for general use in my book. Would not mind having one myself to replace the 3317U in my Surface Pro (if the new Surfaces have those processors soon) though I doubt I would replace it anytime soon.

 

[HisDivineOrder]

No dual core chip, not even with hyperthreading, should have ever been allowed the i7 monicker.

 

[tabascosauz]

No dual core chip, not even with hyperthreading, should have ever been allowed the i7 monicker.

Why not? i7 denotes "top of the product stack", not four cores and hyperthreading.

The mobile Intel CPU market is split into four: extremely low power, ULV, low power mobile (which includes Crystalwell parts), and higher power mobile/extreme edition. Mobile i7s encompass the most powerful CPUs in each of the three categories (which cannot be considered as one, since there are many different types of laptops and power envelopes); for Haswell, the -Y i7s were dominant in the ultra-low TDP category, the i7-4600U took the 15W ULV category, the i7-4600M the conventional 30-40W mobile category, and the HQs and MQs the 40W+ category, as well as usual i7 EEs as the desktop replacement / extreme edition category. A i7-4600U with a TDP of 15W is every bit a i7 as a i7-4940MX that draws 57W at load. The latter isn't going to work out in an ultrabook, the same way that Core M isn't designed for an Alienware 17".

It's not like AMD can escape such segmentation in the mobile market either. The A10 Micro-6700T from the Mullins family carries the A10 moniker, but doesn't stand a chance against the likes of the A10-7400P, because they are designed for entirely different TDP targets. Similarly, both A10s are technically at the top of their category for performance, with the Micro-6700T coming out on top of the sub-10W processors and the A10-7400P being one of the most powerful higher-wattage processors (save for the FX-7500P) that AMD can put in a mobile design.

i7 on mobile is different from i7 on desktop; one is not "truer" than the other.

 

[Prima.Vera]

There's a huge market for sub-$500 laptops, and frankly for people like my parents, they don't need much more than a Celeron chip to allow them to go on Facebook and watch a video or two.

Those crappy Celeron chips cannot even play 1080p movies properly. Not to mention that if you have a lot of apps started on the same time, the laptop becomes so slow, you feel like throwing it to the window....

 

[Blue-Knight]

Those crappy Celeron chips cannot even play 1080p movies properly.

My celeron can decode high bandwidth "1080p H.264" @ 54 fps. Enough for most movies.

the laptop becomes so slow, you feel like throwing it to the window....

I guess it only applies to laptops then...

 

[johnspack]

but can it run lollipop? sorry... just had to....

 

[micropage7]

but can it run lollipop? sorry... just had to....

sorry M is on the way now

btw its a nice news when processor goes below 20 watts, i hope they gonna release the same wattage for desktop

 

[Uplink10]

I have to understand something. Why would anyone buy anything less than an i3 ?? Just curious.

Because they are cheaper.

i7 on mobile is different from i7 on desktop; one is not "truer" than the other.

Mobile i7 is underclocked and waste of money, it would be better if you could set the frequency in firmware and then regulate yourself how powerful and how long your battery life would be.

Those crappy Celeron chips cannot even play 1080p movies properly. Not to mention that if you have a lot of apps started on the same time, the laptop becomes so slow, you feel like throwing it to the window....

Depends which CPU is it. Celeron branded chips can be Atom or Ivy Bride or Haswell... But even Celeron Atom like 2840N can play BD without problems.

Edit: fixed the links