New Atom processor platform uses less power

SANTA CLARA, California — Benefiting from the company’s power-saving architecture, transistor and circuit design expertise, plus unique manufacturing process techniques, Intel Corp. has unveiled its newest Intel Atom processor-based platform (formerly “Moorestown”).

The technology package provides significantly lower power consumption and prepares the company to target a range of computing devices, including high-end smartphones, tablets and other mobile handheld products.

The chips bring Intel’s classic product strengths — outstanding performance to run a comprehensive and growing number of rich media and Internet applications, a choice of software, and the ability to easily multitask — across a number of applications, including HD video and multi-point videoconferencing. 

“Intel has delivered its first product that is opening the door for Intel Architecture (IA) in the smartphone market segment,” said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group.

“Through Moorestown, Intel is scaling the benefits of IA while significantly reducing the power, cost and footprint to better address handheld market segments. As a result of our efforts, the Intel Atom processor is pushing the boundaries of higher performance at significantly lower power to show what’s possible as handheld devices become small, powerful mobile computers,” added Chandrasekher.

The platform includes the Intel Atom Processor Z6xx Series Family (formerly “Lincroft” system-on-chip), the Intel Platform Controller Hub MP20 (formerly “Lang-well”) and a dedicated Mixed Signal IC (MSIC), formerly “Briertown.”

The platform has been re-partitioned to include the Intel Atom Processor Z6xx, which combines the 45nm Intel Atom processor core with 3-D graphics, video encode and decode, as well as memory and display controllers into a single sysyem-on-chip design.

It also includes the MP20 Platform Controller Hub which supports a range of system-level functions and I/O blocks. Additionally, a dedicated MSIC integrates power delivery and battery charging, and consolidates a range of analog and digital components.

Collectively these new chips deliver significantly lower power including >50x reduction in idle power, >20x reduction in audio power, and 2-3x reductions across browsing and video scenarios - all at the platform level when compared to Intel’s previous-generation product. 

These power savings translate into >10 days of standby, up to two days of audio playback and four to five hours of browsing and video battery life.

When combined with 1.5-3x higher compute performance, 2-4x richer graphics, >4x higher JavaScript performance, and support for full HD 1080p high-profile video decoding and 720p HD video recording, these low-power innovations bring a rich, PC-like visual experience to powerful handheld computers.

Building on the C6 state in the original Intel Atom processor design, the system-on-chip incorporates new ultra-low-power states (S0i1 and S0i3), which take it to 100 micro-watts.

At the platform level, Intel implemented a new, fine grain OS power management approach that manages the idle and active power states across all aspects of the system based on usage scenarios.

This software-managed technique applies aggressive power and clock gating across the system-on-chip’s power islands and system voltage rails.