First Intel Core M "Broadwell" Benchmarks Surface

[Kaapstad]

Here are some of the first benchmarks of Intel's ambitious Core M processor, a performance-segment dual-core processor with a thermal envelope of just 4.5W, making it ideal for tablets, ultra-portables, and mainstream desktops. At IDF 2014, Intel showed off a 12.5-inch tablet running a Core M 5Y70 chip. An MCM of the CPU and PCH dies, the CPU die features two "Broadwell" 64-bit x86 cores, a large new graphics processor with 24 execution units and 192 stream engines, 4 MB of shared L3 cache, a dual-channel LPDDR3 memory controller, and a PCI-Express 3.0 root complex. The PCH die wires out the platform's various connectivity options.

The 12.5-inch Core M tablet was put through three tests, Cinebench R11.5, SunSpider 1.0.2, and 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited. With the multi-threaded CPU-intensive Cinebench R11.5, the Core M scores a respectable 17 FPS in the GL bench, with 2.48 pts CPU. That's about 60 percent the performance of a Core i7-870. Significantly higher than anything Atom, Pentium, or AMD E-Series. With SunSpider, the Core M put out a score of 142.8, under Internet Explorer 12 running under Windows 8.1. With 3DMark IceStorm Unlimited, the Core M sprung up a surprise - 50,985 points. That over double that of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, and faster than the IGPs AMD E-Series APUs ship with. Color us interested.

http://www.techpowerup.com/205084/first-intel-core-m-broadwell-benchmarks-surface.html

 

[McstylisT]

Blowing all the competition out the water it seems. Imagine that in a phone or ipad

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is the actual benchmark run by an Intel employee on a Core M tablet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIKpypEeo7U&feature=youtu.be

You might notice something weird about the benchmark run,especially consider it does not appear to be edited.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Some posters over on Anandtech forums noticed some interesting points.

Intel's Fastest Processor Ever.....and the Burst Mode Trick.

The tiny "4.5W" Core M seemingly humiliates the previous record holders,
including the Core i7 4790 Devil's Canyon running at a burst speed of 4.4GHz.

I guess we will see many claim that Intel's new 14nm process is now 20
times more power efficient as Intel's 22nm process or similar wild claims.
(Even though Intel itself never made such outrageous claims of course)


Those who know how Intel's Burst Mode work will understand how you
can produce these kind of miraculous benchmark result. They will wonder
instead if the new F-stepping can now officially be boosted to 4+GHz
for very short periods of time.

Here's explained how it works:

The figure at the bottom right with the three blue spikes explains it all.
The blue spikes mean that the processor is running at maximum frequency
while during the intervals the processor is basically halted.

Say with a single active core Broadwell at 14nm, running a 4+GHz requires
~18 Watt (would be very good!).

A power dissipation of 4.5 Watt would mean that the processor is bursting
at maximum frequency during 25% of the time and idle during 75% of the
time to cool down.

You can't measure this at the outside of the package because the on-
package voltage regulators and capacitors take care of the large power
and current spikes. From the outside you only see a processor using
4.5 Watt.

The benchmark can't see this either. It measures the "process-time"
when the processor is active and running at maximum frequency.
The benchmark doesn't measure the time when the processor is idle
and cooling down. Therefor you get a benchmark result as if the
processor is running always at maximum burst frequency.


Hans.

There is also the problem of whether the sw stack is also helping inflate scores over exisiting reviews too.

This copper plate makes direct contact with the aluminum housing of the tablet, so essentially the table housing itself is one gigantic heatsink.

The heatsink of the reference tablet is massive.

I think we need some third party reviews first of production Core M tablets first - it looks a decent performing SOC,but I would rather see realworld performance first.

 

[tbh]

4.5W is Atom territory; if Broadwell-Y finds it way into tablets then where does that leave Airmont?