Intel 2014 Enthusiast Processors: New Unlocked Iris Pro CPU Coming to Broadwell
by Ian Cutress on March 19, 2014 8:00 PM EST
In a somewhat uncharacteristic turn from Intel, we were hooked up and loaded in to a press conference call this week regarding the announcement of some exciting new products coming to market. The purpose of the press conference call was to explain some new technologies coming to the scene, as well as Intel stating that they are listening to their userbase, including enthusiasts. As an enthusiast, these announcements make me very excited, although they do produce more questions than they answer.
The announcement is the introduction of a socketed version of Iris Pro, coming to Intel’s Broadwell platform.
So the first big thing here is Iris Pro coming to a socketed platform, which we have requested since the release of Crystal Well BGA parts in devices like the Apple iMac and GIGABYTE BRIX Pro. This should allow users to build SFF socketed systems with Intel’s highest end integrated graphics. What was not mentioned was if this will be a new Iris Pro for Broadwell, or just another Iris Pro HD 5200 part with a Broadwell CPU.
The second big part from this one announcement is that the CPU is said to come fully unlocked. This should mean that the CPU multiplier, CPU strap, memory and the uncore should be fully adjustable - Intel have told us that this part will have a similar set of overclocking tools as the other unlocked parts. Intel are not disclosing what the limits are or what is expected, and equally no information regarding the release date, whether this CPU will come with the Broadwell CPU launch or at a later date afterwards.
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8steve8 - Saturday, March 22, 2014 - link
look closely, that nvidia image you linked to is comparing a 47W CPU/iGPU w/iris pro to a 15W CPU/iGPU w/840M... which is irrelevant since of course a 47W cpu system will take more than a 15w ultrabook class CPU system... even when it has an non-integrated GPU.. the one that takes more power in that comparison will have an order of magnitude more CPU performance.so let me revise my statement:
It's a pretty safe bet that a broadwell with iris pro will have lower power consumption than a broadwell with similar CPU performance with any non-integrated GPU.
hrga - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
It's nvidias slideware as usual. It actually doesnt measure nothing nor adequately compare. It just releases slides that will drool away users towards their camp. Once there they'll figure out for themselves they smoke something bad.Only thing i would have dedicated gpu from preferably ATi, povervr, nvidia above anything intels are eye candy features that in past always overcome intels robus effective office gpu which lacks support for true graphics on any contemporary d3d/ogl applications. but always overpromising they'll improve that when it comes into fancy just around corner (since 2006) raytracing apps.
Kevin G - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - link
Yes! Finally a desktop chip with the 128 MB of eDRAM L4 cache.Flunk - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - link
That's what I was thinking too. the iGPU for high end... no thanks. But that extra cache, it could be interesting to see what you could do with that.That iGPU would be good for media pcs too, but that's already possible with the BGA chips.
nevertell - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
It's the iGPU that ensures that AVX instructions actually bring a perfromance boost. The same goes for OpenCL applications, that, whilst are nonexistant at the moment, will work faster on a igpu that shares the same memory address space as the CPU than on a discrete GPU in most consumer/prosumer use cases.Flunk - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
Intel would need to bring some seriously big changes to their iGPUs to make that even remotely possible. AMD is a much better bet in that regard because of HUMA and their more compute-friendly GCN architecture.I'm always open to be proven wrong, in fact I encourage it. Please prove me wrong Intel!
Mondozai - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
"the iGPU for high end... no thanks"You're thinking of this from a desktop-centric perspective. The high-end iGPU is primarily for mobile. It would be weird to just cut it out of the processor for desktop. Also, you could stream 4K stuff easier with it than with weaker iGPUs. Most people are still on SB/IB.
larkhon - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
"You're thinking of this from a desktop-centric perspective."maybe because in the slide above it's written Iris Pro coming for 5th gen Desktop CPUs?
MrSpadge - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
Agreed - that's going to replace my 3770K! The eDRAM will keep the cores happy during heavy BOINC number crunching and will help significantly for iGPU number crunching (Einstein@Home) to supply that increased number of shaders. DDR3-2400 is barely enough for HD4000 with just 16 shaders!8steve8 - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - link
excited about this, haswell was the only generation I skipped in years in the desktop space.... because I don't game much, but enough to want the iris pro.