Intel has made a sweeping set of product and technology announcements, including 10th Gen Intel Core processors, a new gaming processor with an all-core turbo of 5GhZ, and details about its Project Athena innovation programme.
“No one wants to compromise; people want it all: battery life, performance, responsiveness, connectivity and slick form factors,” says Gregory Bryant, Intel senior vice-president and GM of the Client Computing Group. “Our job is to come together as an industry and deliver incredible and differentiated PCs, purpose built to what real people want. 10th Gen Intel Core processors – our most integrated CPU – and Project Athena are great examples of how our deep investments at a platform level will help fuel innovation across the industry.”
10th Gen Intel Core processors
Intel announced the first 10th Gen Intel Core processors, bringing high-performance AI to the PC at scale with IntelDeep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost). The processors are built on the company’s 10nm process technology, new “Sunny Cove” core architecture and new Gen11 graphics engine.
10th Gen Intel Core processors will range from Intel Core i3 to Intel Core i7, with up to four cores and eight threads, up to 4.1 max turbo frequency and up to 1,1GHz graphics frequency.
The 10th Gen Intel Core processors are expected to boost thin-and-light laptops and 2 in 1s, offering:
* Intelligent performance: Intel’s first processors designed to enable high-performance AI on the laptop, delivering approximately 2.5-times AI performance1 with Intel DL Boost for low latency workloads. The new graphics architecture delivers up to 1 teraflop of vector compute for heavy duty inference workloads to enhance creativity, productivity and entertainment on highly mobile, thin-and-light laptops. For low-power AI usages on the PC, Intel Gaussian Network Accelerator (GNA) is built into the SoC.
* A leap in graphics capabilities: New Intel Iris Plus graphics, based on the Gen11 graphics architecture, nearly doubles performance for better visual experiences. Reach pro-level content creation capabilities on the go with approximately 2x HEVC encode; watch 4K HDR in a billion colours; game with up to 2x faster FPS and play thousands of popular titles in 1080p.
* Best-in-class connectivity: Delivering both integrated Thunderbolt 3 and integrated Intel WiFi 6 (Gig+) for the first time to enable nearly 3-times faster wireless speeds alongside the fastest7 and most versatile port available. Intel’s Gig+ implementation of WiFi 6 connectivity delivers greater than 1Gbps wireless speeds8 with enhanced reliability and performance.
Intel’s highly integrated 10th Gen Intel Core processors give OEM partners the freedom to innovate on design and aesthetic by reducing the silicon footprint while still delivering the latest and greatest standards and world-class performance. The new 10th Gen Intel Core processors are now shipping.
Project Athena
Intel also shared more details on its innovation programme, code-named Project Athena, including the 1.0 target specification9 that will usher in the first wave of laptops in the second half of this year.
The company also previewed some of the first designs to come from partners spanning consumer and commercial including Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
Based on years of research to understand people’s needs, challenges and expectations of the laptop, the programme prioritises enabling experiences that are reflective of real-world conditions as measured by “key experience indicators” (KEI).
Intel developed the new KEI engineering metrics, used during the programme’s verification process, to test and drive consistent experiences on the laptop. Metrics are based on day-in-the-life research of laptop users at home or at work under real-world conditions. Intel’s goal for the new metrics is to work with the ecosystem to drive innovation that noticeably impacts people’s experiences on the laptop and evolve those capabilities year over year.
The first wave of KEI targets includes:
* Consistent responsiveness on battery;
* 16 or more hours of battery life in local video playback mode and nine or more hours of battery life under real-world performance conditions;
* System wake from sleep in less than one second.
The specification that will enable these experiences includes platform-level requirements – such as Thunderbolt 3, Intel WiFi 6 (Gig+), OpenVINO AI on PC compatibility and modern connected standby – across six areas: instant action, performance and responsiveness, intelligence, battery life, connectivity and form factor.
As part of Project Athena, Intel is providing co-engineering support across the ecosystem – with more than 100 companies signed on – and new tools and Open Labs facilities to support verification and testing of laptops.
More performance for gamers, enthusiasts, content creators and professionals
Intel made several more disclosures, including the announcement of the special edition 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900KS processor, which has been fine-tuned to deliver 5GHz all-core turbo.
For the first time, the company also showed the new Intel Performance Maximizer (IPM), an automated overclocking tool that brings overclocking to the masses by making it easy to dynamically and reliably custom-tune unlocked 9th Gen Intel Core desktop processors based upon their individual performance DNA.
IPM will be free and is part of the Intel Adaptix Technologies toolkit, a collection of advanced software technology tools that helps OEMs and consumers maximise platform-level performance and experience. The toolkit also includes Intel Dynamic Tuning Technology, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and Intel Graphics Command Center.
Intel also shared updates on three other product lines:
* Intel launched 14 new 9th Gen Intel Core vPro processors for high-performance mobile (H-series) and desktop (S-series) PCs, the highest performing business processors. Intel Core i9 vPro processors – with up to eight cores and 16 threads reaching up to 5GHz on desktop and up to 4,8GHz on mobile – join the Intel vPro platform for the first time, delivering better performance on demanding workloads for an exceptional business user experience, built-in security features, remote manageability and stability.
* Intel launched 14 new Intel Xeon E processors for mobile and desktop workstations that are purpose-built with professional-grade performance, real-time data analytics capabilities, built-in platform security features, and remote manageability features as part of the Intel vPro platform. For the first time, Intel Xeon E processors include: up to eight cores, 16 threads, 5GHz turbo frequency, WiFi 6 (Gig+), Intel Optane Memory H10 and 128GB DDR4-2666 ECC memory support.
* Intel announced that the new Intel Core X-series family of processors for premium creators will come this fall. These processors will bring frequency improvements, increased memory speed and updated Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0.