Intel Broadwell for desktops

The L3 being cut down is really, really disappointing I have to say. I don't get why they're doing that, they think desktops have lower processing power demands than laptops, what? Then again, having to buy new mobo to even use the CPU means it will be a very expensive upgrade regardless, so why bother. Also, 9-series chipsets won't support PCIe SATA, so that's another reason to wait.

Socket 1150 will be one of intel's gimpest sockets ever, right along with original pentium4 socket. Only one generation of CPUs using it. Bah.

 

And mobile chips command higher margins, thus Intel appears more eager to accept larger dies there.

 

It feels like socket 370 : second generation of socket 370 CPU didn't run in first generation socket 370 boards (I think). Though there was maybe a strap-on socket adapter.
Of course socket 775 was particularly heinous for this, four CPU gens and never forward compatibilty, but it lasted long and allowed to replace dead motherboard with readily available new one.

As for the cache, who cares : the end performance matters.
One severe example was Pentium II and Celeron, those were identical CPUs except for the L2, which was slow 512K on the former and fast 128K on the latter. Performance was identical assuming same clock and FSB.

 

I don't understand as I thought Broadwell was going to be a new improved graphics architecture anyway (Gen 8)? So even the GT2 version of the Broadwell iGPU should be significantly faster than than the i7-4770K.

So if we're adding in the GT3e version with 128MB L4 as well and we're stil lonly getting 80% more performance that's pretty rubbish isn't it?

Wouldn't the existing Haswell GT3e already be around 80% faster than the Haswell GT2? So where are the Broadwell core / 8th gen improvements?

 

Is it not going to have a 128 MB L4?

 

So it's getting around AMD APU level, and those work with only dual ddr3, no huge L4.
The improvement is not needing that L4, which has several benefits : $100 cheaper (or whatever the figure is), socketed version, and actually sold to end users.

Maybe Haswell GT3e is faster than Broadwell GT3 in some cases, and the reverse in some other cases.
If there's a Broadwell GT3e (with huge L4) it might be a lot faster again, could beat Kaveri? but it'll be expensive again, only found in Macbook and such.

 

I may be wrong, but I had the impression 2MB of the L3 was reserved in GT3e SKUs to manage the 128MB eDRAM L4, rather than being artificially fused off.

Edit: I am probably wrong. According to http://extremespec.net/intel-announced-8-types-crystals-haswell/ Haswell dies including GT3 graphics only physically have 6MB of L3.

 

Mobile core i7 haswells with the crystalwell die have full 8MB L3.

 

No, just 6MiB: http://ark.intel.com/search/advance...&GraphicsModel=Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200

 

The eDRAM is only for K series chips?

Hopefully they won't gimp the K series by removing TSX this time. That was a very bad move for the Haswell K chips IMO.

Anyway looks like I'll be sticking with the i5-3550 + GTX670 for quite some time. With the new consoles being so weak, even a quad core Sandy Bridge should last for many years to come. Kinda like the E6750 and GTX260 I bought in 2008. That rig still runs most games very well.

 

seems like it will be really boring in the desktop arena the next year or two at this point. Was really hoping to see some type of leap.

 

Depends on what you want. I'm actually fairly excited for more potential power savings. At this point I'm targeting Broadwell as the inflection point for upgrading my HTPC/WHS machine. It should be more performant and use less power than the Sandybridge based Core i3 that is currently powering it. Haswell is already there, but Broadwell should represent a larger jump. As well, I may no longer need a discrete graphics card in there which would lead to more power savings.

Will also see what AMD have available as competition around that point as well.

Regards,
SB

 

my e350 under windows 8.1 does a fine job at htpc stuff.

I was hoping for a monster of a desktop cpu

 

What for? Other than to play games, I mean.

 

Video editing would still see benefits. I'd have liked to have a Broad well with 8 cores and no igpu in it.

So gaming and video editing. I know its not a huge market but I think it be there none the less.

 

If that's what you want, Intel would prefer to sell you a Xeon or two.

 

They may prefer but that's to expensive for amateur video editing.

 

Excel spreadsheets could benefit a lot from lots of cores. I have a few sheets in work that can take seconds to minutes to update after each change.