Intel's Haswell Reaches a Low 4.5 Watts SDP
Intel confirmed on Tuesday that a new fourth-generation Core processor will be available operating at as low as 4.5 watts SDP, or scenario design power, in addition to the 6 watt versions. Both chips will be available in the second half of 2013, and allow device makers to produce the first fanless 2-in-1 and tablet designs based on Core processors.
Back in September 2012, the company said that it had reduced the platform idle power of its fourth-generation Core "Haswell" processors by more than 20 times over the second-generation CPUs while delivering outstanding performance and responsiveness. The company also promised a new line of Haswell chips with even lower thermal envelopes based on the same microarchitecture in 2013.
"To spur even more innovation in mobile computing, Intel's new low-power chips based on 'Haswell' microarchitecture will broaden the company's mobile roadmap, initially operating at about 10 watts to enable thinner, lighter Ultrabook, convertible and tablet designs with better performance and battery life," the company said.
Then in early June, Intel launched the Core "Haswell" family. At the time, the company said it had exceeded its expectations on power reduction at the CPU level to as low as 6 watts and also worked across the system for power optimization. Active power was improved as was idle power by architecting new ultra low-power processor states where the CPU consumes a fraction of the power compared to previous idle states, the company said.
Now with a 4.5 watt Haswell chip in sight, consumers will see thinner, lighter laptops and hybrids (convertibles, laptops-tablets, whatever) because manufacturers may not need to compensate for CPU fans. The need for CPU cooling will likely rely on the device's overall focus: Will the consumer need a high-performance product, or a solution for word processing, Internet browsing and forum trolling? Whatever the case, fanless seems to be on the immediate horizon.
So far it's unclear whether tablet makers will use the low-power Haswell chip in their designs. Upcoming Windows-based tablets are expected to utilize the "Bay Trail" platform for Atom SoCs, but they won't deliver the performance of Intel's mainstream Core Haswell processors. That said, the low-power Haswell solution will likely reside in pricey, performance-driven solutions, whereas the Atom chip will drive cheaper, light-weight mainstream devices.
It will be interesting to see how the Atom and low-power Haswell chips play together in the mobile and laptops sectors. Look for the low-power Haswell chips to arrive later this year.

It's Intel's measurement of average heat output under typical tablet workloads. If you run something like prime95 or furmark on this platform with no thermal management (which is unlikely to happen), it'll probably hit it's full 11.5W TDP.
Interesting, which desktop Ivy Bridge processor is that? The lowest TDP Ivy Bridge SKU I'm aware of has a TDP of ~17W, and that's not a desktop part.
And in any case it wouldn't be the same. For ULV Haswell Intel worked a lot on not only CPU/GPU thermal management, but total platform thermal management as well. The PCH is now integrated on package, so that 4.5W SDP (11.5W TDP) is for the CPU, GPU, PCIe bus, memory controller, and south bridge.
Edit: The Pentium 2129Y has a 10W TDP, but again not a desktop processor.
Interesting, which desktop Ivy Bridge processor is that? The lowest TDP Ivy Bridge SKU I'm aware of has a TDP of ~17W, and that's not a desktop part.
And in any case it wouldn't be the same. For ULV Haswell Intel worked a lot on not only CPU/GPU thermal management, but total platform thermal management as well. The PCH is now integrated on package, so that 4.5W SDP (11.5W TDP) is for the CPU, GPU, PCIe bus, memory controller, and south bridge.
Edit: The Pentium 2129Y has a 10W TDP, but again not a desktop processor.
yeah i think he's talking about 10W at idle.
My desktop CPU is far faster though and is based on larger transistors, and bigger is better. It also is just flat out better.
Sound stupid? Its how most advertising works actually.
It makes very little sense to me for someone to say that without further context, in response to an article that discusses SDP and gives no figures for power consumption at idle... but you're probably right.
lol, yes, further illustrates the point.
Uhm no, and in graphics Amd APU destroys Haswell. Anything. There are 6w APU. It's interesting if software ever arrives to take advantage of gpu for cpu functions.
100+ million (likely to hit 150-200) APUs that will power major consoles disagree.
And once heavy multi-threading becomes a standard in game development, we'll see interesting changes on desktop...
Not to mention that "saving face" part is truly clueless. My wife's APU powered cheapo notebook destroys my i7 Lenovo in gaming, while costing 3 times less. I don't see any difference in speed when running Office or gmail, doh... Let me remember what on earth do I run it, that needs more CPU power.... Oh, eclipse IDE, but wait, still no noticeable difference...
News flash: for majority of users CPU performance DOES NOT MATTER for quite a while. 9 out of 10 gamers are better off sparing some bucks on overpriced Intel CPU+mobo combos and investing into GPUs instead.
Except multi-core CPUs have been standard on mid-range PCs for nearly 10 years already and remotely well threaded software is still the exception rather than the rule today even after 5+ years of multi-cored consoles.
If the better part of 10 years was not enough for programmers to get used to finding threaded solutions to their problems, I would not expect it to suddenly become particularly common within the next 5+ years. While having eight slow cores on consoles might motivate some programmers to make an extra effort to use more than 1-2, desktop ports are unlikely to make much effort to retain the extra threading if it can be ditched for simpler debugging since individual desktop cores are 2-3X as fast.
Time will tell but historic evidence says well-threaded games will likely remain an exception for the foreseeable future.