Today's desktop replacements deliver a ridiculous amount of performance compared to the mobile flagships we've seen in the past. But these powerhouses come with a trade-off, other than their hefty price tags. You see, there is an unbreakable relationship between compute horsepower and power consumption.
On the desktop, processors based on Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture top out at 95 W. This is a significant improvement over the 130 W Bloomfield design, manufactured at 45 nm, since performance is higher in many cases. Nevertheless, it's still not realistic to use desktop-class CPUs in notebook shells and expect them to last very long on battery power. Then again, most of the folks who buy DTRs don't really care about keeping away from wall sockets. They're more interested in using those machines as workstations that transport easily from one power plug to the next. In that case, a larger form factor is fine and dandy.
To be fair, Bloomfield was never intended for notebooks. Neither was Lynnfield. The true first-generation Nehalem-based CPU aimed at the mobile space was Clarksfield. The second-generation that followed was Arrandale.
At the high end of the mobile space, Clarksfield kicks butt. You just need to take a peek under the hood of any DTR from a major system vendor. It is almost always a Clarksfield-based processor. There's a good reason behind this. Transitioning from the Core microarchitecture to Nehalem was a really big deal, both in terms of what it did for potential performance and power management. Truly, Nehalem-based mobile processors can go toe-to-toe with their desktop big brothers (if you don't believe us, read Thomas' coverage of the Clevo X1800).
Sandy Bridge Mobile: Core i7 At 55 W/45 W
Intel continues to use the Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 brands, suggesting good, better, and best. While we're still not sure that this is superior to what it had going with Centrino (now the designator for the company's wireless radio), we'll admit that the trio of Core brands is much better than AMD's attempt at marketing with Vision.
From an architectural standpoint, the mobile Core i7-2920XM and -2820QM are closely related to the desktop Core i7-2600K. With a smaller last-level cache and slower maximum graphic clock, the Core i7-2720QM and -2630QM fall somewhere between the Core i7-2600K and i5-2500K. Just keep in mind that the -2500K doesn't have the benefit of Hyper-Threading, so it's limited to 4C/4T. Meanwhile, all of Intel's new mobile CPUs feature Hyper-Threading support.
| i7-2920XM | i7-2820QM | i7-2720QM | i7-2630QM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $1096 | $568 | $378 | - |
| TDP | 55 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Core / Threads | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 |
| Base Clock | 2.5 GHz | 2.3 GHz | 2.2 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
| Max. Turbo Clock | 3.5 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.3 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
| Memory (MT/s) | 1333 | 1333 | 1333 | 1333 |
| L3 Cache | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| HD Graphics | 3000 | 3000 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Max. Graphics Clock | 1300 MHz | 1300 MHz | 1300 MHz | 1100 MHz |
| Hyper-Threading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AVX Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quick Sync Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AES-NI Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
As with the desktop models introduced earlier this month, Intel's mobile lineup also uses the digit '2' in front of each model to indicate membership in its second-generation Core CPU club. The 2 makes sense to us. But the three numbers that follow are arbitrary performance indicators—exactly what you grew accustomed to from the Nehalem-era CPUs. Intel uses clock rate, L3 cache, Hyper-Threading, and Turbo Boost to differentiate one model from another. It’s a safe guess, though, that -2920QM is faster than -2820QM, and so on.
You'll notice that Intel maintains the TDP profile of its previous mobile offerings. For its SV (standard voltage) Core i7s, the company keeps the limit at 55 W, which we saw with the Core i7-920XM.
The 2.3 GHz Core i7-2820XM enjoys up to eleven bins of Turbo Boost acceleration, running at a maximum frequency of 3.4 GHz in single-threaded applications. With two cores active, it drops to 3.3 GHz. And with all four working, the CPU drops to 3.1 GHz. Comparatively, the desktop Core i5-2500K starts out with a base clock at 3.3 GHz and employs four bins of Turbo Boost to get to 3.7 GHz.
The 2.5 GHz Core i7-2920QM runs as fast as 3.5 GHz in single-threaded apps, and the 2.2 GHz Core i7-2720QM clocks up to 3.3 GHz. While all mobile Core i7s include Hyper-Threading, only the top two SKUs feature an 8 MB L3 cache. The other two mobile Core i7s in Intel's 55/45 W stable are limited to 6 MB.
- Meet Sandy Bridge's True Purpose
- Core i7: Running The Gamut
- Test Setup
- Benchmark Results: PCMark Vantage
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark Vantage
- Benchmark Results: SiSoftware Sandra 2011
- Benchmark Results: Content Creation
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Media Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Gaming Performance
- Benchmark Results: Mobile Gaming Performance
- Quick Sync: Power Consumption
- Power And Final Words
Andrew
TomsHardware
That isn't what I was looking for. On Anandtech and Tech Report, a Compal notebook with a Core i7 2820QM achieved between six and seven hours of battery life when web browsing. I was looking for a comparison to help me make a more informed decision.
Something like these is what I was referring to.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4084/intels-sandy-bridge-upheaval-in-the-mobile-landscape/9
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20294/8
Battery life is not pointless in any way. A pre-production model or not, it's relevant. If helps give us, the consumers, a better perspective to how laptops with these CPUs will perform with regards to battery life.
I'm surprised it wasn't included.
On an platform level, you can expect a new Sandy Bridge Core i7 to achieve roughly double the battery life of a notebook with an Arrandale Core i5.
What I disliked about the previous benchmarks (including the ones you referenced) was that they automatically handicapped the benchmark against the Sandy Bridge mobile platform. Forget the whole DTR argument. A 17.3" panel will generally consume more power than a 15.6" (Look at the notebooks it was compared against.) When you isolate it down to the platform level then you can say all-else-being-equal (LCD, hard drive, wireless card, etc...), a notebook based on a Sandy Bridge mobile processor will ~ double battery life. Those other sites showed a roughly 33% improvement because of the other variables at play.
Remember though that when you are talking about H.264 playback, this is all run through the hardware decoder. You are getting very little battery burn no matter what hardware you are running. What really matters then is the total platforms power consumption and the density of your battery (2.6AH vs 2.9AH cells).
But back to your main point, if that is what you want to see on a DTR, then we will include it next time. Frankly, I'm more interested in the battery life of non-DTR mobile CPUs. "Normally" people don't care about battery life on a 17.3" mobile workstation.
AMD's Brazos platform is very impressive especially the E-350 series that's paired with an Radeon HD 6310 in gaming performance. Soo impressive in fact that the gaming performance rivals that of Core i5 661 in a lot of games and even goes toe to toe with the Core i5 2500k in some games like Call OF Duty Black Ops! As show here....
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/5
AMD's Brazos platform is very impressive especially the E-350 series that's paired with an Radeon HD 6310 in gaming performance. Soo impressive in fact that the gaming performance rivals that of Core i5 661 in a lot of games and even goes toe to toe with the Core i5 2500k in some games like Call OF Duty Black Ops! As show here....
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/5
Do you really want to play Call of Duty Black Ops at 1024 x 768 at low quality? I wouldn't ever want to punish any TomsHardware reader that harshly.
Andrew
TomsHardware
I think you hit the nail on its head right there. AMD never really positioned the Brazos platform as a "gaming platform." It can't handle it. It works better as a more powerful enhancement over an Atom.
Same thing goes for the HD Graphics 3000. If you have a DTR, it is likely you are going to get a discrete chipset anyways.
It's fantastic that you can play some modern games in low detail with a decent framerate with something as small as your fingernail and use very little power doing it, but people shouldn't get their hopes up that this is, say, a console killer. Let's wait and see what Enhanced Bobcat is like for that sort of thing.
Well the same can be said when benchmarking an Intel Core i7/5/3 2xxx using its integraded graphics unit on game like Call Of Duty Black Opts. But I think you are missing the point in regards to the AMD's E-350 and the Call of Duty Black Ops benchmark. Of course no one is really going to play a game like Call Of Duty Black Opts on a integrated graphics unit with everything on low settings unless they are really that desperate. The point of doing that benchmark was to show the capabilities of the E-350's integrated graphics unit and for a processor aimed at the budget and ultra budget markets that can compete with mid-range processors with integrated graphics units built in, that's pretty impressive to say the least.
I'll agree with that sentiment. However, simply stating that it the E-350 can perform similarly still doesn't address how similar it is in higher resolutions or a realistic quality setting. Or even in real life. It's a different market altogether. As Chris has often said, "Sorry your princess is in a different castle."
That said, he actually covered all of this in his original desktop Brazos review. And it isn't right in my mind to make that type of comparison anyways. On the i7-2820QM, it's a mobile CPU that is going into a DTR notebook and is almost guaranteed to have discrete chip. On the mobile side things come out as systems, rarely do you get to simply pick and choose CPU + Graphics. What is the point about talking about the graphic short comings on this CPU when it is certainly always going to be paired with a powerful GPU?
With the E-350, you are talking about nettops and netbooks. You won't be able to game anything larger than 1366 x 768 even at the most optimistic notebook configuration. So 1024 x 768 is a reasonable expectation given that is the resolution most often seen on the netbook side. Remember, AMD is hitting low prices with their 100 CPU/mobo combo, so this it is truly meant as a budget option.
Meanwhile the i7-2820QM is certainly always going to be in a 15.6" LCD system or larger. Brazos is $500 and under. That is the target. With the i5-2820QM you are looking at systems that are going to be priced at least $1,000 plus its going to come with a discrete chip. Realistically, we are talking about at least $1,500. The i7-2630 is down the ladder on the Asus N53SV and probably ran around 1k, but I'm sure vadim_79 can jump and share the final price tag.
It's fantastic that you can play some modern games in low detail with a decent framerate with something as small as your fingernail and use very little power doing it, but people shouldn't get their hopes up that this is, say, a console killer. Let's wait and see what Enhanced Bobcat is like for that sort of thing.
That Enhanced Bobcat will be a 2012 move. And that would be "some modern games." CodBO isn't DX11. And I doubt anyone wants to attempt to play Crysis on a Brazos system even at 1024x768
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-fusion-brazos-performance,2790-7.html
You will be wanting to look toward Krishna. Ontario and Wichita will still be ala Atom flavors.
AMD's mobile plans hang on Llano and the Sabine platform. I'm teething to see them in action.
I may just have to steal that idea! Thanks