Briertown may seem like the extra wheel of the Moorestown platform, but its role is critical for Intel hitting the necessary power targets. There is no one official Briertown design. Rather, Briertown is an architecture specification for peripheral support and power delivery, including battery charging now managed by hardware instead of software. Look at Briertown on a Moorestown motherboard and you’ll see that it’s considerably larger than the CPU and chipset combined. Despite this, Briertown requires almost half as many components and consumes about one-third the board area as the equivalent power delivery circuitry on Menlow platforms. Not surprising, Briertown also costs about one-third the price of its predecessor.
The MSIC is part of what makes Moorestown’s power gating possible. The Briertown complex runs multiple voltage rails to the CPU and chipset, all of which can be controlled by the operating system. Without this, there couldn’t be Lincroft’s Burst Mode because Briertown is what enables those lightning-quick transitions in and out of the various C- and S0ix-states.
Briertown manages device and subsystem power delivery at the system level, each of which get integrated as “jellybeans” within the larger complex in order to keep management more granular. For example, the TPM block occuplies about 6 x 6 mm and consumes up to 85mW. The USB OTG block from Philips measures 20 x 14 mm, consuming about 300mW, and the 2MP USB camera chip from ST Micro measures 7 x 8 mm and draws roughly 400mW.
One can wonder if the Moorestown devices we see at mid-year will be as power-efficient as the knock-off brands and designs we’re likely to see several months later. Intel was emphatic about the fact that when it comes to its new power states, hardware management technologies, and Briertown design, there is no room for flexibility. The platform must hit certain minimum performance levels, and Intel isn’t willing to compromise on this. We may see more “cost-effective” products creep into ODM designs over time, but it won’t be from modification of Intel’s core platform. How much impact future OEM corner-cutting will have on final power and performance levels remains to be seen.
- Intel’s Ultramobile Future Arrives
- Little, Less, And Loving It
- Checking Checkboxes
- The Moorestown Breakdown
- Platform And Process
- Processor Power
- New Power States
- Graphics And Video
- Display And Memory
- Langwell Platform Controller Hub MP20
- Briertown Mixed Signal IC
- The Experience
- Why Moorestown Matters

Man, and I just got the HTC Incredible...
And so the march of technology continues!
Time to market. 45 nm was quicker for development and it accomplished what needed to get done at this time. That's the official answer. Unofficially, sure, we all know 32 nm will help, but this is business for consumers. Right or wrong, you don't play all of your cards right away.
I like the Atom, but not in this role. x86 adds inefficiencies that aren't balanced by a need for compatibility in this market.
I was considering buying a Sony Satio, but now I may rethink it.
1366x768 multi-touch S-AMOLED, magnesium case, 802.11 b/g/n, 3G/4G, miniDP, miniHDMI, miniDVI, microUSB, 64GB high quality flash memory, 12MP main camera with a 5MP front facing camera, a new turbo boost that pumps cocaine into the chip until it gets too hot when the performance is needed but puts the chip to sleep in idle, and a Linux based OS specifically tailored to the chip. Sounds like something I would pay a lot for. Complete desktop PC replacement.
Don't disappoint me Intel. I was hoping for 32nm 8 core LGA 1366 chips by now when I originally bought my i7 system, and you already disappointed me.
Now only if 5GB/month on 3G didn't cost $85/month in my area, never mind the texting/calling plan.
I charge my phone once every week, i would be pretty angry if it didnt hold a charge longer than 48 hours.
I also don't see the use of all these MIDs. I hardly even take my laptop out because I have a desktop and other then movement there is nothing the laptop can do that I wouldn't rather use my desktop for.
MIDs might be ok if they didn't cost an extra $30-50 a month to get access to the internet which I'm already paying $30-50 a month for for my general usage. They might start making sense when someone like Qwest starts included DSL and wireless together for a single reasonable monthly fee so I'm not paying twice for the same thing.
And unless you absolutely have to know the instant you get an email, and can't go more then a few hours without updating your facebook page, I don't see a daily usage for mobile internet. I probably don't think "boy it would be nice if I could check the internet while I'm out" more then once every couple months.
Good luck holding a car in your hands!
Anyhow, the article seems mighty detailed compared to what we're used to here. Usually only don writes anything this detailed.
Nice read, though imo the first page looks very much like a bought article.
Anyway beside the progress in the mobile and ultramobile sector I picture in the not so distant future an ultramobile CPU with memory and graphics and storage system the size of a phone in a modular and stackable design and you will have some very serious and scalable mobile supercomputing power. But will mobile form factor CPUs ever going to surpass the need for a desktop machine? Has the computing revolution started from the bottom up and I just noticed?