Intel Provides Details for Atom x3, x5 and x7 Processors

Intel had already announced their plan to change Intel Atom branding to use x3/x5/x7 nomenclature in order to make it easier for consumers to navigate their product offerings, but the company has now provided much more details during their press conference at Mobile World Congress 2015.

Intel Atom x3 (previously known as SoFIA) will be entry and ultra-low cost processor up with 3G or LTE connectivity found in products up to around $150, while Atom x5 and x7 (previously known as Cherry Trail) will be found in tablets between about $200 to $400, with the top performing devices going with Intel Core M processors.

Intel Atom x3 are very interesting because they mix Intel 64-bit cores with ARM GPUs (to keep the cost down), and parts with RK suffix are made by Rockchip. Three x3 processors are currently available:

• Intel Atom x3-C3130 – Dual-core processor up to 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU and 2G/3G modem.
• Intel Atom x3-C3230RK – Quad-core processor up to 1.2GHz with ARM Mali-450MP4 GPU, and 2G/3G modem. Designed/Manufactured by Rockchip.
• Intel Atom x3-C3440 – Quad-core processor up to 1.4GHz with ARM Mali-T720 GPU, and a 5-mode LTE modem

Atom x3 3G SoCs can be coupled with A-Gold 620 chipsets combining 2G/3G RF, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, GPS/GLONASS and Audio/PMU, while Atom x3 LTE SoC would interface with four chips for 4G RF (Smarti RF TRX), PMIC + Audio, 802.11ac/BT 4.1 (Intel Wireless-AC WCS8270), and GPS (Intel Wireless-GNSS WCS 2100 & WCS 2000). All three processors are manufactured with a 28nm process, again to keep costs low.

Atom x5 and x7 will however be 14-nm processor, bringing lower power consumption, but a least initially, a higher cost. These processors will feature Intel Gen8 graphics, and support next-gen LTE Cat-6 thanks to Intel XMM-726x modem, and be found in 7″ to 10″ Windows and Android tablets and 2-in-1 hybrid laptops priced between $120 to $500.

At first it seemed like the company did not provide that much information for Atom x5 and x7 processors just yet, and that it just expected products by Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, and HP should be shipping in H1 2015. They did however provide a block diagram for Atom x5 / x7 processors which reveals more details to what can be expected including HDMI 1.4b up to 4K30,2K internal display (DSI / eDP), PCIe, USB 3.0, eMMC 4.51, but no integrated Ethernet MAC or SATA IP blocks, although these could be added via the PCIe interfaces.

Furthermore, Techreport mentioned two Atom x5 processors will be available first with x5-8300 @ 1.84 GHz (up to 1080p) and Atom x5-8500 @ 2.24 GHz (up to 4K2K), as well as one Atom x7 processors: x7-8700 running at 2.4 GHz, as well as specifications:

• CPU
  • x5-8300 – Quad core 64-bit Atom x5 up to 1.84 GHz
  • x5-8500 – Quad core 64-bit Atom x5 up to 2.24 GHz
  • x7-8700 – Quad core 64-bit Atom x7 up to 2.40 GHz
• Graphics
  • Atom x5 – Gen8 12 EU, up to 500/600 MHz supporting  DX11.1, OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.3, RS Compute
  • Atom x7 – Gen8 16 EU, up to 600 MHz supporting DX11.1, OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.3, RS Compute
• Media (encode/decode) – HEVC (decode), H.264, VP8
• Memory
  • x5-8300 – 1×32, 1×64 DDR3L-RS 1600, 1-2GB
  • x5-8500 / x7-8700 – 2×64 LPDDR3 1600, 2-8GB
• Storage – eMMC 4.51
• Display resolution
  • x5-8300
    • Internal – 1920×1200 (MIPI-DSI or LVDS)
    • External: 1920×1080 (HDMI)
  • x5-8500 & x7-8700
    • Internal – 2500 x 1600 (MIPI-DSI or eDP)
    • External: 4K2K @ 30 Hz (HDMI)
• Modem – Intel XMM 7260/62 LTE Cat-6 (up to 300Mbps DL). M.2 only for x5-8300
• Connectivity – Intel WLAN, Intel WWAN, Intel NFC; Atom x7 also adds Intel WiGig.
• I/O
  • x5-8300 – 6xI2C, 2xHSUART, 1xSDIO, 3xI2S, SPI, PCIe 2.0 x1, 1xI2C(ISH), 1xI2C (NFC)
  • x5-8500 & x7-8700 – 7xI2C, 2xHSUART, 1xSDIO, 3xI2S, 1xLPC, 1xSPI, PCIe 2.0 x2, 1x I2C(ISH), 1xI2C (NFC)
• USB – 1xUSB3 OTG, 2xHSIC, 3xUSB2. x5-8500 & x7- only: 2x SSIC
• ISP/camera (Rear & front)
  • x5-8300 – Up to 8MP with Intel RealSense Snapshot
  • x5-8500 & x7-8700 – Up to 13MP with Intel RealSense 3D camera

I could not find any TDP figures, but thermal dissipation should be around 2 to 5W since Atom x3, x5 and x7 target tablets and smartphones.

Via Anandtech