The next one is Pentium Silver which represents an Atom based Pentium. Unusually there is a bit of logic to Intel's naming as the metal represents the architecture.
Yea, they are becoming fairly good CPUs. The Silvermont core in the 22nm Atoms are ~50% faster per clock than the Bonnell/Saltwell cores in the 410/530 ones.
The Goldmont core in current generation Atom-based cores are an additional 30% faster than Silvermont.
The Goldmont Plus core in the upcoming Geminilake is said to be an additional 30% faster, having 4-wide issue.
Based on Anand Bench comparisons, that would put Geminilake on the class of Westmere cores. Of course Geminilake doesn't have Hyperthreading, but it means it would have caught up with Westmere cores in perf/clock/thread.
I'm crazy enough to use a Cherry Trail Atom tablet (14nm Airmont core) as my main work machine. It's fine for documents, just don't try doing big builds on it. I had a 22nm Silvermont Windows tablet that was surprisingly decent to use, although it had a much lower res screen.
Too bad Goldmont-based tablet platforms got killed last year. Intel really needs a 2W TDP tablet platform, stuffing 4W Apollo Lake chips into tablets results in atrocious battery life. And whoever does Intel's atrocious naming schemes should be shot.
Not since Baytrail. I have one of those cheap 200 eur Windows tablets with a z3775 (quad core, 1.46GHz base / 2.4 GHz turbo (all cores) and the cpu is pretty good. I mean it's no Threadripper, but for the price I can't complain. It can turbo indefinitely, the battery still lasts for a day of light use as long as you have the display brightness set a few steps below max (almost as bright as max, massively lower power consumption and it's plenty fast for the money (it even has quicksync so you can transcode video extremely quickly). The iGPU is a bit slow and if you are watching a 1080p video on the external display you can't do much on the internal.
What kills it is the stupid 2GB ram max... it should have at least 8 GB, the slow internal emmc (~20 MB/s in optimal conditions), even slower sd card reader (~10 MB/s in optimal conditons) and the whole 32 bit uefi/no usable linux drivers garbage.
Asus Transformer something? Very few devices used the Z3775. Most used the 3740 with a slower 1.8 GHz turbo. I loved my Dell Venue 8 Pro to bits even with the stupid 2 GB RAM limit and the insane 32-bit UEFI.
I've switched to a cheap Chinese brand tablet with Cherry Trail, 4 GB RAM and a 2k hi-dpi screen. That screen limits battery life to 9 hours average and the iGPU can't handle all those pixels without sometimes choking, although 1080p x265 decoding is buttery smooth.
Yeah, TF100A or something like that. What's really funny is that for the same amount of money I paid for it back in 2014 I can't get anything significantly better (if at all) in 2017.
Lenovo and Dell are just about the only big players left in the Atom tablet market and they charge crazy prices for low spec devices. I thought Lenovo's dual touchscreen/digitizer tablet was cool but the low screen res, slow chip and $500+ pricing made it poor value. There are Chinese brands like Chuwi and Teclast playing in the $200 space with high spec internals but their quality control and support are almost nonexistent.
A 10" Surface with small bezels and the latest Atom would have been nice, especially if the price was below $500.
I think Intel's marketing department has been on the fritz since they made up "Netburst" which had quite the opposite of "burst." The whole Pentium M, Core Solo\Duo, Atom, etc kind of redeemed the naming convention for everyday consumer clarity but at the same time, all through the Core i-era (Nehalem forward) things have been incredibly inconsistent. What the hell happened to the Core 1xxx-series? What in the actual fuck happened through every chipset generation from 50-80 (it's at least been pretty consistent since the 80-series with the tiers) and wow what is the deal with the graphics naming schemes? HD graphics, HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 3500, all need different drivers? And the HD graphics for Atom and Pentium use different drivers, but they're both called HD graphics!?
MMX and Pentium Pro (which would be a great name to rehash) were the last relevant marketing slogans. AMD wasn't too bad back in the day either, with 3DNOW!, Athlon, Sempron, Duron, etc. Then they lost it with Ryzen. What a dumb name. Was it really too hard to just call it Zen? Threadripper is a great name no less, but irrelevant since it isn't a mainstream product, and those are the products that actually need good names to sell to everyday people.
"The rebranding reflects Intel’s intention to position the latest Pentium CPUs above the previous generation parts"
So it's the same stuff as before, yet it somehow gets better just for slapping "gold" on the box? Geez, intel really must think their consumer base is dumb. Oh wait...
Agreed, and as cancerous as I find the convention if it gives an easy way for me to tell non-tech friends/family members how to find the cheapest core CPU powered laptop in a boxmart that they can while avoiding atoms I'm all for it. As it is I default to telling people that unless they want to look up part numbers on lists to make sure they're getting a 'good pentium/celeron' instead of a bad one that they should plan on buying an I3; even though the $50 difference in cpu price would be better spent on an SSD or IPS display instead.
I called it cancerous for a reason. Putting "atom" or "core" on the label in front of the store model in the boxmart or prominently in online store listings would be better. But retailers don't want to do that because some consumers know just enough associate atom with slow as crap garbage but not to realize the equivalent product in another store that just says "Pentium N4200" is also an atom.
Intel created the confusion in the first place when they decided to remove the Atom branding and use Pentium and Celeron for these low power chips to make it sound so low end. So now they try to give it a nicer name by adding names of precious metals to it. Pentium platinum anyone?
"Ok everyone. Our competition for x86 processors is back, our consumer hardware space is shrinking continuously. Our new silicon node has faced indefinite delays, our attempts to branch out into the Internet Of Things has failed miserably, and a major customer's own processor IP is beating ours by a wide margin. We are losing it people! I need options." "What if we took a semi vague way of branding our products and, get this, made it slightly more vague?" "Yes! I like it, that's the sort of thinking that will turn this company around!"
The solutions to that problem are small in number. Adding more competitors won't give us the promise of avoiding us reaching this same status quo again later. That's the trouble with a competitive market. Sooner or later, someone "wins" at the expense of other companies and customers.
Duopolies seem to be the natural endpoint of a mature competitive market, sometimes with also-rans. Successful concerns buy out the less-successful until you're left with two that are too large to either buy each other or muscle the other out, or are prevented in those actions by anti-trust law. In addition to Intel/AMD, see also: Microsoft/Apple, Apple/Samsung, iOS/Android, Ford/GM, Verizon/AT&T, Boeing/Airbus, etc.
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61 Comments
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privater - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Great, next one might Rose Gold?BedfordTim - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
The next one is Pentium Silver which represents an Atom based Pentium. Unusually there is a bit of logic to Intel's naming as the metal represents the architecture.ddriver - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
What logic? Atom is trash, silver is fairly valuable.iwod - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
LoL, This is Gold.Foeketijn - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Recent Atoms are not so bad. Not compared to the 410 530 etc. They are no Xeon D, but also not casio calculator material anymore.IntelUser2000 - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Yea, they are becoming fairly good CPUs. The Silvermont core in the 22nm Atoms are ~50% faster per clock than the Bonnell/Saltwell cores in the 410/530 ones.The Goldmont core in current generation Atom-based cores are an additional 30% faster than Silvermont.
The Goldmont Plus core in the upcoming Geminilake is said to be an additional 30% faster, having 4-wide issue.
Based on Anand Bench comparisons, that would put Geminilake on the class of Westmere cores. Of course Geminilake doesn't have Hyperthreading, but it means it would have caught up with Westmere cores in perf/clock/thread.
serendip - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
I'm crazy enough to use a Cherry Trail Atom tablet (14nm Airmont core) as my main work machine. It's fine for documents, just don't try doing big builds on it. I had a 22nm Silvermont Windows tablet that was surprisingly decent to use, although it had a much lower res screen.Too bad Goldmont-based tablet platforms got killed last year. Intel really needs a 2W TDP tablet platform, stuffing 4W Apollo Lake chips into tablets results in atrocious battery life. And whoever does Intel's atrocious naming schemes should be shot.
someonesomewherelse - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
Not since Baytrail. I have one of those cheap 200 eur Windows tablets with a z3775 (quad core, 1.46GHz base / 2.4 GHz turbo (all cores) and the cpu is pretty good. I mean it's no Threadripper, but for the price I can't complain. It can turbo indefinitely, the battery still lasts for a day of light use as long as you have the display brightness set a few steps below max (almost as bright as max, massively lower power consumption and it's plenty fast for the money (it even has quicksync so you can transcode video extremely quickly). The iGPU is a bit slow and if you are watching a 1080p video on the external display you can't do much on the internal.What kills it is the stupid 2GB ram max... it should have at least 8 GB, the slow internal emmc (~20 MB/s in optimal conditions), even slower sd card reader (~10 MB/s in optimal conditons) and the whole 32 bit uefi/no usable linux drivers garbage.
serendip - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
Asus Transformer something? Very few devices used the Z3775. Most used the 3740 with a slower 1.8 GHz turbo. I loved my Dell Venue 8 Pro to bits even with the stupid 2 GB RAM limit and the insane 32-bit UEFI.I've switched to a cheap Chinese brand tablet with Cherry Trail, 4 GB RAM and a 2k hi-dpi screen. That screen limits battery life to 9 hours average and the iGPU can't handle all those pixels without sometimes choking, although 1080p x265 decoding is buttery smooth.
someonesomewherelse - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
Yeah, TF100A or something like that. What's really funny is that for the same amount of money I paid for it back in 2014 I can't get anything significantly better (if at all) in 2017.serendip - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
Lenovo and Dell are just about the only big players left in the Atom tablet market and they charge crazy prices for low spec devices. I thought Lenovo's dual touchscreen/digitizer tablet was cool but the low screen res, slow chip and $500+ pricing made it poor value. There are Chinese brands like Chuwi and Teclast playing in the $200 space with high spec internals but their quality control and support are almost nonexistent.A 10" Surface with small bezels and the latest Atom would have been nice, especially if the price was below $500.
kb9fcc - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Perhaps Fool's Gold?WorldWithoutMadness - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
So, copper?ddriver - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
No, actually it is pyrite that is fool's gold. Unlike copper, it looks very gold like in its natural state.bubblyboo - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
I'd rather IridiumJhlot - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Intel has reached peak lame marketing with all these precious metal references to their processors.Samus - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
I think Intel's marketing department has been on the fritz since they made up "Netburst" which had quite the opposite of "burst." The whole Pentium M, Core Solo\Duo, Atom, etc kind of redeemed the naming convention for everyday consumer clarity but at the same time, all through the Core i-era (Nehalem forward) things have been incredibly inconsistent. What the hell happened to the Core 1xxx-series? What in the actual fuck happened through every chipset generation from 50-80 (it's at least been pretty consistent since the 80-series with the tiers) and wow what is the deal with the graphics naming schemes? HD graphics, HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 3500, all need different drivers? And the HD graphics for Atom and Pentium use different drivers, but they're both called HD graphics!?MMX and Pentium Pro (which would be a great name to rehash) were the last relevant marketing slogans. AMD wasn't too bad back in the day either, with 3DNOW!, Athlon, Sempron, Duron, etc. Then they lost it with Ryzen. What a dumb name. Was it really too hard to just call it Zen? Threadripper is a great name no less, but irrelevant since it isn't a mainstream product, and those are the products that actually need good names to sell to everyday people.
serendip - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
AMD couldn't trademark Zen. If it tried, it would have boatloads of angry monks doing martial arts demos at its events...tamalero - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Ryzen = Rise + zen.sounds fine.. Ryzen just woke up AMD from death.
ddriver - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Gold... that's precious, pun definitely intended."The rebranding reflects Intel’s intention to position the latest Pentium CPUs above the previous generation parts"
So it's the same stuff as before, yet it somehow gets better just for slapping "gold" on the box? Geez, intel really must think their consumer base is dumb. Oh wait...
BedfordTim - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
It is to allow users to differentiate between Core i and Atom Pentiums.DanNeely - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Agreed, and as cancerous as I find the convention if it gives an easy way for me to tell non-tech friends/family members how to find the cheapest core CPU powered laptop in a boxmart that they can while avoiding atoms I'm all for it. As it is I default to telling people that unless they want to look up part numbers on lists to make sure they're getting a 'good pentium/celeron' instead of a bad one that they should plan on buying an I3; even though the $50 difference in cpu price would be better spent on an SSD or IPS display instead.ddriver - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Really, having precious metals all over the product line is somehow more indicative than putting or omitting to put "Atom" on the box???Best way to know whether you are getting an Atom or not is if the product name clearly states "Atom" if it is Atom ADOY.
DanNeely - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
I called it cancerous for a reason. Putting "atom" or "core" on the label in front of the store model in the boxmart or prominently in online store listings would be better. But retailers don't want to do that because some consumers know just enough associate atom with slow as crap garbage but not to realize the equivalent product in another store that just says "Pentium N4200" is also an atom.Byte - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
What happened to the Celery then.t.s - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
It will allow Intel to raise the price :)Flunk - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Man, that logo looks cheap and tacky.ddriver - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
It combines the ugliness of basic outdated vector graphics with the compression artifacts of poorly optimized jpg raster graphics.cerberusss - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
It shows off the full capabilities of the iGPU that comes with the Pentium Gold.mapesdhs - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
That was funny. :DReflex - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
So it'll fit right in in Trump Tower then...Tylanner - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
That's it! We are officially no longer privy to the cool Intel code names.iwod - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Cant wait AMD 's ZenVega to trash this gold.ddriver - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
They should have named it Zega.mapesdhs - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Ven ain't so bad either, sounds like a scifi badass.Intervenator - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Why is it so hard for both Intel and AMD to make easy to understand naming schemes...BrokenCrayons - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
It almost seems like Intel pilfered "top talent" from AMD's marketing department.Presenting Intel's Pentium Gold from the same brilliant minds that created AMD's Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition!
nfriedly - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
LOL, this reminds me of when they call Miller "The Champagne of Beers!"That aside, I do like it if it means it'll be easier to differentiate between Core i & Atom Pentiums.
Flunk - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
I thought Miller was the water of beers.Seriously, it's just water with food coloring right?
mikk - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
AMD has another Intel naming scheme to copyjabbadap - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Good, now they can increase their prices. Because gold is expensive.watzupken - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Intel created the confusion in the first place when they decided to remove the Atom branding and use Pentium and Celeron for these low power chips to make it sound so low end. So now they try to give it a nicer name by adding names of precious metals to it. Pentium platinum anyone?Hereiam2005 - Thursday, October 12, 2017 - link
Gold is not trademark-able. Just saying.RealBeast - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Pentium Gold is.krayzieka215 - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
this will be a very good reason to boycott Intel for lifeHurr Durr - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Do you can`t even yet?mapesdhs - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
My grammar chip exploded reading that. :}Frenetic Pony - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
"Ok everyone. Our competition for x86 processors is back, our consumer hardware space is shrinking continuously. Our new silicon node has faced indefinite delays, our attempts to branch out into the Internet Of Things has failed miserably, and a major customer's own processor IP is beating ours by a wide margin. We are losing it people! I need options.""What if we took a semi vague way of branding our products and, get this, made it slightly more vague?"
"Yes! I like it, that's the sort of thinking that will turn this company around!"
Hurr Durr - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
>competitionWake up, CPU duopoly is screwing you back and forward with the cheapest tactic available.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
The solutions to that problem are small in number. Adding more competitors won't give us the promise of avoiding us reaching this same status quo again later. That's the trouble with a competitive market. Sooner or later, someone "wins" at the expense of other companies and customers.80-wattHamster - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Duopolies seem to be the natural endpoint of a mature competitive market, sometimes with also-rans. Successful concerns buy out the less-successful until you're left with two that are too large to either buy each other or muscle the other out, or are prevented in those actions by anti-trust law. In addition to Intel/AMD, see also: Microsoft/Apple, Apple/Samsung, iOS/Android, Ford/GM, Verizon/AT&T, Boeing/Airbus, etc.versesuvius - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
It is not as creative as "President Trump". Maybe "Gold House"?mapesdhs - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Sensible people chose the former. MAGA! Antifa supporters think Atoms are cool. There, now I've gone and done it. :Dserendip - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
Atoms *are* cool. And cheap! Go find me another fanless tablet SoC that doesn't run hot and runs x86.Meteor2 - Monday, October 16, 2017 - link
Like MS with Windows Mobile, Intel abandoned fanless Atom just as it was getting good.I think they simply wanted lower revenues but better returns by leaving only Core M in the market.
bigboxes - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
That's gold, Jerry! Gold!Surfacround - Friday, October 13, 2017 - link
buy a pentium Gold processor... become a TiN man... you know from from film “the wizard of oz...”(if i only had a brain...lol)
TiN get it?... Titanium Nitride coating on drill bits... gold colour/color... i like to joke that i have TiN starbuck card...
someonesomewherelse - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
So now they'll be able to charge more for the same CPU?zodiacfml - Sunday, October 15, 2017 - link
Rebranding for nothing. I thought these are slow quad core parts.delakota555 - Saturday, January 6, 2018 - link
Are they rebranded Gold and Silver as they can be melted down? Meltdown...see what I did there? AMD Ryzen for me now! :-)delakota555 - Saturday, January 6, 2018 - link
Are they rebranded Gold and Silver as they can be melted down? Meltdown...see what I did there? AMD Ryzen for me now! :-)