Not in Colorado - Intel refreshes Atom Embedded CPUs

[williamcll]

Intel's Atom processors have been relatively quite the past month, only appearing in embedded and networking (the Atom P5900 10nm 24 core @2.2Ghz for example) equipment. In light of more firms switching to ARM or AMD based processors it seems that they have refreshed their lineup.

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Intel Atom C3000 “Denverton” processors were first unveiled in 2016 for low power servers, and are now found in fanless network appliances and server motherboards. Intel has now quietly launched three new Atom Denverton “Refresh” and one “Low Power” processors, namely Intel Atom C3436L, C3338R, C3758R, and C3558R.

Highlights for the “refreshed” and current processors:

• Intel Atom C3436L quad-core processor @ 1.3 GHz with 8MB cache, 10.75W TDP
• Intel Atom C3338R  dual-core processor @ 1.8 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 10.5W TDP
• Intel Atom C3558R quad-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 8MB cache, 17W TDP
• Intel Atom C3758R octa-core processor @ 2.4 GHz with 16MB cache, 26W TDP
• Intel Atom C3338 dual-core processor @ 1.5 GHz . 2.2 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 8.5W TDP
• Intel Atom C3558 quad-core processor @ 2.2 GHz with 8MB cache, 16W TDP
• Intel Atom C3758 octa-core processor @ 2.2 GHz with 16M, 25W TDP

So the refresh processors have a slightly higher base frequency combined with a higher TDP. Atom 3436L “Low Power” is also a new processor but does not have an exact match (e.g. no Atom 3436), and instead the closest is Intel Atom  C3508 quad-core processor @ 1.60 GHz and 11.5 W TDP.

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Lest you think that the Big 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Refresh was the only 2020 refresh for Intel, we have new Intel Atom C3000 SKUs. Quietly launched this quarter, the quartet of new processors are out adding the “R” and “L” suffixes. This further expands the Atom C3000 line as it enters its third year of service.

Here is a quick recap of the highlights from the above chart compared to the one we presented at the “Denverton” launch piece Intel Atom C3000 Series Launch SKUs and Differentiation:

• The Intel Atom C3338R adds 300MHz to the base clock and QAT support for a $1 premium and a 2W TDP premium over the Intel Atom C3338.
• We see the Intel Atom C3436L as a 10.75W TDP quad core part. This part lowers the entry TDP of quad core Atom C3000 by 0.75W TDP below the Atom C3508. It also loses 300MHz and $22 list price in the process.
• The Intel Atom C3558 has been popular at STH and the Atom C3558R adds 200MHz to the base clock along with DDR4-2400 support for a $9 list price and 1W TDP premium.
• The Intel Atom C3758R adds 200MHz for $16 and a 1W TDP increase over the Intel Atom C3758.

The Atom C3758R and C3558R have 20 HSIO lanes while the two lower-end parts are 10 HSIO lane parts. QAT support varies wildly in the Atom C3000 line in terms of speed and features. Intel’s public documentation does not clearly define this.

Source: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/63508/denverton.html

https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/06/02/intel-atom-denverton-refresh-and-low-power-server-processors/

Thoughts: Performance wise it certainly beats a few NAS ARM processors, but the high TDP means this might have issues with USB powered SBCs. It's also interesting to see a 16 core processor from intel that isn't ridiculously expensive, maybe they should release a higher clock version of that chip?

[Techstorm970]

Uh...

What does this have to do with Colorado???

[MageTank]

2 minutes ago, Techstorm970 said:

Uh...

What does this have to do with Colorado???

The closest connection I could think of was Nvidia's old Project Denver APU's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver. Something tells me I am missing the punchline here, lol.

[porina]

1 hour ago, williamcll said:

the high TDP means this might have issues with USB powered SBCs.

I'm not interested enough in the Atom range as a whole, but are these the only current models? For example, do they have another (older) lower power line that would be used in those applications where total TDP has to be kept right down.

 

1 hour ago, williamcll said:

It's also interesting to see a 16 core processor from intel that isn't ridiculously expensive, maybe they should release a higher clock version of that chip?

16 slow cores is still 16 slow cores even if you get the clock up a bit. This is likely designed for some specific use cases.

[GDRRiley]

meh atoms have always sucked unless you can get a massively parallelized workload and even then now ryzen has much better IPC and as many cores

 

[themaniac]

45 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

meh atoms have always sucked unless you can get a massively parallelized workload and even then now ryzen has much better IPC and as many cores

 

seeing as Atoms don't even use the same architecture as the I series and were made as a competitor to ARM I don't see how Ryzen has anything to do with this, nor does AMD even have a low power soc/embedded series to compete with them. So how does Ryzen have anything to do with this?

[williamcll]

3 hours ago, MageTank said:

The closest connection I could think of was Nvidia's old Project Denver APU's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver. Something tells me I am missing the punchline here, lol.

Denverton, despite the name implies, is in California.

[RejZoR]

Intel has to be using an "Ai" to generate their processor names because I've never seen anything this dumb before.

[GDRRiley]

1 hour ago, themaniac said:

seeing as Atoms don't even use the same architecture as the I series and were made as a competitor to ARM I don't see how Ryzen has anything to do with this, nor does AMD even have a low power soc/embedded series to compete with them. So how does Ryzen have anything to do with this?

there are epyc embedded but they start at about 20W for 8 cores but these are more competing against xeon D

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-epyc-3000-series

 

there are ryzen embed chips too that go all the way down to 6W

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-v1000-series

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-r1000-series

you completely missed all these CPUS?

[themaniac]

6 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

there are epyc embedded but they start at about 20W for 8 cores but these are more competing against xeon D

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-epyc-3000-series

 

there are ryzen embed chips too that go all the way down to 6W

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-v1000-series

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-r1000-series

you completely missed all these CPUS?

Well I stand corrected, honestly had no idea they existed.

[GDRRiley]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Intel has to be using an "Ai" to generate their processor names because I've never seen anything this dumb before.

they got a weird kinda name families thing going

 

Desktop

bridge

well

lake

Rapids

 

"big cores"

cove

 

"small cores" (atoms)

mont

 

Many cores (larribee)

knights

 

the codeanme for this family is goldmont

 

3 minutes ago, themaniac said:

Well I stand corrected, honestly had no idea they existed.

mostly people don't

[ThePointblank]

9 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Intel has to be using an "Ai" to generate their processor names because I've never seen anything this dumb before.

You obviously have never heard of the Green Cheese missile, or the Blue Peacock nuclear bomb. And yes, both were real things.