Intel may not bring Broadwell to Desktop, Focusing on Mobile instead

[Dylan522p]

http://www.neowin.net/news/report-intel-wont-bring-broadwell-cpu-design-to-the-desktop-pc

 

Rumored they will not bring Broadwell to Desktop. Makes sense as they don't really have competition and AMD is slowly starting to shift focus to APU's too and they are stuck with GFlo so they are going to still be on 28nm for a while. Intel is focusing on mobile where they actually have to compete. This is probably why they are getting to Airmont so quickly next year. I am actually happy for this unlike most people here will be because Broadwell probably is really only going to drop power and performance 10% like the past two generations. Instead of that they are going to get Airmont out quicker and so we can have incredibly efficient little desktops, laptops, tablets, and convergent devices.

[Dylan522p]

Hopefully when they pull their fingers out and redo the desktop lineup they bring some actual performance increases and not just power consumption.

Why would they redo the desktop line up? It actually doesn't matter much. Shrinking market that they already own and will own for the foreseeable future. Anyone who wants the performance will go to 2011 and Xeons. ?If you want top performance you're still gonna go Intel whether they refresh or not. They are focusing on Server and Mobile because they are not the Go-To company in that area.

[Dylan522p]

I mean like the next iteration of desktop CPU's

SkyLake? They will probably continue making it a server and mobile architecture and just port it over to Desktop.

[mymouthandi]

I think Sandy Bridge was the last time a significant performance increase will be seen. As with Ivy and Haswell it will all be small performance increases with a focus on lower power from now on. 

I think it is entirely possible that Intel will skip desktops on some generations like Broadwell. It's sad but what incentive do they have? Until AMD starts competing again in the high performance market, which I doubt they will seeing as they are focusing on APU's and HSA (which they will benefit from eventually), Intel will not push hard in the desktop market.  

[rashdanml]

Seems likely. There was another rumour a while back about Broadwell CPUs being soldered to the motherboard, which is mostly a mobile thing and doesn't really suit the desktop space. This would go along the same lines. 

 

Focusing on Mobile performance is a good step though. The world is tending towards mobile platforms, which would make it that much more important for mobile processors to close the performance gap between desktop processors. 

[kuddlesworth9419]

I also agree that Intel should stop trying to make power consumption upgrades. It doesn't really matter how much power it uses as long as it doesn't use too much. It matters more how good the CPU can dissipate heat and how good it performs. I would love to see what Intel could do if they really wanted to improve performance. It's a shame we never will as AMD isn't doing much in the CPU market to compete with Intel. However I don't really care that Broadwell won't be coming to the desktop as it probably won't be any good anyway compared to the Haswell, IvyBridge or Sandybridge anyway.

[wpirobotbuilder]

I also agree that Intel should stop trying to make power consumption upgrades. It doesn't really matter how much power it uses as long as it doesn't use too much. It matters more how good the CPU can dissipate heat and how good it performs. I would love to see what Intel could do if they really wanted to improve performance. It's a shame we never will as AMD isn't doing much in the CPU market to compete with Intel. However I don't really care that Broadwell won't be coming to the desktop as it probably won't be any good anyway compared to the Haswell, IvyBridge or Sandybridge anyway.

Except they shouldn't. We are a just a blip on Intel's radar.

 

The vast majority of computers are sold to non-enthusiasts, and a significant proportion of those computers are at schools and office buildings and in labs and datacenters that use enough power to get charged extra by electric companies for every kilowatt they use. Those customers will benefit greatly from the introduction of lower-power chips and DO care about innovations in power consumption.

 

Also, us enthusiasts should be happy about lower power consumption too. It's a part of why Haswell-E might be an 8-core chip, since lower power consumption would allow them to put more active cores on the die without worrying as much that the chip will burn out from misuse.

[onionring]

i wouldn t mind at all if amd just made server cpu copies (but affordable) for desktops as long as they keep multi cpu support...

i mean ati always made dual gpus to be faster, why not cpus.

[JAKEBAB]

I love the low power its awesome but i would like to see bigger performance increases.

[brownninja97]

They get too much money from desktop, it would be foolish not to build for desktop still.

[MrSuperb]

This is like really old news by now.

The roadmaps, saying dekstop only getting a Haswell refresh already leaked in June  ....

[Guest]

They get too much money from desktop, it would be foolish not to build for desktop still.

They actually don't.

 

Intel's biggest market is mobile devices and then enterprise Xeon chips. Desktop chips are just a blip on their radar now. 

[brownninja97]

They actually don't.

 

Intel's biggest market is mobile devices and then enterprise Xeon chips. Desktop chips are just a blip on their radar now. 

Wow thats quite surprising, they better make new intel atom thing good then or they are in some trouble.

[Guest]

Wow thats quite surprising, they better make new intel atom thing good then or they are in some trouble.

Intel Atom's are designed for mobile products.. 

[Stonep11]

I have to say as a gamer who doesn't really use their CPU, this doesn't bother me. My OC'ed 3770k is wayyyyyy faster than I could ever come close to using and never even goes over 40c, kind of the way I feel about my 2133mhz RAM. All that really excites are software improvements, storage, and GPUs.

[Nicktrance]

Honestly if they only release a new desktop lineup with every tock while delivering the usual tick-tock on mobile, I doubt many people would care, there's very little performance improvement in a die shrink, not enough for most desktop users but every little improvement in energy efficiency is great for mobile.

[KaareKanin]

Purely based on performance gains, I don't really care. Sandy-Ivy-Haswell could just as well be Sandy-Haswell

 

Probably what I would miss the most if they only do every second update on desktop will be platform and chipset upgrades. There's always some new technology that isn't included in the last refresh. Also, integrated graphics, which has its use in low noise low profile livingroom applications.