14 DAY TRIAL // Following previous reports about Intel's upcoming line of netbook and nettop Atom processors, a series of additional details have surfaced on the Internet, providing more info on the chip maker's much-anticipated platform. According to recent details, the Santa Clara, California-based Intel will launch three new Atom processors, two of which will be made available by the end of this year, while a third will roll out at the beginning of 2010.
According to industry sources, cited in a recent news-article on HKEPC, Intel will update its Atom series with the launch of the much-anticipated 'Pineview' processors. Chipzilla will launch the single-core Atom N400 series for netbooks, alongside the single-core Atom D400 and dual-core Atom D500 series for nettop devices. These new CPUs will be paired with the company's upcoming NM10 Express chipset, codenamed Tiger Point, which will make up for the new Pine Trail platform.
These new chips are expected to provide system builders with support for creating slimmer netbook designs, while the average power consumption will drop from 4W to 2W. The reduced power consumption is largely due to the redesign of Intel's platform, which has been reduced from a 3-chip setup to a 2-chip setup, with the memory controller and the graphics processor placed on the same die as the CPU. As a result, upcoming designs will implement a fan-less cooling solution, enabling a quieter computing experience.
Intel's upcoming Atom processors will be the N450, the D410 and the D510, all of which will be clocked at a core speed of 1.66GHz. The N450 will have a TDP of just 7W, compared to the 16W on the initial N270 Atom model. This will be a single core, dual-threaded solution for upcoming netbooks, as it is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. The other two processors, the D410 and D510, will be available with 512KB and 1MB of L2 cache, respectively. Both will be available for nettop designs, offering a single-core and a multi-core solution to system builders.
