Intel brings Broadwell Unlocked and Skylake to desktop in Q2 2015
Intel will release three new processor generations for desktops in the second quarter of 2015, according to a recently released roadmap. After Broadwell for the economy segment in the first quarter, Broadwell K and Skylake will follow for more powerful systems and Braswell for the entry-level.
Several Intel roadmaps have been leaked in the past year, but last week at the Intel Technology Conference in Athens, the chip giant released an official update on its plans for desktop processors. A forum member from AnandTech attended the conference and took pictures of the slides. The Extreme segment of high-end processors will continue to be served by the Haswell-E processors from the X99 platform, which was released last summer, until at least the third quarter of 2015.
If you want to build a powerful computer without immediately going for an expensive Extreme processor, you can purchase a Broadwell Unlocked processor in the second quarter of 2015. The Broadwell chips have the same architecture as the current Haswell, but the chips are produced at 14nm instead of 22nm. The chips are combined with Haswell Refresh’s existing LGA 1150 socket and 9 Series chipset, and also feature an unlocked multiplier for overclocking capabilities. Remarkably, Intel places the chips on the roadmap under the processors with S suffix. Until now, chips with an unlocked multiplier with a K designation are on the market. At Intel, S stands for ‘Performance-optimized lifestyle’ and the chips can be regarded as mainstream processors.
Interestingly enough, Intel will also release the first Skylake processors for the mass market in the second quarter. These Core i5s and Core i7s are likely to be slightly less powerful than the Broadwell Unlocked models. Like the Broadwell chips, they are produced at 14nm, but they are also built around a new architecture. They are therefore combined with another socket, LGA 1151, and the chipset is the 100 Series. The new platform brings support for DDR4 and more powerful GPUs than Broadwell Unlocked.
In the first quarter of 2015, so before Broadwell Unlocked and Skylake, the BGA versions of Broadwell will come with TDPs of 15 and 28W. These energy-efficient U-series desktop processors are for small and quiet systems, and are soldered to the motherboard.
Finally, in Q2 the Braswell processors with J suffix are coming for entry-level desktops. Braswell is the successor to Baytrail-D. These chips can be regarded as 14nm variants of the Baytrail-D processors, but they will probably get a more powerful GPU.