Intel 14nm Skylake Processors To Feature PCIe 4, DDR4 Memory and SATA Express

We have already detailed Intel’s Haswell-E high-end desktop platform and we know that it will feature quad channel DDR4 memory in the second half of 2014, but what about Intel’s mainstream offerings? We have heard from reports that Intel will refresh the Haswell platform in the second half of 2014, but the Broadwell micro architecture would be limited to Xeon and mobility parts. Only in 2015 will we first see a mainstream 115* 14nm Skylake processor, which will pack some interesting features.

Skylake

Broadwell is actually a die shrink of Haswell, but built on the 14nm process and would feature Gen8 integrated GPU. Skylake on the other hand would be a totally new 14nm process design as an update over the Tri-gate architecture. Skylake will feature the latest Gen9 integrated HD graphics along with being the first mainstream platform to have dual channel DDR4 memory. So that would make Haswell-E and Skylake the only two desktop platforms with DDR4 support.

PCIe-4-PCIe-3.1-specifications

Obviously DDR4 is the big headline here, but Skylake will also feature PCI Express 4.0 which doubles the bandwidth over PCI Express 3.0. Skylake is also going to get SATA Express functionality, which will have a bandwidth of around 10-16 GB/s. Skylake would feature the latest AVX 3.2 instructions over AVX 2.0 in current Haswell processors. This new micro architecture would launch in the first half of 2015 and would replace the Haswell refresh which we will see in the second half of 2014.

Intel-Skylake

Intel is also planning to release a new high-end desktop (HEDT) platform for the LGA2011 socket in Q3 of this year. This will be Ivy-Bridge-E and you can read all about it here.

Source: WCCFTech | News Archive

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