Intel Revives the Atom Brand with New Branding Levels

[btarunr]

In order to help people understand the level of processor performance and make an informed purchase decision based on their needs, Intel Atom processors will now be offered in three distinct brand levels in a good/better/best construct - the Intel Atom x3, x5 and x7 processors. This change will start with the next generation of processors. Intel Atom x3 processor provides basic, but genuine Intel-level tablet, phablet and smartphone performance.

Intel Atom x5 processor has more capabilities and features for people who want an even better experience, and the flagship Intel Atom x7 processor provides the highest level of performance and capabilities for the Intel Atom family. The Intel Atom processor is designed to provide the best battery life with great performance for tablets, phablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. This infographic lists Intel's consumer brand portfolio for consumer devices including the Intel Core processor, Intel Core M processor, Intel Atom processor, Intel Pentium processor and Intel Celeron processor.



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[Naito]

Then what was the SoC called during the absence of the Atom brand?

 

[Melvis]

Still only as good as a potato...

 

[HumanSmoke]

Then what was the SoC called during the absence of the Atom brand?

You mean Bay Trail? That's an Atom....as is the previous Clover Trail, and the Medfield's prior to that. Maybe "revive" means adding an X to the logo?

 

[Caring1]

I think because Atom had such a bad name in relation to performance they were known by their other names for a period, as mentioned above, Bay Trail, Clover Trail etc.
Maybe they are hoping people have forgotten.

 

[RejZoR]

I had Atom N270 and it was perfectly fine for what it was designed. Currently using Atom N3740 in a tablet and it's pretty darn good.

 

[R-T-B]

Still only as good as a potato...

It's decent in netbook/tablet roles. Desktop CPU it is not.

 

[Caring1]

I remember all the hype when Netbooks first came out with Atom CPU's and people rushed out and paid lots of money for them, then the buyers remorse from so many due to them not living up to the hype or expectations.
They were and still are underpowered and extremely slow, even compared to regular laptops.
My elderly mother still uses her Netbook, but at her age she isn't going anywhere fast.

 

[bubbleawsome]

I've never really looked into CPU design, but I do have a question. (It may make me look stupid)
The way I understood it was that the core i series had the most complex cores, then pentium was cut down, celeron even further, and then atom had a much simpler core arch. Is that true? Was that ever true? How to the lines compare now?

 

[HumanSmoke]

I've never really looked into CPU design, but I do have a question. (It may make me look stupid)
The way I understood it was that the core i series had the most complex cores, then pentium was cut down, celeron even further, and then atom had a much simpler core arch. Is that true? Was that ever true? How to the lines compare now?

Pretty much. i7 to Celeron just cuts down the features at every step. L3 cache reduction is usually a common denominator (HT is SKU specific), Pentiums do away with HT and are less tightly binned (higher TDP except for Bay Trail Pentiums which are ULV but lack any L3), Celerons traditionally feature half the cache of a Pentium and reduced clock speed. Atoms are a separate architecture branch, area and feature ruled for low voltage (low clockspeed, no L3, much reduced L2, no AVX instruction set etc.)

 

[R-T-B]

Many (if not all?) Atoms are also an in-order architecture, which requires an aware compiler to make code that runs well on it as it can't do out-of-order execution like most modern CPUs. This is really only an issue in linux land, when the GNU compiler performs poorly at this, but it is something to note.

 

[Sony Xperia S]

It's decent in netbook/tablet roles. Desktop CPU it is not.

Decent compared to wat? As far as I know these shitty atoms (even the name itself associates to something too simple and stupid) have always shown poor performance benchmarks.

Remember?

 

[R-T-B]

Decent compared to wat? As far as I know these shitty atoms (even the name itself associates to something too simple and stupid) have always shown poor performance benchmarks.

Remember?

Cost to performance ratio in tablets and netbooks, mostly. I'm not saying the thing is a rocket ship. It's a grandma's tablet processor that goes toe-to-toe with cheap ARM cores.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Many (if not all?) Atoms are also an in-order architecture, which requires an aware compiler to make code that runs well on it as it can't do out-of-order execution like most modern CPUs. This is really only an issue in linux land, when the GNU compiler performs poorly at this, but it is something to note.

Atoms starting with the current Silvermont µarch (Bay Trail/Avoton) are OoO execution, as should be these "Atom x" series (which I presume are Airmont (Cherry Trail)- die shrunk Silvermont - although the article for some reason doesn't mention the architecture).

 

[Uplink10]

Intel has too many brands and too many CPU models, i3 should be 2 core, i5 should be 4 core and i7 should be 6 or more core.
I wonder where will be difference betwen x3, x5 and x7 other than words right now.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Decent compared to wat? As far as I know these shitty atoms (even the name itself associates to something too simple and stupid) have always shown poor performance benchmarks.

Remember?

This ain't about benchmarks. My son has an Asus Transformer T100TA with a Bay Trail Z3740. It is a 10.1 inch 2 in 1 tablet with detachable keyboard with Windows 8.1. This particular Atom has a 2W SDP (as per Intel), it lasts for about 9 (nine) hours of use, it's fanless of course and does about everything he needs at university and entertainment. It even plays DOTA 2 (on low, about 25 FPS but what the...). Oh, and it's cheap. And that is a 2013 design. From a productivity point of view this Windows little machine runs circles around Ipads and Android tablets. That's where the competition is and not Ultrabooks or desktop.

 

[Sony Xperia S]

This ain't about benchmarks. My son has an Asus Transformer T100TA with a Bay Trail Z3740. It is a 10.1 inch 2 in 1 tablet with detachable keyboard with Windows 8.1. This particular Atom has a 2W SDP (as per Intel), it lasts for about 9 (nine) hours of use, it's fanless of course and does about everything he needs at university and entertainment. It even plays DOTA 2 (on low, about 25 FPS but what the...). Oh, and it's cheap. And that is a 2013 design. From a productivity point of view this Windows little machine runs circles around Ipads and Android tablets. That's where the competition is and not Ultrabooks or desktop.

All tablets are cheap, 25 FPS is very low laggy and with all other Android tablets you will be able to do those university and entertainment tasks.

With the difference that you will not invest in the big evil Intel.

 

[Caring1]

I've got to have my 2c worth and say the Transformer tablet, is in a different league as far as price, it is much more in price than most Android Tablets and tries to compete with other luxury Tablets and Ipads.

 

[Naito]

All tablets are cheap, 25 FPS is very low laggy and with all other Android tablets you will be able to do those university and entertainment tasks.

With the difference that you will not invest in the big evil Intel.

 

[ShurikN]

I have a Asus Transformer with Z3740 Atom (4 x 1.86 GHz), currently using it for the interwebz, watching shows and anime, reading manga and playing indie games (on steam, gl playing those on android). It works perfectly well for all those things. And the device is like 1Kg in weight.
Atoms are great and more than capable CPUs for the price. I just don't know what people are expecting from them...

 

[lemonadesoda]

Atoms have their uses. I run three: one as a windows fileserver. It's more than fast enough. One as a webserver. It's more than fast enough for a limited demand webserver (serving a private vBulletin forum in-house). One is running a Synology NAS, including cloud services and surveillance station. It's more than fast enough. All of these are devices that are 24/7 and in one rack box in my home-office. Silence is golden. They have their uses.

 

[Sony Xperia S]

....CPUs for the price.

If there is price and not Intel giving them away for free.

I just don't know what people are expecting from them...

Not to exist?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Atoms have their uses. I run three: one as a windows fileserver. It's more than fast enough. One as a webserver. It's more than fast enough for a limited demand webserver (serving a private vBulletin forum in-house). One is running a Synology NAS, including cloud services and surveillance station. It's more than fast enough. All of these are devices that are 24/7 and in one rack box in my home-office. Silence is golden. They have their uses.

That was my first thought. They are much-used by WHS users, and I'd say at least 80% (unscientific guesstimate based on forum posts on various Windows Server forums) are happy with them for that. I think much of the dissatisfaction comes from them being used above what they were designed for. But for a file server, it's great and sips power. Just don't think you can stream major movies real well as a media server. for that your server needs more cpu grunt.

 

[krusha03]

Then what was the SoC called during the absence of the Atom brand?

Pentium / Celeron Nxxxx . They where renamed to this because the Atom Nxxx had a bad reputation and now they are back to Atom

 

[R-T-B]

If there is price and not Intel giving them away for free.



Not to exist?

They exist. People buy them without them being given away for free. That means there is a market and it's a succesful line.

I'm afraid someday, you'll have to come to terms with this. Sorry.