Along the sidelines of GDC 2015, Intel offered a few details on how the year could look for its desktop processor lineup. The company is preparing to launch socketed Core "Broadwell" processors in mid-2015 (late Q2 or early Q3), likely in the sidelines of Computex 2015. Broadwell is an optical shrink of "Haswell" to the new 14-nanometer silicon fab process, with a minor feature-set update, much in the same way as "Ivy Bridge" was an optical shrink of "Sandy Bridge" to the 22 nm process.

The socketed Core "Broadwell" chips could come in the LGA1150 package, running on existing 8-series and 9-series chipset motherboards, with BIOS updates. The optical shrink seems to be working wonders for the silicon. Quad-core chips based on "Broadwell" could come with TDP rated as low as 65W (and we're not talking about the energy-efficient "S" or "T" brand extensions here). Some dual-core variants in the series may even be based on the smaller Core M "Broadwell" silicon, which physically features just 2 cores (and isn't a bigger quad-core silicon with two cores disabled in what's a colossal waste of rare-earth metals on a production scale). Some of those dual-core parts could come with TDP rated as low as 28W.

Intel is beginning to put out the first details of its next high-end desktop (HEDT) processors, internally. Codenamed "Broadwell-E," the company's next Core i7 HEDT chips will be built in the existing LGA2011v3 package, and will be compatible with existing motherboards based on Intel's X99 Express chipset (with BIOS updates). Much like "Ivy Bridge-E" was to "Sandy Bridge-E," these chips will introduce only incremental updates, and nothing major, in terms of architecture.

To begin with, Core i7 "Broadwell-E" will be built in the 14 nanometer silicon fab process, and will feature 6 to 8 cores based on the "Broadwell" micro-architecture. These cores will be cushioned with up to 20 MB of L3 cache. The chip is pin-compatible to "Haswell-E," and so its I/O will be identical, featuring a quad-channel DDR4 integrated memory controller. One difference is that Intel may can the 28-lane PCIe approach with the entry-level part; or at least it doesn't find mention on the slide. If it's true, all parts based on this silicon, will feature 40-lane PCIe interfaces. The TDP of these chips will be rated at 140W. Intel is expected to launch the Core i7 "Broadwell-E" in 2016.

Eurocom is launching the thin and light, M5 Pro with a choice NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics, 32 GB DDR3-1600 memory, 4 TB storage, a stunning 4k (3840x2160) 15.6" display and an Intel Core i7 4710HQ processor. If there was ever a laptop that could blur the lines between ultraportable and gaming it would be the EUROCOM M5 Pro, powerful enough to run current and future games at ultra with the weight, dimensions and battery life of an ultraportable.

The EUROCOM M5 Pro is Eurocom's newest innovative creation. A lightweight 2.6kg laptop with superb performance. It is powered by the next generation of world's most powerful NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics and features a beautiful 4K, 3840-by-2160 pixels display. The EUROCOM M5 Pro is extremely thin and mobile while still offering a stunning 4TB of storage with four physical drives with a combination of traditional SSD/HDD as well as new, innovative M.2 slots. Sleek, slim, super high performance, the M5 is another "little monster" from Eurocom that will blow everybody away, while gaming or doing your corporate bidding.

AMD made three additions to its FX-8300 series eight-core socket AM3+ processors, along with adjustments to the series' overall pricing. The company launched a new performance-segment part, the FX-8370, along with two energy-efficient eight-core chips, the FX-8370E, and the FX-8320E. The FX-8370 features the same 4.00 GHz nominal clock speed as the FX-8350, but a tiny bit higher TurboCore frequency of 4.30 GHz, compared to the latter's 4.20 GHz. This chip is priced at US $199.

The FX-8370E, on the other hand, features the same maximum TurboCore frequency of 4.30, but its nominal clock speed is much lower, at 3.30 GHz. Not all cores run at TurboCore frequency simultaneously. The FX-8320E features a maximum TurboCore frequency of 4.00 GHz, same as that of the FX-8320, but a lower nominal clock speed, of 3.20 GHz. Both these two parts feature rated TDP of 95W, compared to 125W of the other parts in the series.

Intel made its newest Core i7 high-end desktop (HEDT) platform official with the launch of three new socket LGA2011 processors based on the swanky new 22 nm "Ivy Bridge-E" silicon. The launch includes the top-end Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition, priced at $990, followed by the Core i7-4930K at $555, and Core i7-4820K at $310. Expect a 10 percent markup across the board for these prices. Of these, the i7-4960X and i7-4930K are six-core parts, while the i7-4820K is quad-core.

The Core i7-4960X features a CPU clock speed of 3.60 GHz, with up to 4.00 GHz Turbo Boost frequency, 15 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading, which enables 12 logical CPUs for the OS to deal with. The i7-4930K clocks in at 3.40 GHz, with up to 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost, 12 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading. The i7-4820K, at its price point, can be extremely inviting for people with their minds set on a Core i7-4770K. It features 3.70 GHz clocks with up to 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost, 10 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading, enabling 8 logical CPUs. All three parts feature quad-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller with native support for DDR3-1866, 48-lane PCI-Express gen 3.0 root complexes, and 130W rated TDPs.

AMD reportedly updated its consumer products roadmap for 2014 thru 2015 to account for changes in the industry. The company is expected to unveil its next-generation "Volcanic Islands" GPU family by late-September, 2013. In the first quarter of 2014, the company is expected to unveil its 4th generation entry-level APUs, codenamed "Kabini." Built in ST3 socket for notebooks, and FS1B for desktops, this product family will include dual- and quad-core parts, with TDPs under 25W. Among the quad-core parts are the A4-5350 and A4-5150, and among the dual-core ones is the E1-2650.

"Kabini" will enter mass-production in February 2014, and will be formally announced in the following month. Kabini's early-2014 launch, delayed from late-2013, will have a cascading effect on its successor's launch. "Beema," its successor, will now launch in either late-2014, or early-2015. "Beema" will be based on the same socket types as "Kabini," but will incorporate more HSA technologies.

AMD's energy-efficient socket FM2 desktop APU, the A10-6700T, is expected to go on sale later this week. Its selling point is the 45W TDP, with no reduction in core-count, or other components. Based on the 32 nm "Richland" silicon, the A10-6700T features four "Piledriver" x86-64 cores clocked at 2.50 GHz, with TurboCore frequency of 3.50 GHz, and 4 MB of total L2 cache. It features a Radeon HD 8650D graphics core with 384 stream processors, and untouched clock speeds of 760 MHz core, and 844 MHz boost. The chip also features a dual-channel DDR3-2133 MHz integrated memory controller, and a PCI-Express gen 2.0 root complex. The A10-6700T is expected to be priced around $150.

Intel is going in for the kill. The company has lowered the lowest SDP (Scenario Design Point, different from TDP) rating of Haswell based microprocessors from 6W to just 4.5W. The difference might not look like it's much (just 1.5W), but it is quite significant. While 6W wouldn't allow OEMs to use the processor in compact form factors like tablets, 4.5W will allow the same OEMs to go for fanless, passive-cooled Haswell powered tablets. Intel will ship very limited quantities of 4.5W SDP Haswell SKUs.

Of course, this opens up the possibility of these new Haswell chips to end up being used in Microsoft's next-generation Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet. If Intel manages to squeeze in an underclocked HD5000 GPU, there'll be nothing like it. Intel hasn't released any information regarding the exact specifications of the SKUs, pricing, or shipping dates.