News Intel Allegedly Making Dual-Core 'Intel 300' Alder/Raptor Lake CPU

[Admin]

Intel is rumored to be developing a new entry-level dual-core CPU for the desktop market. The alleged chip will be the first desktop dual-core to drop the Pentium and Celeron nomenclature, and will be called the 'Intel 300.'

Intel Allegedly Making Dual-Core 'Intel 300' Alder/Raptor Lake CPU : Read more

 

[gondor]

Twitter post you cited literally says "base frequency 3.9GHz", not 3.6 GHz.

Aaron Klutz does it again ...

 

[usertests]

The Twitter leaker did not reveal any specifications for the iGPU, but for obvious reasons, we expect this CPU to sport one of Intel's lower-end configurations — like its UHD 730 Graphics unit.

It will probably include UHD Graphics 710 (16 EUs), like the Pentium Gold G7400 does.

Intel Pentium Gold G7400 Specs

Alder Lake-S, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 3.7 GHz, 46 W

www.techpowerup.com

 

[abufrejoval]

Well, chips and dies haven't been the same for a long time, but this really sounds like one of those selective destruction thingies that Intel is infamous for: take a U-die with two P-cores and kill some E's (or not) to create something 'new'.

But where you imply that such chips are pretty near useless, judging from an i3-7350K (a dual core Kaby Lake) and even a dual core Sky Lake notebook I still use, the importance of cores for snappyness is still sometimes overrated (while most of my machines have 8 cores or more).

I wonder if this is really to address one of the last niches Intel hasn't covered yet or about selling of a couple of dies that actually do have defective E-cores, as improbable as that sounds.

 

[punkncat]

I am not sure that a two core processor has a place in the consumer market aside from very targeted applications. I would not wish to run 2C in Windows at this point, 4C struggle enough.

Got to sell off anything they can though, so there is that....

 

[Eximo]

I could use another tiny PC based on newer silicon, though I have had my eye on some AMD solutions of late. At least ASUS is going to absorb the Intel NUC division.

But, yeah, dual cores usually not good enough for general purpose these days.

 

[bit_user]

Well, chips and dies haven't been the same for a long time, but this really sounds like one of those selective destruction thingies that Intel is infamous for: take a U-die with two P-cores and kill some E's (or not) to create something 'new'.

I don't see any evidence Intel made U-series (i.e. 2P + 8E) dies with Raptor Cove. Plus, with their 96 EU iGPU, the U-series dies aren't exactly tiny.

What I think they're doing is probably using half of 4 P-core die, or something like that. Maybe a further cut-down i3-13100, except I think that's using Golden Cove cores, rather than Raptor Cove (i.e. it's just a rebadged Gen 12 die).

Key things to look for will be the iGPU size and the PCIe revision.

 

[bit_user]

But, yeah, dual cores usually not good enough for general purpose these days.

Then most of their N-series is non-viable for general purpose? The smallest one has 2 E-cores. Most have 4 E-cores (which should run a bit faster than 2 P-cores / 4 threads, depending on clock speed).

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I was going to say it would be great for POS machines and other such very low demand computers, but at 46w power consumption this thing is destined for the dumpster.

 

[usertests]

What I think they're doing is probably using half of 4 P-core die, or something like that. Maybe a further cut-down i3-13100, except I think that's using Golden Cove cores, rather than Raptor Cove (i.e. it's just a rebadged Gen 12 die).

Pretty sure this is based on the ol' 6P + 0E Alder Lake die. With 2/3 of the cores disabled.

 

[rluker5]

I picked up a G6900 to get an ITX setup before Raptor lake came out and played around with it a bit. The 2 threads weren't enough but 4 threads even on older CPUs is fine for light use. 2 threads hitched on the desktop and web. Pausing things to catch up.
But I also plugged it in to my Asus Prime Z690-p and everything worked. The ram even could take the same timings. But SSD performance was garbage. Better than SATA, but totally bottlenecked Optane and NVME.
Eventually I sold it for what I bought it for: $40.
If this 2c4t were $60 it would be worth it for entry level. Otherwise better to go for 4c8t.

12100f selling for $88.40 at Newegg right now. That seems like a reasonable price.

 

[bit_user]

Pretty sure this is based on the ol' 6P + 0E Alder Lake die. With 2/3 of the cores disabled.

Yes, I think the 6 MB of L3 cache aligns with it being the Alder Lake die, since the 6-core i5-12600 has 18 MB and the 4-core i3-12300 has 12 MB. It seems that die has a 3 MB slice of L3 per core, which gets enabled/disabled with the core.

 

[usertests]

I picked up a G6900 to get an ITX setup before Raptor lake came out and played around with it a bit. The 2 threads weren't enough but 4 threads even on older CPUs is fine for light use. 2 threads hitched on the desktop and web. Pausing things to catch up.

Disabling hyperthreading on the dual-core was decidedly ungenerous of Intel.

They should mix it up and launch a 3c/6t Intel N333. Put that die to work.

 

[bit_user]

They should mix it up and launch a 3c/6t Intel N333. Put that die to work.

Wow, I'm having flashbacks to the AMD Phenom II X3 days!

 

[plateLunch]

Does Intel continue to do dual-core for laptops?

About 5 years ago, I bought what I thought was a top of the line HP Spectre x360 with a Core i7 CPU. I was expecting 4 cores because I thought all i7s had four cores. Instead, I was surprised the Core i7 7500U CPU only had two cores. For most of my browsing and editing, I don't think I notice it but I also do software builds which will light up all the cores and threads so not having the cores means I have to wait around longer than I need to. I don't know why they didn't just call it an i3.

 

[bit_user]

Does Intel continue to do dual-core for laptops?

About 5 years ago, I bought what I thought was a top of the line HP Spectre x360 with a Core i7 CPU. I was expecting 4 cores because I thought all i7s had four cores. Instead, I was surprised the Core i7 7500U CPU only had two cores.

That was actually the last generation where an i7 U-series had only dual cores. In Coffee Lake, the i7 U-series all have 4 cores, but the Y-series still has 2.

8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Product Specifications

8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors product listing with links to detailed product features and specifications.

ark.intel.com

I don't know why they didn't just call it an i3.

So they can charge more. I have an i3 Skylake laptop (one generation earlier than yours) and the only difference between the i3, i5, and i7 versions was the clock speeds and cache. Needless to say, I didn't think the i5 or i7 was worth the extra money and the i3 has been fine for my modest needs. These days, I just use it for streaming 1080p to my TV and it's perfectly fine at that.

 

[TerryLaze]

Intel is rumored to be developing a new entry-level dual-core CPU for the desktop market. The alleged chip will be the first desktop dual-core to drop the Pentium and Celeron nomenclature, and will be called the 'Intel 300.'

Intel Allegedly Making Dual-Core 'Intel 300' Alder/Raptor Lake CPU : Read more

Just when we thought dual-cores were dead, Intel is rumored to be bringing back the "obsolete" core configuration for another generation.

According to chi11eddog, this new chip will be the spiritual successor of the Pentium Gold G7400.

So how did we think that dual cores were dead when we had a new one just one or two years ago?

I am not sure that a two core processor has a place in the consumer market aside from very targeted applications. I would not wish to run 2C in Windows at this point, 4C struggle enough.

Got to sell off anything they can though, so there is that....

2c/4t is plenty enough for intels biggest market...office systems, if the only thing you need to do is to enter data into a program or to write letters in a word processor these will be hugely overpowered.

 

[bit_user]

2c/4t is plenty enough for intels biggest market...office systems, if the only thing you need to do is to enter data into a program or to write letters in a word processor these will be hugely overpowered.

Why even use a desktop for that? A NUC or mini-PC, perhaps based on Alder Lake-N, would work fine.

The main advantage a desktop SKU would have is PCIe lanes, such as to accommodate a dGPU. That's probably why some people seem to think it might be targeted at entry-level gaming.

 

[TerryLaze]

Why even use a desktop for that? A NUC or mini-PC, perhaps based on Alder Lake-N, would work fine.

Sure, a lot of new professionals even only use their smartphones for their entire digital office.

 

[Eximo]

I picked up a G6900 to get an ITX setup before Raptor lake came out and played around with it a bit. The 2 threads weren't enough but 4 threads even on older CPUs is fine for light use. 2 threads hitched on the desktop and web. Pausing things to catch up.
But I also plugged it in to my Asus Prime Z690-p and everything worked. The ram even could take the same timings. But SSD performance was garbage. Better than SATA, but totally bottlenecked Optane and NVME.
Eventually I sold it for what I bought it for: $40.
If this 2c4t were $60 it would be worth it for entry level. Otherwise better to go for 4c8t.

12100f selling for $88.40 at Newegg right now. That seems like a reasonable price.

Then most of their N-series is non-viable for general purpose? The smallest one has 2 E-cores. Most have 4 E-cores (which should run a bit faster than 2 P-cores / 4 threads, depending on clock speed).

12100F is what I got for my HTPC. My last HTPC build started as an i3-4130T and lasted many years. It was starting to show the dual core limitation with general desktop performance, so I swapped in my old i7-4770k and that worked quite well for a while. Only really upgraded it due to age and low prices. (Though the performance difference is noticeable when loading things up with an NVMe) Just kept my eye open for cheap Z690 ITX boards and snagged one at the low end. Maybe someday it will get an upgrade to a nice used 14th gen i7 or something.

My old atom based IdeaStick from Lenovo can barely hit the web with all the advertisements on everything. Basically only good for DosBox now.

As someone else mentioned an 7th gen mobile, I ended 2020 with a dual core laptop. It worked okay, but you could feel the latency and load times on the web. Not to mention the poor performance on work tasks that used even a little bit of processing power. Coupled with the stuff you typically find on business laptops, really wasn't enough.

So two Alder Lake cores, might work for a while, but will quickly fade. Might be okay for kiosks and POS and the like, but there are more efficient options which would require less cooling. Though OEMs could tweak the power on them to make them more useful. I assume the high power just lets the clocks go high for brief stints.

 

[bit_user]

7th gen mobile, I ended 2020 with a dual core laptop. It worked okay, but you could feel the latency and load times on the web. Not to mention the poor performance on work tasks that used even a little bit of processing power. Coupled with the stuff you typically find on business laptops, really wasn't enough.

Oh, same. I actually had a dual-core i5 Kaby Lake (7th gen) laptop from my job, with a meager 8 GB of (single channel) memory. It would struggle to do just about anything. I pretty much only used it for video conferencing. I'll bet it would've really helped to put another stick of RAM in there, but even my quad-core 32 GB work machine bogged down with all the junk my employer had running in the background.

 

[Eximo]

Oh, same. I actually had a dual-core i5 Kaby Lake (7th gen) laptop from my job, with a meager 8 GB of (single channel) memory. It would struggle to do just about anything. I pretty much only used it for video conferencing. I'll bet it would've really helped to put another stick of RAM in there, but even my quad-core 32 GB work machine bogged down with all the junk my employer had running in the background.

Same. I asked for 16GB of ram. Guess what they did, they took my 8GB stick, and put in a single 16GB. I suspect they actually ordered a 16GB stick specifically rather than just using another 8GB they had on hand. Just a few months later they went around and replaced everything that couldn't go above 8GB. Had some really terrible 4GB soldered netbook like things they were still handing out.

Luckily I had already requisitioned a new machine that I'm still using. Just missed Alder lake and e-cores, but still an 11th gen i7 and 32GB of memory has pretty much taken care of things. Given this is government, probably going to have this for the next 5 years or so.

 

[rluker5]

Disabling hyperthreading on the dual-core was decidedly ungenerous of Intel.

They should mix it up and launch a 3c/6t Intel N333. Put that die to work.

Product segmentation reasons. If there is something worse, then the 2c4t is better than that and should cost more. It was for sales reasons, not giving the consumer a good deal.

 

[manolis kokotsakis]

So what this G7400 is for ?
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