Intel has successfully transitioned its microprocessor line to the Haswell 4th Generation architecture in the last month. It's known that the Broadwell architecture is set to replace Haswell, improving upon the incumbent via a combination of a die shrink, to 14nm, and relatively minor enhancements to the core.
Now, however, a few more details have emerged about the real next-generation architecture known as Skylake, which is to follow Broadwell some time in 2015.
According to a report from PCGameshardware, referencing the above slide in relation to Xeon launches, Skylake is also fabbed on a 14nm process - Intel doesn't change process geometries for new architectures - and brings with it dual-channel DDR4, the next generation of PCIe that doubles bandwidth over PCIe 3.0, a boost for storage in the form of SATA Express, which increases throughput by over 2x SATA 6Gbps.
What's more, in keeping with recent launches an nomenclature, Intel will use Skylake to debut its ninth-generation IGP. We already know that Haswell's IGP is a marked improved over Ivy Bridge's, so it will be interesting to see just how much more of the overall die Intel devotes to the graphics section.
There's not a whole heap of new information at this early stage, as expected, but what are your thoughts? If you had a clean-sheet design and were able to integrate key features into future Intel processor designs, what would you do?
