Intel has quietly slipped a total of eight new processors into its December price list. On offer is a mix of both Skylake and Broadwell mobile and desktop CPUs ranging from Intel Celeron to Core i7 parts. Despite the low key launch of these processors they might prove to be interesting options, especially the two desktop processors which are thought to not include integrated graphics.
Below is the snippet from the Intel December pricelist, courtesy of CPU World, that reveals some key details about the new processors:
Working though the list from top to bottom we first come across probably the least interesting chips in the new lineup; the Celeron 3855U and 3955U are said to be successors to the 3215U and 3765U ULV chips. These 15W Skylake processors will likely be deployed in low price laptops.
Next up in the CPU list, as shown above, are a pair of desktop CPUs, the Intel Core i3-6098P and Core i5-6402P. Neither of these are in the Intel ARK at the time of writing. It is noted that their 'P' suffix was used in previous generation processors to denote the lack of integrated graphics, so that is probably how these CPUs are configured. It is notable that the new i3 CPU has the same suggested price as the i3-6100 yet offers a lower base clock speed and a smaller 2MB (rather than 3MB) cache.
The final four mobile processors in the pricelist all possess a bit of mystery as they sport the previously unseen 'DU' suffix. Compounding the mystery, they also don't appear in the Intel ARK database at the time of writing. CPU-World observes that the new DU models have the same number of cores, operating frequency and size of L3 cache as the existing corresponding 'U' models. For example the Intel Core i5-5200U offers 2 cores, 4 threads, a base clock frequency of 2.2GHz and 3MB cache, just like the new Core i5-5200DU. Even the prices are the same...
Intel completes Altera acquisition
On Monday Intel completed its biggest ever acquisition, the $16.7 billion purchase of Altera Corp. Using the adopted programmable chip technology Intel plans to begin selling products made up of a Xeon chip and an Altera FPGA in a single package in 2016. That will be followed up by an integrated single chip traditional processor with FPGA circuitry bringing even greater performance benefits.
Altera will continue to operate as a branded business unit. It will still support and develop ARM-based products. While currently some chipmaking for Altera is undertaken by foreign companies like TSMC, new chips will be made in Intel factories.
