Intel’s first chips based on the new “Tremont” architecture for low-power, low-cost processors could be available by the end of the year, with around a 30-percent performance boost compared with processors featuring previous-gen “Goldmont+” CPU cores.

But Intel isn’t done with Goldmont+ just yet.

As anticipated, the company has introduced six new “Gemini Lake Refresh” processors with Goldmont+ CPU cores.

For the most part, the new chips seem to be pretty similar to the “Gemini Lake” parts that have been around for the past two years. They have the same graphics capabilities, the same support for dual-channel DDR4 and LPDDR4 2400 MHz memory, and the same number of CPU cores as their predecessors (as well as the same lack of support for hyperthreading.

But they do have slightly higher turbo boost speeds.

Here’s a run-down of the new chips (in bold) and their Gemini Lake counterparts (italicized):

N series (6 watts)

J series (10 watts)

Are those differences likely to result in huge performance gains? Probably not — I certainly wouldn’t recommend upgrading a Gemini Lake laptop, tablet, or mini-desktop just to get your hands on a model with a Gemini Lake Refresh chip. But if you’re in the market for a new machine, you may be able to pick up one with a slightly faster processor soon.

Or you could just wait a little longer for Tremont.

Update: Links to Intel’s product pages have been added, and it’s also now clear that the new chips may have some other improvements — the original Gemini Lake processors were listed as Stepping B0, while the new Gemini Lake Refresh processors are Stepping R0, which means there are probably some bug fixes and/or other improvements. 

via NotebookCheck and Benchmark.pl

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5 replies on “Intel launches Gemini Lake Refresh chips for low-power laptops, desktops”

  1. The real reason for this is Tremont will not be on the market for some time…classic paper launch, you will nor see it before mid 2020. Just shows you how much confidence they have in the 10nm node!

  4. > with up to a 30-percent performance boost

    No. That’s wrong. It’s *over* 30-percent average improvement in IPC.

    1. I haven’t compared the clock speeds of Tremont vs Goldmont+ vs whatever came before, but if we increase IPC 30% and drop clock speed (As has been typical of other 14nm+++++++++++++ to 10nm+ transitions) then there is a gain of less than 30%. Indeed, Intel’s choice and weighting of “which instructions are how much faster” has been terribly poor before, and I have not evaluated whether their selection this time is any better.

      In short, I don’t know whether (1) the “over 30% IPC gain” will be reflected in reasonably typical tasks happening in 30% fewer CPU cycles, (2) whether the typical clock rates are similar or better, (3) how these two factors add up to a performance delta, (4) whether the CPU is the bottleneck in the tests done. And perhaps you don’t either. It bears considering though that “My buckets are over 30% larger” might have some fine print such as “They also take 10% longer to fill.” That multiplication yields results between 17% faster to “over 300%” faster, depending on how you calculate.

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