The Intel Atom Thread

[ShintaiDK]

MSI thinks otherwise...

http://www.msi.com/product/windpad/W20-3M.html

Did it ever launch?

 

[Sweepr]

My biggest question about Bay Trail in something like the Asus T100 is how it will play games. If it can handle games like Torchlight/Trine/Mark of the Ninja with an acceptable framerate I will be very happy.

Bay Trail-T reference platform running Torchlight II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6JgsZ3M81A

Team Fortress 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdcLbqESxoE

 

[frozentundra123456]

Bay Trail-T reference platform running Torchlight II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6JgsZ3M81A

Team Fortress 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdcLbqESxoE

But how does it play on a tablet control wise? Does it have touch controls built into the game? Kind of defeats the purpose of a tablet if you have to carry around a mouse and keyboard, or use the tiny flat ones that come with tablets. Personally, I think a game has to be designed from the ground up for a tablet. Even if the hardware can run it, I just done see how a conventional PC game can be a good experience on a tablet.

Edit: I just say the video, and I see they have touch for movement and attacking, which looks Ok I guess. Not sure how it would handle big mobs, and still dont know how you would handle hotkeys for using potions, powers, accessing you inventory, etc.

 

[krumme]

Team Fortress 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdcLbqESxoE

Only saw this video. Clearly tf2 is unplayable. Look when there comes 9 players and it goes to 15fps as i can see. More players and we are probably in the single digits. Even 6vs6 will not work at all.

No way does it work. Same for temash. Tf2 demands fast single threadded performance. Perhaps a 2ghz kabini can play 12 or 18 player maps well but i doubt it.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Only saw this video. Clearly tf2 is unplayable. Look when there comes 9 players and it goes to 15fps as i can see. More players and we are probably in the single digits. Even 6vs6 will not work at all.

No way does it work. Same for temash. Tf2 demands fast single threadded performance. Perhaps a 2ghz kabini can play 12 or 18 player maps well but i doubt it.

I actually got to use it. I agree - TF2 was pretty unpleasant to play on the BYT-T. The GPU just isn't beefy enough for it.

 

[krumme]

I actually got to use it. I agree - TF2 was pretty unpleasant to play on the BYT-T. The GPU just isn't beefy enough for it.

Naa the gpu is fast enough on bt for tf2 on low. Its the single thread cpu perf that is not fast enough. You get to low on the min fps in intense firefights and that ruins the gameplay.

 

[monstercameron]

Only saw this video. Clearly tf2 is unplayable. Look when there comes 9 players and it goes to 15fps as i can see. More players and we are probably in the single digits. Even 6vs6 will not work at all.

No way does it work. Same for temash. Tf2 demands fast single threadded performance. Perhaps a 2ghz kabini can play 12 or 18 player maps well but i doubt it.

maybe it wouldnt work on temash but with 50%+ higher gpu perf, jsut maybe...
here is low res battlefield 3 running on temash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arIE_OF-BmA

 

[bullzz]

did they mention the settings in the video? the reference tablet has 2560 x 1440 res. if it gets 15 fps in that res, it must be playable in 720p

 

[monstercameron]

did they mention the settings in the video? the reference tablet has 2560 x 1440 res. if it gets 15 fps in that res, it must be playable in 720p

impossible just looking at the aliasing would lead me to believe that it isnt 1440p and the gpu is around the same performance as an amd c-50, snapdragon s600...

 

[Arachnotronic]

did they mention the settings in the video? the reference tablet has 2560 x 1440 res. if it gets 15 fps in that res, it must be playable in 720p

Yeah, but it wasn't running at native res. It was at 720p - I checked

 

[cbn]

Checking Intel Ark here I noticed the D versions of the above chips were $5 less than the non-D versions. (The exception being Z3680 and Z3680D SOCs which have not been released and priced yet)

Then I got wondering what DDR3L-RS used in the cheaper "D" chips was? Anandtech has an article on it here.

According to that graph DDR3L-RS is a cheaper form of memory compared to the LPDDR3 used in the more expensive "non-D" Z3770 and Z3740 SOCs.

So with this idea of the "D" versions being both cheaper at the SOC and memory level I am wondering how competitive these could be against ARM in small set-top boxes like the MiniX NEO X5/X7 or even the higher end HDMI sticks? (I am thinking primarily of Ubuntu as the OS, not Andoid)

P.S. If anyone is wondering about Ubuntu and HDMI sticks, it is happening.....but with ARM---> http://www.rikomagic.co.uk/linux_mini_pcs.html (so why not have x86 in an HDMI stick?)

 

[Sweepr]

Transformer T100 (64GB model) up for pre-order @ Amazon: www.amazon.com/ASUS-Transformer-T100...ansformer+t100

Launch October 18, 11 hours battery life.

 

[Sweepr]

Lenovo To Unveil World’s Thinnest Tablet – Yoga Tablet Powered By Intel Bay Trail

Lenovo official unveiled the Lenovo Vibe X in China as well as showcased the new Lenovo Vibe Z K910. After these two smartphones, Lenovo is working on the new tablet that set to launch in the next month, October.

According to Vice President of Lenovo, Chen Xu Dong said on Weibo that his company will introduce a whole new tablet that will revolutionize the tablet market. It is known as the Yoga Tablet.

The Yoga Tablet will come with two little stands that makes it different from other tablets in the market. The Yoga Tablet is also the world’s thinnest tablet as well as the tablet with longest standby time.

What is the operating system of Yoga Tablet? Chen did not reveal too much detail on the OS as he only said that the tablet will be powered by an Intel Bay Trail processor. So, the OS remains unknown.

http://gsminsider.com/2013/09/lenovo-yoga-tablet-intel-bay-trail/#sthash.cEeHkQSo.dpuf

 

[liahos1]

Lenovo To Unveil World’s Thinnest Tablet – Yoga Tablet Powered By Intel Bay Trail



http://gsminsider.com/2013/09/lenovo-yoga-tablet-intel-bay-trail/#sthash.cEeHkQSo.dpuf

please please please have a high res screen. will be a day 1 purchase. i like lenovo products a lot.

 

[Nothingness]

Some BT benchmarks on Android. Good but not ground-breaking.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/08/intel-bay-trail-benchmarks/

 

[liahos1]

Some BT benchmarks on Android. Good but not ground-breaking.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/08/intel-bay-trail-benchmarks/

i thought we agreed those benchmarks were somewhat pointless? Arent they still optimizing android for baytrail? Sunspider on IE on windows was like 330 wasnt it? I guess my question is...if those benchmarks are worthless, how do OEMS figure out how well an SOC really performs?

 

[jdubs03]

i thought we agreed those benchmarks were somewhat pointless? Arent they still optimizing android for baytrail? Sunspider on IE on windows was like 330 wasnt it? I guess my question is...if those benchmarks are worthless, how do OEMS figure out how well an SOC really performs?

You bring up a good point. It was noted that the Bay Trail reference tablet wasn't optimized quite yet with Android, so take those benchmarks and expect some improvement from them. Indeed sunspider was 330 ms. which is quite fast.

I think the benchmarks are pretty useful in measuring the performance of processors and memory subsystems, etc. It is really just a comparison tool for previous generations of chips (Single-threaded performance I value a lot). The issue I think most are seeing is trying to measure the performance across operating systems. For instance sunspider on Windows 8.1 (I think) is 330ms. but Android its varies but is around 550ms (not fully optimized).

Its about the customer interaction and user experience that is what drives device sales. The difference between BT and Snapdragon 800, or Tegra 4, is indistinguishable for the majority of people using these systems for common usage (aside from the Win 8.1/RT issue).

 

[Nothingness]

i thought we agreed those benchmarks were somewhat pointless?

It's likely some of them are very bad. But all of them show a similar trend so...

Arent they still optimizing android for baytrail?

That won't help native binary benchmarks, which most of those are.

Sunspider on IE on windows was like 330 wasnt it?

Yes, but this is Android, and anyway it looks like IE is only good at Sunspider.

I guess my question is...if those benchmarks are worthless, how do OEMS figure out how well an SOC really performs?

You'd be surprised by how many OEM ask for AnTuTu, depressing

Of course some of them are smarter than that.

 

[liahos1]

You'd be surprised by how many OEM ask for AnTuTu, depressing

Of course some of them are smarter than that.

So how do smart oems evaluate the merits of an SOC?

 

[Nothingness]

So how do smart oems evaluate the merits of an SOC?

Stream and SPEC are typically asked for. At least IP integrators ask for them.

 

[Sweepr]

Another 2560x1600 screen Bay Trail-T tablet:

... Also debuting today are a pair of tablets: the Stylistic Q584 10.1-inch tablet, and the Q704 12.5-inch semi-ruggedized tablet PC with up to a fourth generation Intel Core i7 processor.

...The Q584 tablet is Fujitsu's first with the BayTrail-T system-on-a-chip (SoC) and has a screen resolution of 2,560x1,600. The Q704 has a larger screen but lower resolution of 1,920x1080 and as previously mentioned, can be configured with as much as a quad-core i7 processor. The Q584 will be available at retail in November, with the Q704 hitting stores in December. Pricing is not available for any of Fujitsu's new releases.

http://www.electronista.com/article...uble.touch.capable.devices.in.fujitsus.stable

 

[liahos1]

Another 2560x1600 screen Bay Trail-T tablet:



http://www.electronista.com/article...uble.touch.capable.devices.in.fujitsus.stable

I hope the sharp and Fujitsu make it to the states. Japanese oem build quality still the best from my exp. I'd pay a premium for items need to replace my ipad

 

[Exophase]

You bring up a good point. It was noted that the Bay Trail reference tablet wasn't optimized quite yet with Android, so take those benchmarks and expect some improvement from them. Indeed sunspider was 330 ms. which is quite fast.

"Not yet optimized with Android" would refer to stuff at a system level, various peripherals on the SoC, power management, maybe some aspects of GPU support and integration. It's not going to be about CPU performance. All that optimization they already did for x86 carries over there. Sunspider scores are so different because the browser is totally different and it's highly dependent on browser, this is nothing very new.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Some BT benchmarks on Android. Good but not ground-breaking.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/08/intel-bay-trail-benchmarks/

It is a pity that power consumption was not measured when running those benchmarks.

 

[Roland00Address]

Be patient people, we will get final devices (and thus real performance numbers and real battery life) in about 2 to 3 weeks when the holiday devices are launched (and they can't launch till windows 8.1 is released.)