Published in PC Hardware

Intel outs six new ULV chips

by on25 May 2010


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32nm, 32 percent better, 32 percent smaller


32
is Intel's number of the day. The chipmaker has launched a new line of ultra low voltage processors aimed at ultra-thin notebooks.

All six parts are manufactured in 32nm, unlike the previous CULV generation, which was churned out in 45nm. Intel claims that the chips have been refined and that they are 32 percent smaller than their predecessors. The new parts should also deliver at least 32 percent more performance.

Despite higher performance, TDPs and power consumption have stayed very low, thanks to the 32nm process and the inclusion of integrated graphics in the chip package. All six chips boast an 18W TDP and integrated graphics clocked at 166MHz, which can clock up to 500MHz depending on the load.

The Core i7 660UM is clocked at 1.33GHz, but with Turbo the clock goes up to 2.4GHz, which is quite impressive for an ULV part. It has 2x256kB of L2 cache and 4MB of L3 and it costs $278. The Core i5 540UM and 430UM are both clocked at 1.2GHz, but on Turbo they overclock to 2.0GHz and 1.73GHz respectively. Both feature 2x256kB of L2 cache and 3MB of L3. The Core i3 330UM runs at 1.2GHz and it doesn't support Turbo overcloking. Like the rest of the Core series, it's a dual-core with 4 threads.

The Pentium U5400 is clocked at 1.2GHz, but it's not multithreaded and it doesn't feature Turbo. The Celeron U3400 runs at 1.03GHz, it's not multithreaded and it has 2MB of L3 cache. At $134 it's the cheapest of the lot.

The pricing remains very close to the previous CULV generation, but thanks to Turbo Boost, consumers will get quite a bit more for their money. Intel has plenty of design wins for the new ULV series and we're expecting to see quite a few thin-and-light notebooks with these 32nm parts at Computex.
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