Intel’s Broadwell and Skylake chips to coexist on the market – slide

Intel Corp.’s Tick-Tock strategy has never let the company and its partners down throughout its eight years in place. Every year Intel released new chips that were either made using all-new process technology or featured brand-new micro-architecture. However, everything will be different next year when Intel releases both Broadwell and Skylake microprocessors for desktops almost simultaneously.

The first rumours claiming that Intel intends to launch two different families of microprocessors for desktop personal computers in the second quarter of 2015 emerged in late May, but they were rather hard to believe in. Historically, Intel tried to avoid any competition between different product lines. However, this will be the case when it comes to the Broadwell and the Skylake-S microprocessors in Q2 2015, according to a slide presumably from Intel’s roadmap published by Chinese VR-Zone web-site.

It is interesting to note that the code-named Broadwell microprocessors for desktops will come with unlocked multiplier and will thus address enthusiasts and overclockers. The Broadwell line-up of chips will rely on the 9-series chipsets and will therefore bring almost no innovations (the Broadwell chips are very similar to the Haswell chips, but are made using 14nm process technology). It is also noteworthy that at present Intel has no plans to offer lower-cost Broadwell products.

The Skylake-S family of  central processing units will not feature unlocked multiplier, but will boast with a brand-new micro-architecture and generally more advanced platform. Intel’s 100-series chipsets are expected to bring a number of innovations, such as official support for the SATA Express technology, for example. In addition, the Skylake chips will support DDR4 memory in addition to DDR3.

Intel did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: It looks like the Broadwell-based chips will not be really widespread microprocessors on the desktop market. The CPUs were delayed a number of times and Intel clearly needs to unify micro-architectures it offers for desktops and notebooks. As a result, it looks like the firm will concentrate on ramping up Skylake processors for different types of PCs in 2015, whereas the Broadwell products will remain for enthusiasts seeking for overclocking capabilities.

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