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The background

Recent microprocessor architectures from the two main x86 players, Intel and AMD, have focussed on using one basic design for the server, client, and mobile sectors. For example, the incumbent Intel Penryn architecture can be found in the enterprise space under the Xeon brand, in the client area under Core 2 Duo/Quad, and in the mobile sector under the Mobile Core 2 Duo/Quad branding.

Derivating from one core architecture simplifies engineering and manufacturing but means that there is relatively limited scope for designing really low-power chips, because only so many parts of the chips, which draws some 125W in server form, can be switched off before its performance irrevocably stalls.

This is why the Current Mobile Core 2 range has a TDP – which can be thought of as maximum power-draw – of 5.5W. However, most present mobile chips found in the vast majority of mid-range laptops have a TDP of 25/35W – leading to laptops consuming between 40W and 50W when under load. This kind of power-draw is not conducive for day-long battery life in a small, thin notebook.

In effect, as of 2008, both Intel and AMD’s mobile chips clearly weren’t designed to be both power-frugal and cheap to produce. A new architecture was required if either company wanted to exploit a marketing opportunity for thin, light, and inexpensive notebooks. In that sense, Intel’s Atom can be thought of as the harbinger of the present netbook.

Intel’s Atom series of processors, released in early 2008, have been specifically designed for low-power usage, but that’s manifested with performance that’s considerably slower than even the most-basic Mobile Core 2 chip, so how does it work?

The architecture

Atom is based on a 45nm manufacturing process and features an in-order execution architecture, which can be slower at computing than the out-of-order execution used by Intel and AMD’s better-performing chips. The Atom range is vast, encompassing single- and dual-core models, available with and without the performance benefits of HyperThreading. All Atom chips run Intel Architecture (IA-32) code, although only a handful have been enabled for 64-bit operation. Clock-speeds range from 800MHz to 1,600MHz and, crucially, TDP values range from just 0.65W to 8W.

Putting the performance into context, the popular 1.6GHz-clocked Atom N270, found in a number of netbooks, returns a CINEBENCH R10 score of around 820 marks. A mid-range Mobile Core 2 Duo P8400 benchmarks at around 4,700 marks – almost six times higher!

Given that performance is generally analogous to mobile chips from 2005, which is just good enough for a basic Internet experience, one of the main associated benefits of Atom is how relatively cheap it is to produce.

The aforementioned Intel Atom N270 has a total of 47m transistors, based on a die-size of 25mm². Compare this with the 82mm² for the Mobile Core 2 Duo P8400 and it’s clear that a far greater number can be manufactured on a standard 300mm wafer – some 2,500, in fact, and 11x greater than Mobile Core 2 Duos.

The range

As we mentioned earlier, Atom is an umbrella term to cover these low-power, inexpensive-to-produce chips. The range is currently segregated into Atoms designed for the desktop and netbooks – codenamed Diamondville – and those for smaller mobile devices which require a lower power envelope – dubbed Silverthorne.