Gigabyte M528

[icurafu]

I think you're getting your hopes up again. Intel's originally plan, if you were paying attention from the start, was to release the UMPC CPUs in three waves. The new NANOs, using the silverthorn is the 2nd round.

Intel's goal is to archive similar performance. For instance, the 800MHz A110 is about the same performance as the 1.6GHz nano and a little weaker than the 1.83GHz, when HT is used.

There is DirectX9 support already. ASUS has demonstated all the Aero effects running on the upcoming menlow devices with Windows Vista.

GMA500 = SGX535. They are not trying to sell it with Windows because Vista would run like crap and look like crap on such a small screen.

 

[Svartalf]

The Atom processors as they are available now do not include any GPU - they are just processors. I have no idea which GPU the M528 is using, though MS does insist on the US15W SCH (which includes GMA500 graphics) if you want to use its "Centrino Atom" branding. It may be that the M528 is using a PowerVR chip, but there is no mention one way or the other in the half dozen articles I've found. The fact that Gigabyte is not even trying to sell the M528 with Windows installed leads me to suspect that it is using an ultra-cheap part without directX support. If I'm wrong, well, that just makes getting XP running on the device that much easier

GMA 500 is the SGX 535 on the Northbridge- there's other articles elsewhere that indicate that this is the case.
People are pointing to the 3DMark scores and indicate that the chip's not as good as the GMA950- which isn't
a good metric for the part because 3DMark's scores are measuring fill-rate, etc. in which the fill-rate's going
to drag the overall score down. Nobody's been able to point me to "official" scores and the breakdowns
to tell whether the 530/535 is as "weak" as the people are making it out to be (Never mind that for portable
gaming, the thing is STILL the most powerful thing to come down the pike...always got to try to do insane
things like handle a high-def TV you know... ).

All in all, I'm not even remotely concerned about the Atom stuff right now. In a generation or two, we might be considering a Pandora 2 or a Pandora 3 with one of them in there because the power profile vs. performance will be compelling enough to consider it, in spite of the braindead x86 ISA... As it stands right now, the thing's not in the same class as the Pandora- the Atom very probably fits in nicely on a 7" screen eeePC class UMPC, allowing them to do x86 Linux and XP, though Microsoft's got a serious problem on their hands past the next year if they don't execute on their "promised" Windows 7 that's more of a streamlined pass at Fis...er...Vista. However, it's not in the real hand-held territory yet and won't be for at least a couple of years to come.

 

[aatu]

Something from our ALWAYS trustworthy wikipedia (heavily modified, some interesting points collected):

Series 5 (SGX)

SGX510 (3 MPolys/sec)(withdrawn), SGX520 (7 MPolys/sec), and SGX530 (14 MPolys/sec) for the handheld mobile market
SGX535 and SGX540 (28 MPolys/sec) for handheld high end mobile, portable, MID, UMPC, consumer, and automotive devices
SGX540, SGX545, SGX 550 (100 MPolys/sec) and SGX555 for advanced consumer devices, laptop, and desktop products


Products that include the SGX:

Intel System Controller Hub -- SGX535(Intel GMA 500) + VXD370 :
ASUS R50A
ASUS R70A
Gigabyte M528
MSI Wind PC

Texas Instruments OMAP3530 -- SGX530 + Cortex-A8 :
Pandora (console)
Beagle Board

 

[icurafu]

Note that TI rates their version of the SGX530 as (10 MPoly/sec) which maybe because of the clock speed. Reading the TI datasheet, I can't see anyway to clock it higher. But I might be mistaken. Not that this could br used in combination with the very powerful DSP. Imagine a game that used both at once. Think Final Fantasy rendered cutscene over a movie background.

I'm very excited about OpenGL ES 2.0 in a handheld.

 

[Knux]

FYI, the atom processors have a PowerVR SGX 535 (comparable with the SGX 530 in the Pandora) inside them. The fact that they are compatible with DirectX 9L should be enough to prove their graphical capability incomparison to the Pandora. Not to mention they have a PowerVR VXD HD decoder, that is ultra low power.

What you're thinking of is the upcoming Moorestown platform. Moorestown is going to be a proper SoC with a next-gen Atom CPU, PowerVR graphics, and a <1W TDP. Unfortunately, it's at least a year or two away from production.

The Atom processors as they are available now do not include any GPU - they are just processors. I have no idea which GPU the M528 is using, though MS does insist on the US15W SCH (which includes GMA500 graphics) if you want to use its "Centrino Atom" branding. It may be that the M528 is using a PowerVR chip, but there is no mention one way or the other in the half dozen articles I've found. The fact that Gigabyte is not even trying to sell the M528 with Windows installed leads me to suspect that it is using an ultra-cheap part without directX support. If I'm wrong, well, that just makes getting XP running on the device that much easier

No you're getting it all wrong. The current Atom processors DO have a PowerVR GPU except they're not INTEGRATED into a SoC. They are seperate from the processor itself. And for the record, GMA 500 IS INDEED SGX 535. And I think you need to look again into the articles you said of not having anything mentioned regarding PowerVR. http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/04/1377/

 

[Chip]

No you're getting it all wrong. The current Atom processors DO have a PowerVR GPU except they're not INTEGRATED into a SoC. They are seperate from the processor itself. And for the record, GMA 500 IS INDEED SGX 535. And I think you need to look again into the articles you said of not having anything mentioned regarding PowerVR. http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/04/1377/



I had it absolutely right. The current Atom processors are just processors. Intel sells an all-in-one southbridge+northbridge+GPU which aparantly uses the PowerVR core, but this is a seperate part. Intel requires this part for a device to qualify for "Centrino" branding, but none of the articles I've read have specifically said what GPU the M528 will be using or that it would carry the "Centrino" badge (which would answer the first question). It is not impossible that Gigabyte is using something different. I have no evidence that they are, but I have no evidence to the contrary either. The link you provided only reiterates what I have already said - it makes no mention of the M528.

 

[Svartalf]

Note that TI rates their version of the SGX530 as (10 MPoly/sec) which maybe because of the clock speed. Reading the TI datasheet, I can't see anyway to clock it higher. But I might be mistaken. Not that this could br used in combination with the very powerful DSP. Imagine a game that used both at once. Think Final Fantasyrendered cutscene over a movie background.

I think people need to step back a bit here and not look at the fill-rates, etc.

Fill-rates are peak theoretical throughput. If your CPU can't hand it off to the engine fast enough, or if it's buried in doing things, it's not going to hit it.

I've seen all kinds of crap paraded as gospel over the years in the the 3D space. When the rubber meets
the pavement, both in the drivers and the applications, is where it matters. And it doesn't work like many
think it does.

Keep in mind, for the higher fillrate, you're burning quite a bit more juice.

Also keep in mind, we're going to be CPU and memory bandwidth constrained at 800x480. The higher
theoretical fillrate won't buy you a bunch because you're not going to be able to push it fast enough
with the CPU unless you're talking something like 3x faster Atom or Cortex CPU cores.

Without CPU bandwidth, high fillrate means little.
Without the ability to USE it, it means little as well.

In the space we're all gunning for, there's going to be little difference right at the moment- and a lot higher
power consumption out of the Atom based devices.

QUOTE

I'm very excited about OpenGL ES 2.0 in a handheld.



You and me both. It's going to rock. I can't wait to work towards being able to wipe a few smug looks off of people's faces with the titles I've got, running on a handheld.

I had it absolutely right. The current Atom processors are just processors. Intel sells an all-in-one southbridge+northbridge+GPU which aparantly uses the PowerVR core, but this is a seperate part. Intel requires this part for a device to qualify for "Centrino" branding, but none of the articles I've read have specifically said what GPU the M528 will be using or that it would carry the "Centrino" badge (which would answer the first question). It is not impossible that Gigabyte is using something different. I have no evidence that they are, but I have no evidence to the contrary either. The link you provided only reiterates what I have already said - it makes no mention of the M528.



http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=170

GPU/chipset is quoted as being the Polusbo set- that makes it a GMA500, otherwise known as a SGX535.

The power consumption isn't the same, the performance while on a par with what we've got, the price just downright sucks and the silly thing is more like an x86 competitor to the Nokia N810 than anything else-
but the performance over the N810 isn't meriting the double the price tag on the whole lot.

 

[Megamixman]

Svartlaf has a very good point. The only caveat to that statement is companies like TI have done a good job in the past of matching Components so that no single part is a major bottleneck.

The X86 world on the other hand...... Well.... there's a reason you can find $1K Graphics cards.....