Haswell GT3e Pictured, Coming to Desktops (R-SKU) & Notebooks
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 10, 2013 7:21 PM EST
One of the worst kept secrets is Haswell will have four different GPU configurations: GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT3e. As with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, higher numbers mean more execution units, with GT3 topping out at 40 EUs. The lowercase e denotes an embedded DRAM part, with some amount of DRAM on the Haswell package itself (not on-die).
In an awesome scoop, the folks at VR-Zone managed to snag a photo of what looks like a quad-core Haswell die with GT3e graphics. The small package to the left should be the Lynx Point chipset (8-series), while the dual-die package on the right is Haswell + DRAM. The big square die should be Haswell itself with its 40 EU GPU, while the smaller die is the DRAM itself.
Intel hasn't officially acknowledged the existence of GT3e, but it did demonstrate performance of the part at CES earlier this year - targeting somewhere around the speed of NVIDIA's GeForce GT 650M. The DRAM size, operating frequency and bus width are all unknown at this point. I've heard the DRAM itself should be relatively small (~128MB), looking at the chip shot we get some indication but there's no confirmation of the specific type of memory we're looking at here (which obviously impacts die area).
Haswell GT3e will be available both in notebooks and desktops, however neither will come in socketed form (BGA-only). The desktop parts will carry an R suffix. This will be the beginning of Intel's socketed/soldered strategy on the desktop, which as of now is set to work sort of like tick tock - with the first chips on any new process being sold exclusively in BGA packages. Haswell will have socketed desktop SKUs, Broadwell won't, Skylake will, etc...
GT3e use in notebooks will be limited to larger designs it seems. Don't expect to find this level of graphics performance in a low wattage Ultrabook part, but it will likely surface in bigger notebooks - perhaps those driving ultra high resolution panels.
Source: VR Zone
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frogger4 - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
Nice math there! Those numbers sound quite reasonable. Given that Ivy Bridge and Haswell are both 22nm process, but Haswell basically doubles the size of the graphics processor (and adds a little bit to each core), going up from 160mm^2 to 260mm^2 sounds plausible.tipoo - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - link
And speaking of 13" laptops, the GT3e seems like it would be perfect for the 13" Retina Macbook Pro, and supposedly Apple was the one pushing Intel to have eDRAM enhanced GPU versions. I wonder...A5 - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - link
GT3e was almost certainly requested by Apple. If you've been reading between the lines on AT, you can see that Apple has been pushing Intel for better IGPs for several years so that they don't have to buy an extra chip from Nvidia/AMD.tipoo - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - link
That's what I was hinting at, me thinks the guys at Anandtech know something. But I wonder if it will be the GT3e in the 13" [retina] Macbook pro, or just the plain GT3.epobirs - Monday, April 15, 2013 - link
Don't forget, Microsoft get slammed pretty badly by lousy Intel IGP a while back. One of the big problems with Vista was horrible performance on machines using Intel IGP. Intel didn't have any genuine DX9 hardware then and their driver did much of the DX9 work on the CPU. This not only meant lousy graphic performance but also took a lot of cycles away from other operations. But because Intel couldn't bear the idea that Vista would ship without a pure Intel desktop being able to get logo certification that included Aero support, they strongarmed Microsoft into accepting their 'do it on the CPU' approach.Consequently, Microsoft got blamed for a lot of machines that performed horribly with Vista but show a huge improvement if a low-end but truly DX9 capable video card was installed. I 'fixed' a bunch of my clients' PCs by dropping in a $35 video card. They thought I'd performed a miracle.
It was around the time that Intel finally started getting a bit serious about their IGP. They don't need to be competitive in gaming but they do need to keep aware of how the minimum for GPU capability had advanced.
Guspaz - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - link
I'm betting that companies like Apple really want to get their hands on GT3e for use in high resolution notebooks. Driving those kinds of displays, the GPU is often the bottleneck, and getting onboard DRAM to speed up scaling operations would be nifty...tipoo - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
Yeah, the Retina MBPs seem like they were built with Haswell in mind, they still struggle after all the updates on basic UI animations like the calender flip or green button resize. I can literally count out the frames on the former on the Retina, while the weakest macbook air renders it fluidly.MrSpadge - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
Power consumption will be fine. DRAM doesn't consume much anyway, and this is a small array which could also be power gated. And might save power by using the main memory less.Tams80 - Sunday, April 14, 2013 - link
That would be perfect.dillonnotz24 - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - link
Well...there goes my dream of a gaming ultrabook...