Dell Gives XPS 13 More Power with 8th Gen Core CPUs

  August 28, 2017

The Dell XPS 13, our favorite overall laptop, is getting a major processor upgrade. At the IFA tech conference in Berlin, Dell announced that the laptop will get an update to Intel 8th-Gen processors....

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro Review

Last year, Lenovo ushered in the era of the hybrid PC with the IdeaPad Yoga, a notebook with a flexible display that could bend completely backward to turn the laptop into a 13-inch tablet. Since then, a swarm of convertible laptops have flooded the market, coming from manufacturers such as Dell, Sony and Samsung, each seeking to one-up the Yoga with its own unique rotating, flipping or sliding display. Now, the Yoga is back with a thinner, lighter design, a Retina-like 3200 x 1800-pixel display and a fourth-generation Intel CPU. Can the IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro flip its way past the competition?

Best budget Windows 8 touchscreen laptops under Rs. 40,000

Touchscreen laptops are clearly the new rage, and the consumers have clearly spoken - they want those touchscreens. We help you identify some of the better options you can choose from and along the way, share some tips as well.

If you are a regular here, you already know we are not huge fans of a touchscreen on a conventional laptop. We believe it is pointless, unless it is a machine like a Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, that has the flexibility of letting you use it the way you want to. However, clearly, the consumers are rather chuffed at the idea of having a touchscreen on their laptop. Maybe it is something psychological at play here, of getting that little bit extra for the money you have spent. Or maybe, some of you actually find a touchscreen on a laptop useful.

Asus ET2301 all-in-one PC with 23-Inch Multi-Touch Display

Asus has launched ET2301, an  all-in-one desktop PC, for Rs. 1,00,803.

The latest Asus ET2301 features a 23-inch multi-touch full-HD IPS display which the company claims gives 178-degree wide viewing angles.

Seagate Wireless Plus review

Seagate recently announced two new products in the Indian market. While Seagate Central is designed to be the storage hub of your home/ small office network, Seagate Wireless Plus aims to offer portable, wireless storage on the go. At Rs. 16,000 for 1TB storage, Seagate Wireless Plus may sound expensive and the question is, do you get enough value in return? Let's find out.

Design/ Setup

 
Seagate Wireless Plus looks like any other portable hard disk from the outside, although it's slightly wider and heavier in order to accommodate the extra circuitry needed to provide wireless access and power backup. It comes with two indicator lights - a charging/ low battery indicator, and the broadcast LED that lights up when the drive is ready to accept Wi-Fi connections.

Microsoft to release Windows 8.1 on October 17

Consumers waiting for Microsoft's revamped version of its latest Windows operating system will be able to get the software beginning Oct. 17.

The release date for Windows 8.1 is nearly a year after the debut of Windows 8, a dramatic overhaul of the operating system that has been powering most personal computers for decades.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled its plans for Windows 8.1 three months ago, but hadn't set a release date until Wednesday. At test version of Windows 8.1 that may still include some bugs has been available since late June.

AMD details Never Settle Forever Bundle

AMD's latest Never Settle bundle will evolve over time, the company has confirmed, but now features a maximum of three free games.

AMD has announced the next iteration of its Never Settle game-bundling programme, dubbed Never Settle Forever - and including an interesting element of gambling which could result in bonus games for those who demonstrate patience.

The Core i7-4770K Review: Haswell Is Faster

Intel's Haswell architecture is finally available in the flagship Core i7-4770K processor. Designed to drop into an LGA 1150 interface, does this new quad-core CPU warrant a complete platform replacement, or is your older Sandy Bridge-E system better?

Editor’s Note: Eager to show off what it's doing with Intel’s Haswell architecture, system builder CyberPower PC is offering the Tom’s Hardware audience an opportunity to win a new system based on Intel’s Core i7-4770K processor. Read through our review, and then check out the last page for more information on the system, plus a link to enter our giveaway!

Do you know what it’s like to be at the top of your game, the nearest competitor several strides behind? Well, maybe not. But Intel sure does. When it comes to desktop CPUs, the company’s top-end parts continue to stave off AMD's best efforts. That applies to raw performance andefficiency.

We love fast, and we love efficient. But we also like to see healthy competition driving innovation. And again, on the desktop, there’s not enough of that to push Intel. Ivy Bridge-based CPUs are generally a small step up from the generation prior. And although the Sandy Bridge architecture included a number of notable improvements, unprecedented integration gave away Intel’s growing focus on mobility. Even as we got our hands on great features like Quick Sync, Intel was chiseling away at its enthusiast equity by limiting overclocking to K-series SKUs.

Expect more of the same from Haswell. You're going to see notable per-clock performance improvements, faster graphics, and additional features able to accelerate specific workloads. But you’re also going to witness a clumsy handling of overclocking (again), some strange decisions on the graphics side (again), and incremental gains that’ll have some of us upgrading our desktops, but more folks looking for Haswell-powered mobile platforms.

That's entirely by design, by the way. An emphasis on power is front and center with Haswell. And as a result, this architecture is going to span the broadest range of devices Intel has ever touched with one design. But I’ll argue that enthusiasts on the desktop take a back seat to make it all possible.

Meet Haswell, Now Known As Intel’s Fourth-Gen Core Architecture

Intel is rolling out the details of its Haswell-based processors in a staggered launch. The company plans to ship multiple variations of the architecture across a number of different interfaces, from very low-power segments to very performance-sensitive ones. However, the only arrangement emerging today is the quad-core SoC. Technically, Intel is talking desktop and mobile, though we’re deliberately focusing on the Core i7-4770K desktop CPU. I published a preview of Core i7-4770K’s performance almost three months ago, and that story has some information about Intel’s plans as well.

Haswell-based quad-core processors will ship in two configurations to cover the mobile and desktop markets. Only one is ready today, though. That chip features the HD Graphics 4600 engine, also known as GT2. The second, with Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (or GT3e) is coming later. Intel's engineers claim that Iris Pro scales incredibly well given a lofty power ceiling and enough cooling. However, CPUs endowed with the higher-end graphics engine are BGA-only, meaning they’re soldered down. So, enthusiasts buying LGA 1150-equipped motherboards will only find Core i7 and Core i5 CPUs with four cores and HD Graphics 4600 (technically, there’s also a 35 W Core i5 with fewer cores, but it’s still under wraps).

This implementation of Haswell is composed of 1.6 billion transistors, up from a comparable Ivy Bridge configuration’s 1.4 billion. Optimized expressly for Intel’s 22 nm node, the die measures 177 square millimeters, just slightly larger than quad-core Ivy Bridge at 160 mm².

Quad-Core Haswell with GT2

Quad-Core Ivy Bridge with GT2

Put Ivy Bridge and Haswell right next to each other and you might have a difficult time telling them apart. After all, there’s “only” a 200 million-transistor delta separating the two. That 14% growth in transistor count largely comes from a 25% increase in graphics resources compared to last generation.

That’s not to say the processor cores go untouched. Intel says it put specific emphasis on speeding up both today’s legacy code as well as applications we’ll see in the future. To that end, larger buffers enlarge the out-of-order window, which means instructions that would have previously waited for execution can be located and processed sooner. Haswell’s window is 192 instructions. Sandy Bridge was 168. Nehalem was 128. The Haswell branch predictor is improved, too. This is something Intel manages to do every generation—and for good reason, since it simultaneously enables better performance and prevents the wasted work of a branch getting predicted incorrectly. Previously, Intel’s architecture was able to execute six operations per clock cycle. However, Haswell gets two additional ports (one integer ALU and one store), enabling up to eight operations per cycle. And workloads with large data sets should see a benefit from a larger L2 TLB.

All of those changes add up to significant improvement in Haswell’s IPC compared to Ivy Bridge. That’s where we expect most of the speed-up in general-purpose apps to come from this generation, since the top-end Core i7-4770K runs at the same 3.5 GHz as -3770K.

Sure enough, when we set five different processors (employing four different architectures) to the same constant 4 GHz, we see, first, how much more work Intel gets done compared to AMD and, second, a steady progression forward in Intel’s performance.

In addition to the two execution ports Intel adds to Haswell, ports one and two now feature 256-bit Fused Multiply-Add units, doubling the number of peak theoretical floating-point operations per cycle. Integer math gets a big boost as well from AVX2 instruction support.

Of course, multiplying the architecture’s compute potential means little if you can’t get data into the core fast enough. So, Intel also made a number of changes to its caches. Haswell’s L1 and L2 caches are the same size as they were in Ivy Bridge (there’s a 32 KB L1 data, 32 KB L1 instruction, and 256 KB L2 cache per core). Bandwidth to the caches is up to doubled, though, and we’ll see in our synthetic testing that the L1D is indeed quite a bit faster. Intel claims that it can do one read every cycle from the L2 (versus one read every other cycle in Ivy Bridge), but we aren’t able to replicate those figures in our own testing.

	Cores / Threads	Base Freq.	Max. Turbo	L3	HD Graphics	Graphics Max Freq.	TDP	Price
Fourth-Gen Core i7 Family
4770T	4/8	2.5 GHz	3.7 GHz	8 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	45 W	$303
4770S	4/8	3.1 GHz	3.9 GHz	8 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	65 W	$303
4770	4/8	3.4 GHz	3.9 GHz	8 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	84 W	$303
4770K	4/8	3.5 GHz	3.9 GHz	8 MB	4600	1,250 MHz	84 W	$339
4770R	4/8	3.2 GHz	3.9 GHz	6 MB	Iris Pro 5200	1,300 MHz	65 W	N/A
4765T	4/8	2.0 GHz	3.0 GHz	8 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	35 W	$303
Fourth-Gen Core i5 Family
4670T	4/4	2.3 GHz	3.3 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	45 W	$213
4670S	4/4	3.1 GHz	3.8 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	65 W	$213
4670K	4/4	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	84 W	$242
4670	4/4	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,200 MHz	84 W	$213
4570	4/4	3.2 GHz	3.6 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,150 MHz	84 W	$192
4570S	4/4	2.9 GHz	3.6 GHz	6 MB	4600	1,150 MHz	65 W	$192

The Core i7-4770K gives us an 8 MB shared L3 cache, similar to Core i7s before it. Although the Sandy and Ivy Bridge designs employed a single clock domain that kept the cores and L3 running at the same speed, Haswell decouples them. Our cache bandwidth benchmark reveals a slight hit to L3 throughput, though improvements elsewhere in the System Agent keep the results fairly even.

Haswell offers the same 16 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 connectivity as Ivy Bridge, and validated memory data rates up to 1,600 MT/s. The desktop line-up’s thermal targets are quite a bit different as a result of Intel’s fully-integrated voltage regulator, but an upper bound of 84 W isn’t extreme by any stretch and a floor of 35 W is pretty familiar.

All of Intel’s upgradable processors now drop into an LGA 1150 interface, meaning any decision to adopt Haswell is also going to require a motherboard purchase, at least. So, before you drop several hundred dollars on a brand new platform, let’s figure out if Core i7-4770K is worth the investment.

4th Generation Intel® Core™  i7 Processor

Amazing performance and stunning visuals at their best. Get top-of-the-line performance for your most demanding tasks with a 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor. For a difference you can see and feel in HD and 3-D, multitasking and multimedia, the 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor is perfect for all your most demanding tasks.
Effortlessly move through applications with smart multitasking from Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology¹. Enjoy the thrill of an automatic burst of speed when you need it with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0². Experience your movies, photos, and games smoothly and seamlessly with a suite of built-in visual enhancements—no extra hardware required³.
Get a boost in performance you can see and feel, along with longer battery life, built-in security for deeper protection⁴, and extra peace of mind from enhanced security. Choose the 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor for whatever you want to accomplish. Because the only thing more amazing than Intel® technology is what you’ll do with it.
Additional performance information: ⁵

Product Brief:  Preview |  Download

 

Specifications

Processor Number	Cache	Clock Speed	# of Cores/ # of Threads	Max TDP/ Power	Memory Types	Graphics
Intel® Core™ i7-4950HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz)	6.0 MB	2.40 GHz	4 / 8	47	DDR3L-1333,1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200
Intel® Core™ i7-4850HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)	6.0 MB	2.30 GHz	4 / 8	47	DDR3L-1333,1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200
Intel® Core™ i7-4750HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz)	6.0 MB	2.00 GHz	4 / 8	47	DDR3L-1333,1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200
Intel® Core™ i7-4770R Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz)	6.0 MB	3.20 GHz	4 / 8	65	DDR3L-1333/1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processor

Less waiting. More doing. Multitask up to 4x faster.

Work faster and smarter. Up to 2x faster.

Spend clicks – not hours – preparing your videos.

Increased battery life frees you to be productive longer.

Amazing performance and stunning visuals with a boost. Raise the bar on your PC experience with rich visuals plus an automatic burst of speed when you need it¹. The 4th generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor delivers amazing performance, stunning visuals, and built-in security for deeper protection.²

Discover the thrill of an automatic burst of speed when you need it with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. ¹ Experience your movies, photos, and games smoothly and seamlessly with a built-in suite of visual enhancements³—and enjoy them even more with longer battery life.
Get a boost in your performance that you can truly see and feel, along with extra peace
 of mind from enhanced security. Because the only thing more amazing than Intel® technology is what you’ll do with it.
Additional performance information: ⁴, ⁵

Product Brief:  Preview |  Download

Specifications

Processor Number	Cache	Clock Speed	# of Cores/ # of Threads	Max TDP/ Power	Memory Types	Graphics
Intel® Core™ i5-4570R Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz)	4.0 MB	2.70 GHz	4 / 4	65	DDR3L-1333/1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200
Intel® Core™ i5-4670R Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.70 GHz)	4.0 MB	3.00 GHz	4 / 4	65	DDR3L-1333/1600	Intel® Iris™ Pro graphics 5200
Intel® Core™ i5-4250U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.60 GHz)	3.0 MB	1.30 GHz	2 / 4	15	DDR3L-1333/1600; LPDDR3-1333/1600	Intel® HD graphics 5000
Intel® Core™ i5-4350U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.90 GHz)	3.0 MB	1.40 GHz	2 / 4	15	DDR3L-1333/1600; LPDDR3-1333/1600	Intel® HD graphics 5000

 

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processor

Amazing performance and stunning visuals start here. Get a smooth, seamless visual experience with a 4th generation Intel® Core™ i3 processor, featuring longer battery life and built-in security for deeper protection.¹

Effortlessly move among applications with smart multitasking from Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology². Experience your movies, photos, and games smoothly and seamlessly with a suite of built-in visual enhancements—no extra hardware required³.
Get a difference in performance that you can truly see and feel, along with peace of mind from enhanced security and better flexibility with longer battery life. Because the only thing more amazing than Intel® technology is what you’ll do with it.

Additional performance information: ⁴

Product Brief:  Preview |  Download

Supported System Types:

Intel® Core™ i3 Processors

Specifications

Processor Number	Cache	Clock Speed	# of Cores/ # of Threads	Max TDP/ Power	Memory Types	Graphics
Intel® Core™ i3-4010U Processor (3M Cache, 1.70 GHz)	3.0 MB	1.70 GHz	2 / 4	15	DDR3L-1333/1600; LPDDR3-1333/1600	Intel® HD Graphics 4400
Intel® Core™ i3-4100U Processor (3M Cache, 1.80 GHz)	3.0 MB	1.80 GHz	2 / 4	15	DDR3L-1333/1600; LPDDR3-1333/1600	Intel® HD Graphics 4400
Intel® Core™ i3-4010Y Processor (3M Cache, 1.30 GHz)	3.0 MB	1.30 GHz	2 / 4		DDR3L-1333/1600, LPDDR3-1333/1600	Intel® HD Graphics 4200
Intel® Core™ i3-4158U Processor (3M Cache, 2.00 GHz)	3.0 MB	2.00 GHz	2 / 4	28	DDR3L-1333/1600	Intel® Iris™ graphics 5100

Intel® Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series

Consistently amazing

Intel® Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series

The Intel® SSD DC S3500 Series combines fast, consistent read performance with strong data protection and low active power levels to provide superior quality of service for video conferencing, big data analytics, or virtual client applications. Consistently low read latencies of 50µs typical (500µs max for 99.9% of the time) along with a tight distribution of up to 75,000 input/output per second (IOPS)¹ delivers a high-performance, reliable, and efficient SSD specifically designed for data center application upgrades.
Key features and benefits of this drive include an Intel® 3rd generation controller, industry-leading 20nm multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash technology, full end-to-end data protection, enhanced power-loss data protection, and a broad range of capacities up to 800GB.

Product Brief:  Preview |  Download

Product Specification:  Preview |  Download

Supported System Types:

More Information

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Capacity	Sequential Read/Write (up to)1	Random 4KB Read (up to)/Write (up to)2	Form Factor
80GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      340 MB/s / 100 MB/s	70,000 IOPS / 7,000 IOPS	2.5 and 1.8-inch SATA
120GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      445 MB/s / 135 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 4,600 IOPS	2.5-inch SATA
160GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      475 MB/s / 175 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 7,500 IOPS	2.5-inch SATA
240GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 260 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 7,500 IOPS	2.5 and 1.8-inch SATA
300GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 315 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 9,000 IOPS	2.5-inch SATA
400GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 380 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 11,000 IOPS	1.8-inch SATA
480GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 410 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 11,000 IOPS	2.5-inch SATA
600GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 410 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 11,000 IOPS	2.5-inch SATA
800GB	SATA 6 Gb/s      500 MB/s / 450 MB/s	75,000 IOPS / 11,500 IOPS	2.5 and 1.8-inch SATA