Intel previously introduced Celeron and Pentium Apollo Lake processors for laptops and mini PCs, and it seemed Atom was gone for good from that processor family, but the vendor has now introduced Atom E3900 “Apollo Lake” processor family for IoT, industrial and automotive applications with three models: x5-E3930, x5-E3940, and x7-E3950.
All three new processors will support up to 8 GB of LPDDR4/DDR3L memory, come in a FCBGA1296 package, be manufactured using 14 nm process, support 4K UHD video output up to 60 Hz on three independent displays, up to 15 simultaneous 1080p30 video stream, as well as 13MP cameras for photos and 1080p60 video capture. Peripherals interfaces include SATA 3.0, PCIe lane, HDMI, DisplayPort, embedded DisplayPort, USB 3.0 & 2.0 ports and more.
The new processors also integrate Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) Technology that “coordinates and synchronizes peripherals and networks of connected devices, achieving improved determinism. It can resolve latency issues in applications, such as robotics manufacturing, by synchronizing the clocks of devices across networks to within 1 μs”. The technology will be available through Linux built with the Yocto Project.
Reliability is achieved via ECC memory, high-temperature rating between -40°C to 110°C, and some upcoming A3900 SKUs will be qualified for automotive applications. Atom 3900 series also include some security features through Intel Trusted Execution Engine 3.0 (TXE 3.0), secure or measured boot, DRM with HDCP 1.4 wired / HDCP 2.2 wireless, protected audio video path (PAVP), and Intel Platform Trust Technology to store keys and perform crypto operatings compliant with TPM 2.0 specifications.
The three Atom E3900 SKUs most differ by their number of cores, clock speed, max TDP, and GPU.
| CPU Cores | Base Frequency | Burst Frequency | L2 Cache Size | Graphics Execution Units (EU) |
TDP | |
| Intel Atom x5-E3930 | 2 | 1.3 GHz | 1.8 GHz | 2 MB | 12 EU | 6.5W |
| Intel Atom x5-E3940 | 4 | 1.6 GHz | 1.8 GHz | 2 MB | 12 EU | 9.5W |
| Intel Atom x7-E3950 | 4 | 1.6 GHz | 2.0 GHz | 2 MB | 18 EU | 12W |
Operating systems supported will include Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit) and IoT Core (32-/64-bit), Linux through Wind River 8 (64-bit) and a Yocto Project BSP (64-bit), Android 7.0 Nougat 64-bit (Q2 2017 target release), and Wind River VxWorks 7 real-time operating systems.
The processors will be used in industrial settings for predictive maintenance, accelerated time to market and increased quality and remote management, digital security and surveillance (DSS) / vision systems (video) for visual data identification and analysis, safety and security, traffic management and monitoring, agriculture and pipeline monitoring, manufacturing inspection…, as well as for transportation and automotive applications for software-defined cockpits and vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
You’ll find more details on Intel Apollo Lake products’ page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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With the cancelled willowtrail/broxton is this the new chip to lookout for in the range of windows mini-PCs ? Is this going to be sub $50 (public price) (X3-Z8300=$21 , X5-Z8500=$27, X7-Z8700=$37)
@Filip Dextré
Those chips are for the embedded market, so it’s unlikely they’ll ever be seen in mini PCs.
However, it’s possible a MinnowBoard Apollo Lake board will be brought to market.
For mini PCs, we should soon see some units based on Celeron and Pentium Apollo Lake processors. I’d expect the price to be similar to Braswell ones.
I cannot find CAN bus as necessary feature for automotive.
@Auto
It’s quite possible only Atom A3900 processors will come with a CAN bus.