Broadwell (microarchitecture)
Broadwell (previously Rockwell) is the fifth generation of the Intel Core processor. It is Intel's codename for the 14 nanometer die shrink of its Haswell microarchitecture. It is a "tick" in Intel's tick–tock principle as the next step in semiconductor fabrication. Like some of the previous tick-tock iterations, Broadwell did not completely replace the full range of CPUs from the previous microarchitecture (Haswell), as there were no low-end desktop CPUs based on Broadwell.
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | October 27, 2014 |
| Discontinued | November 2018 |
| Marketed by | Intel |
| Designed by | Intel |
| Common manufacturer(s) |
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| CPUID code | 0306D4h |
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| Performance | |
| QPI speeds | 6.4 GT/s to 9.6 GT/s |
| DMI speeds | 4 GT/s |
| Cache | |
| L1 cache | 64 KB per core |
| L2 cache | 256 KB per core |
| L3 cache | 2-6 MB (shared) |
| L4 cache | 128 MB of eDRAM (Iris Pro models only) |
| Architecture and classification | |
| Technology node | 14 nm (Tri-Gate) |
| Microarchitecture | Haswell |
| Instruction set | x86-16, x86-32, x86-64 |
| Extensions | |
| Physical specifications | |
| Cores |
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| GPU(s) |
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| Socket(s) |
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| Products, models, variants | |
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| History | |
| Predecessor(s) |
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| Successor(s) | Skylake (Tock/Architecture) |
| Support status | |
| Unsupported | |
Some of the processors based on the Broadwell microarchitecture are marketed as "5th-generation Core" i3, i5 and i7 processors. This moniker is however not used for marketing of the Broadwell-based Celeron, Pentium or Xeon chips. This microarchitecture also introduced the Core M processor branding.
Broadwell is the last Intel platform on which Windows 7 is supported by either Intel or Microsoft; however, third-party hardware vendors have offered limited Windows 7 support on more recent platforms.
Broadwell's H and C variants are used in conjunction with Intel 9 Series chipsets (Z97, H97 and HM97), in addition to retaining backward compatibility with some of the Intel 8 Series chipsets.