The many tricks Intel Skylake uses to go faster and use less power

SAN FRANCISCO—Intel today gave the first peek at what makes its new Skylake processors tick. The company is still being peculiarly coy about the new processors—many details won't be revealed until the company announces its Xeon server processors—but shared some details of the processor's architecture, and described its many and varied tricks to cut power usage.

As has been the case for many years now, reducing power consumption remains Intel's top priority for Skylake. Not only does reduced power consumption enable the company's processors to be used more widely—client Skylake processors will span everything from 4.5W tablet and ultralight systems up to 95W desktop devices, a 20-fold difference in power envelope—it also enables greater performance. Reduce the power used by one part of the chip and the extra thermal headroom (and current draw) can be spent on other parts of the chip; this is the underlying principle of Turbo Boost.

Intel's focus on Skylake's power-saving capabilities isn't too much of a surprise, given this overriding concern. But it's not the sole concern. The greater power flexibility has in turn created other demands. For example, the package size and motherboard size matter: it's no good having a 4.5W processor for laptops and tablets if the package is huge. The difference between the smallest and largest packages in Skylake isn't as pronounced as the power difference—only a four-fold difference—but it's still significant. Skylake's mobile and SoC processor packages are smaller than those of comparable Broadwell packages, enabling smaller, lighter systems. Its motherboards should be smaller too, thanks to power supply optimizations.