A set of leaked Intel roadmaps is shedding light on future Atom parts, designed specifically with tablets in mind.

The specs, provided they are legitimate, reveal that the next generation Bay Trail-T platform fill feature an all-new Valley View.T system-on-chip, with four CPU cores along with a DirectX 11 GPU. There is no Hyperthreading this time around, clocks go up to 2.1GHz and the chip is manufactured using Intel’s 22nm process. It also supports LPDDR3 memory and Intel claims that the new Gen7 (HD4000) GPU offers a threefold performance increase over Clover Trail.

The Silvermont-based chip should have vastly improved performance over Clover Trail, but the real emphasis seems to be on graphics. It’s hardly surprising given the ever increasing appetite for hi-res screens on tablets. With DirectX 11 and support for resolutions of up to 2560x1600, the new chip could be an excellent choice for gaming on next generation Windows tablets.

Intel claims Bay Trail-T can deliver up to 20 days of standby battery life, or 11 hours of video battery life.

It seems like a very promising platform, capable of taking on ARM chips based on the A-15 core, but Intel has not had much luck in the tablet and smartphone space so far. Bay Trail could change all that, but it won’t be easy, as it will have to go toe to toe with next-generation ARM parts from Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and Nvidia.

Granted, x86 compatibility is still relevant, but the market is changing and it’s hard to say whether it will make much of a difference a few quarters down the road. It all depends on the success of Windows 8 tablets, which have yet to launch.

More here.