HardwareProcessorsIntel’s Arrow Lake chips could be using a brand new core layout for the first time in yearsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareProcessorsIntel’s Arrow Lake chips could be using a brand new core layout for the first time in yearsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Intel)
ARL-S looks something like this? pic.twitter.com/WnOr2QR43KJanuary 18, 2024
ARL-S looks something like this? pic.twitter.com/WnOr2QR43KJanuary 18, 2024
The block diagram in the post is a mock-up of the P- and E-core arrangement that Intel is reportedly going to use in Arrow Lake and shows the design uses a repeated pattern of four P-cores surrounding two banks of four E-cores.
That’s markedly different to how the cores are in the latest architectures,Meteor LakeandRaptor Lake Refresh—if the diagram is correct then it would be the first big change in core layout since Intel introduced the E-core in its desktop chips in Alder Lake in 2021. In fact, Intel’s layouts have barely changed since Sandy Bridge in 2011, as the format has worked very well.
That didn’t change with the introduction of E-cores with Alder Lake, as they were simply added at the end of P-core rows, with the ring bus made longer to accommodate them. It’s still like that now in Raptor Lake Refresh, and even the smallcompute tile in Meteor Lakelaptop CPUs is laid out this way.
However, Kepler_L2’s diagram is notably different to this but the obvious question to ask is: why? One possibility is that this is simply about layout efficiency, reducing hot spot temperatures, current leakage, and core-to-core latencies. But the scale of the change suggests that it might be more significant than this and the other possible explanation is that Intel could be roadtesting itsRentable Units(RU) idea in Arrow Lake.
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An annotated die shot of a Core i9 13900K showing the rows of P-cores and E-cores(Image credit: JmsDoug / Fritzchen Fritz)
This is something Intel patented a while back and it’s essentially a complex circuit that partitions threads, based on instruction complexity, and issues those partitions to the appropriate P- or E-core, depending on what needs to be processed in that partition.
Intel will also want to make full use of its Skymont E-core design in Arrow Lake. The new efficiency cores are claimed to havea greater IPC (instruction rate per clock) than Raptor Lake’s P-cores, which is why Intel didn’t furnish Lunar Lake’s P-cores with any HyperThreading (HT) hardware.
However, it might do it for lower-tier models, such as the i7 and i5, to help make the most powerful processors stand out more. Then again, it doesn’t make much sense to use RUandHT at the same time, as the general idea is that the former is more flexible than the latter.
Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
Your next upgrade
(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
(Image credit: Future)
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
But all of it is true and Intel has worked on improving how its P- and E-cores are utilised, then the changes will be very welcome, especially given how much Intel has improved its efficiency cores for Lunar Lake.
For PC gaming, it probably won’t make much of a difference, as six to eight P-cores with HyperThreading are still more than enough for the vast majority of games out there, but for content creation, better multi-threaded performance is a must.
This is particularly important as AMDZen 5-powered 16-core Ryzenprocessors will be on the market very soon and will almost certainly set a new bar for multi-core speed.
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