Tag: CPU

Intel unveils Meteor Lake processors: 4nm, tiles, Xe LPG graphics

News, Notebooks, Processors | | Jan Olšan

Meteor Lake is Intel’s first processor manufactured on in-house 4nm node, an important milestone. It is also, paradoxically, Intel’s first processor manufactured at TSMC, as many of its parts are outsourced in this way – a milestone too. This is the first mainstream Intel processor to use chiplets (or tiles) and advanced 3D packaging. It’s almost and extra beyond that, that there are new CPU cores, new GPU, and a new NPU for AI acceleration. Read more “Intel unveils Meteor Lake processors: 4nm, tiles, Xe LPG graphics” »

Intel APX: x86 ISA upgrade to catch up with newer architectures

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

Recently, Intel announced the so-called x86-S architecture – a proposal to cut legacy baggage of the x86 processor platform. Another modernization effort of the traditional instruction set used in personal computers has been announced now. Future CPUs will get Intel APX (Advanced Performance Extensions), that break through some of the historical limits of this 40-year-old ISA and brings it somewhat closer to newer architectures. Read more “Intel APX: x86 ISA upgrade to catch up with newer architectures” »

big.LITTLE by AMD: Zen 4c has the same IPC as the big Zen 4

Analysis, News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

After Intel’s hybrid CPUs, AMD is preparing its own big.LITTLE scheme that uses a mix of Zen 4 cores and a new Zen 4c variant that will be used in servers but also in laptops. However Zen4c is and at the same time is not a little core. While having much smaller footprint, it is said to be fully architecturally equivalent to the large core, including (almost?) the same performance per 1 MHz. The only little thing about it is clock speed. Read more “big.LITTLE by AMD: Zen 4c has the same IPC as the big Zen 4” »

ARM unveils record-breaking Cortex-X4 core with eight ALUs

Analysis, News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

ARM has been releasing a new generation of processor cores every year lately. This year will be no different (except for the Computex timing). ARM has unveiled a complete line of new architectures: a new Cortex-X4 “prime” big core for maximum single-threaded performance, a new medium Cortex-A720 core whose role is to provide multi-threaded performance (like Intel’s E-Core), and finally a new low-power Cortex-A520 little core. Read more “ARM unveils record-breaking Cortex-X4 core with eight ALUs” »

x86-S: Intel wants to drop legacy compatibility from processors

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

The scenario of Intel dropping backwards compatibility and creating a new version of x86 processors free of various “legacy burdens” has been discussed for a long time. The hype around ARM processors and the perceived or real advantages they gain by not carrying similar “baggage” highlighted this topic again. Intel has unveiled a proposal for a simplified pure 64-bit x86-S architecture that could bring about such a revolution, now. Read more “x86-S: Intel wants to drop legacy compatibility from processors” »

Jim Keller’s new firm plans RISC-V CPUs with Apple-like wide cores

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

RISC-V processors are still yet to reach above the embedded sector, but with the current developments around ARM, they may be closer to that goal than we think. They ISA might even come to the highest performance processor segment currently ruled by Intel and AMD that ARM itself (with the exception of Apple) is still just trying to crack. Tenstorrent, led by Jim Keller, is now developing processors that could be close to those from Apple. Read more “Jim Keller’s new firm plans RISC-V CPUs with Apple-like wide cores” »

Intel Lunar Lake: new “Conroe moment” processor revolution?

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

A brand new CPU core architecture coming out is a big thing in the world of processors. We’ve been anticipating that from Intel for a long time, particularly in the Skylake era of waiting for 10 nm. Intel has since fielded new architectures in Ice Lake and Alder Lake, but there could be a major architectural revolution in a few years. The chips following Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake are said to be brewing something completely new. Read more “Intel Lunar Lake: new “Conroe moment” processor revolution?” »

Zen 4 architecture: chip parameters and IPC of AMD’s new core

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

AMD formally launched the Ryzen 7000 (with availability four weeks away though) and confirmed specs and pricing. The company has also disclosed a considerable amount of technical details and more has now leaked from unofficial sources. So let’s have a deeper look at Zen 4 architecture, the 5nm chiplets of the processors and finally the core’s IPC – which has actually improved more than the previously promised +8 to 10 % over Zen 3. Read more “Zen 4 architecture: chip parameters and IPC of AMD’s new core” »

Cortex-A715: new efficiency-first ARM core (architecture analysis)

Analysis, Processors | | Jan Olšan

ARM has launched the Cortex-X3 architecture, which will be the new “big” high-perfromance CPU core for smartphones and laptops in the company’s lineup. It will however be complemented by a new Cortex-A715. This line of cores (Cortex-A76 to A78, then A710), which used to be ARM’s big cores, seems to be turning into cores tuned for best performance in a small footprint and power draw, not unlike Intel’s E-Cores. Read more “Cortex-A715: new efficiency-first ARM core (architecture analysis)” »

Cortex-X3: the new fastest core from ARM (architecture analysis)

Analysis, Processors | | Jan Olšan

ARM has been introducing new CPU cores annually for the last few years. This year, the company is unveiling the second generation of CPU cores based on the ARMv9 instruction set. Among them, a new highest-performance Cortex-X3 core with significantly expanded computing resources and 6 ALUs like Apple’s cores. This architecture will boost the single-core performance of Android phones, but it’s supposed to go into laptops as well. Read more “Cortex-X3: the new fastest core from ARM (architecture analysis)” »

Gracemont, the (not so) little Alder Lake core (µarch analysis)

Analysis, Processors | | Jan Olšan

Intel has revealed the Alder Lake CPU architecture, or actually two architectures this time. The CPUs are hybrid and besides the main „big“ ones, there are „little“ cores called Gracemont. These are not just for marketing or for low-power idle tasks like in mobile ARM SoCs, however. Gracemont should significantly add to the overall performance, the architecture is actually surprisingly beefy. Our analysis will show you more. Read more “Gracemont, the (not so) little Alder Lake core (µarch analysis)” »

Intel Alder Lake/Golden Cove CPU core unveiled (µarch analysis)

Analysis, Processors | | Jan Olšan

Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs are poised to be the biggest hardware event this year. Intel has unveiled the core architecture of these CPUs and we have analysed the details and new improvements inside. There’s promise of huge performance and one of the biggest architectural leaps in x86 processors, for the first time with six parallel decoders and further IPC increases, showing Intel taking the same path as Apple’s highly effective cores. Read more “Intel Alder Lake/Golden Cove CPU core unveiled (µarch analysis)” »

From now on, we also test performance of CPU and iGPU

News | | Ľubomír Samák

We’ve decided that it would be reasonable to put some performance tests to our reviews of all products that have some computing power. We will keep focusing on operational features and we will continue to analyse them in depth, of course. We are just adding a general illustration of performance for better orientation so you do not have to look for it elsewhere. Read more “From now on, we also test performance of CPU and iGPU” »