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Intel slides promise up to 20% acceleration in a single thread and up to 2x higher multi-threaded performance. However, connectivity and throughput with PCIe 5.0 and 4x faster DMI connectivity are especially important.
Reportedly, this year at the end of the year, Intel should release a new 12th generation of Core processors, codenamed Alder Lake, this time not only for laptops – this generation is finally supposed to bring 10nm chips to desktop desktops.
VideoCardz has now published Intel slides with details of these processors, which include the parameters of the mobile, but finally the Alder Lake-S desktop platform for the LGA 1700 socket. And also something to perform on, which is a lot of interesting information.
The first of the two slides (respectively trimmed pieces of slides) that VideoCardz shows, concerns Alder Lake in general, both in the mobile and desktop versions. It is confirmed that Alder Lake uses Goldden Cove processor cores for large cores and Gracemont for small cores.
According to the slide, Intel is working to make the chip effectively shut down unused cores to save power (for this purpose, the processor should have other improvements). At the same time, there should be some kind of hardware-assisted placement of tasks on large and small cores, which is a matter of the operating system. It is not yet clear exactly how the software and hardware will work together.
20% better performance in a single thread, 100% more multifilament
The graphics in the slide show a processor with eight large and eight small cores, which fits with the leaks so far. This should probably be the most powerful version that will exist for desktops and high-performance laptops. According to Intel, Alder Lake should have up to 20% higher single-thread performance. This should be largely due to the increased IPC cores of Golden Cove.
At the same time, higher frequencies can do some of it. Alder Lake uses a 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process, which will be slightly improved over a pretty good one process 10nm SuperFinwhich Intel now uses in Tiger Lake and therefore could have better frequencies (SuperFin reached 5.0 GHz, here it could be even more). We don’t know if the 20% increase in ST performance is compared to the 5.3 GHz Rocket Lake or the 5.0 GHz Tiger Lake, so it’s hard to say how much the IPC should increase for the Golden Cove / Alder Lake core. But it will be about double digits (about 12 to 20%?).
According to Intel, multi-threaded performance has doubled. This is written next to the data on the small Gracemont cores and thus confirms that their goal is to increase the multi-threaded performance of the processor. The strategy seems to be that eight small cores will add more extra power in multi-threaded loads than an alternative version with large cores added, but which would have to be less. The substitute for the eight small cores would probably be two extra large cores, so the CPU would be 20-threaded. The Big.LITTLE variant with eight Gracemont cores is 24-threaded (small cores do not have HT).
Unfortunately, it is no longer clear at all what Intel compares multithreaded performance with. Maybe it could be with a 10nm octa-core / 16-thread Tiger Tiger-H. Or with the 14nm desktop version of Rocket Lake. Theoretically, however, it can also be compared to something older. And, as always, such official performance data can be selective and therefore somewhat misleading. It is always necessary to wait for independent tests to evaluate real performance.
Alder Lake mobile platform
We already had quite detailed information about the mobile versions: the older leak states that the more powerful versions will have 6 + 8 cores (six large, eight small), PCI Express 5.0 for GPU connection and PCI Express 4.0 for SSD, which is also documented . The more economical 15W Alder Lake will have 2 + 8 cores and also integrated Thunderbolt 4. Alder Lake is supposed to support both DDR4 and DDR5 memories, mobile processors will also be able to use LPDDR4 and LPDDR5 memories.
Tip: Overview of versions of mobile Alder Lake with 5W, 9W, 15W, 28W, 45W and 55W TDP, number of cores
Tip: Connectivity and data for the more powerful 28W, 45W and 55W Alder Lake for laptops
Alder Lake pro LGA 1700 na desktopu
The second piece of slide from VideoCardz is already focusing on the desktop platform, ie Alder Lake in the LGA 1700 socket with the 600 series chipset, with which it will pair. Alder Lake still uses an additional southern bridge or PCH (Platform Controller Hub).
Boards for DDR5 and DDR4
According to this slide, Alder Lake will still have a two-channel memory controller. In addition to DDR5, DDR4 will also be supported, which is interesting information. It will therefore be possible to produce LGA 1700 boards with DIMM slots for DDR4 memory.
These could be useful for users who have purchased a larger capacity of these memories and want to use them. Compatibility may be transitional and subsequent generations (Raptor Lake, Meteor Lake) can remove it, so you will no longer be able to upgrade to them, but you will get the benefits of a new platform and high single-threaded performance with Alder Lake.
With DDR5 memory, the processor officially supports DDR5-4800 (effective speed 4800 MHz, which theoretically gives 50% better throughput than with DDR4-3200).
PCI Express 5.0/4.0
Also connectivity for cards and storage will make Alder Lake a big step forward. Slajd confirms that PCI Express 5.0 × 16 for additional graphics has already been removed from the processor. This interface will have 2x data throughput against PCIe 4.0 × 16 on today’s Ryzens and upcoming Rocket Lake processors, and even 4x against processors / boards that only have PCI Express 3.0 × 16.
For SSD, however, the processor will not yet provide PCIe 5.0, only the PCIe 4.0 × 4 interface will be output directly from the CPU / socket LGA 1700, the same as today on the AM4 platform (ie if you have a 7nm processor and chipset B550 or X570) and Rocket Lake. It seems that only one, ie four lines, will still be connected to the processor.
Connection to the chipset as fast as on the TRX40
The LGA 1700 platform with Alder Lake will also make progress in connecting the chipset to the processor. It had a long transfer capacity of about 4 GB / s (less in real terms due to overhead) corresponding to PCIe 3.0 × 4. At Rocket Lake now Intel doubled the number of lines to eight (“DMI × 8”, working with Z590 and H570 chipsets), but still at 3.0 speed. Again, Alder Lake will use a DMI × 8 for more expensive chipsets like the Z690 (probably not for cheaper ones), but at the same time speed up the lines to the PCIe 4.0 equivalent, so the throughput will be four times: theoretically up to 16 GB / s (minus overhead).
For comparison: only interconnection now has such throughput TRX40 chipset for AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000 processors. Ryzeny 3000/5000 on the X570 platform have only 8 GB / s (minus overhead), AMD B550 is still only at 4 GB / s (PCIe 3.0 × 4 equivalent).
600 Series chipsets now available with PCIe 4.0
The 600 Series chipsets themselves will also be a decent upgrade. According to the scheme, they will also provide PCI Express 4.0 lines (so fast SSDs can be connected to them). It is not said how many, but the older leak says that perhaps up to 16 and there could be up to 12 PCIe 3.0 lines. However, it is likely that some of the lines may be shared with SATA ports.
The chipset will support again USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 alias SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps. This is a novelty of the 500 series chipsets, preserved here. USB4 will not be directly in the chipset yet, and neither will Thunderbolt 4, for this connectivity an additional controller will have to be installed as before.
Release before the end of the year?
Alder Lake according to previous information to be released at the end of 2021 and so far there have been no rumors that it would be late, so perhaps this is still true. Especially on the desktop, it looks like a decent revolution on the Intel platform (the AMD platform already provides some of these innovations, PCI Express 5.0 and DDR5 should come with Music 4 sometime during 2022), so if you’re not in a hurry to upgrade, it may make sense to wait for the arrival of these processors at the expense of the now-released 14nm Rocket Lake.
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Sample Intel Alder Lake-S desktop processor for LGA 1700 socket Source: VideoCardz
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Gallery: Leaks and information on Intel Alder Lake processors
Source: Videocardz
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