Wednesday, May 8th 2024
Core Configurations of Intel Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake-S" Desktop Processors Surface
Intel is giving its next-generation desktop processor lineup the Core Ultra 200 series processor model numbering. We detailed the processor numbering in our older report. The Core Ultra 200 series would be the company's first desktop processors with AI capabilities thanks to an integrated 50 TOPS-class NPU. At the heart of these processors is the "Arrow Lake" microarchitecture. Its development is the reason the company had to refresh "Raptor Lake" to cover its 2023-24 processor lineup. The company's "Meteor Lake" microarchitecture topped off at CPU core counts of 6P+8E, which would have proven to be a generational regression in multithreaded application performance over "Raptor Lake." The new "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processor has a maximum CPU core configuration of 8P+16E, which means consumers can expect at least the same core-counts at given price-points to carry over.
According to a report by Chinese tech publication Benchlife.info, the introduction of "Arrow Lake" would see Intel's desktop processor model numbering align with that of its mobile processor numbering, and incorporate the Core Ultra brand to denote the latest microarchitecture for a given processor generation. Since "Arrow Lake" is a generation ahead of "Meteor Lake," processor models in the series get numbered under Core Ultra 200 series.
Intel will likely debut the lineup with overclocker-friendly K and KF SKUs. The lineup is led by the Core Ultra 9 285K (and possibly the 285KF), which comes with an 8P+16E core configuration, a processor base power value of 125 W, and a maximum P-core boost frequency of 5.50 GHz. This is followed by the Core Ultra 7 265K (and 265KF), with an 8P+12E core configuration; and the Core Ultra 5 245K, with a 6P+8E core-configuration.
There are also some 65 W non-K models in the middle, although these don't have similar processor model numbers to the K/KF parts. There's the Core Ultra 9 275 (8P+16E, 65 W); the Core Ultra 7 255 (8P+12E, 65 W); and the Core Ultra 5 240 (6P+4E, 65 W).
"Arrow Lake" is a chiplet-based processor, just like "Meteor Lake." Its compute tile, the piece of silicon with the CPU cores, packs up to 8 "Lion Cove" performance cores (P-cores), and up to 16 "Skymont" efficiency cores (E-cores). The processor is also expected to feature a 50 TOPS-class NPU for on-device AI acceleration, and a truncated version of the Xe-LPG iGPU the company is using with "Meteor Lake," which could be branded differently from the Arc Graphics branding Intel is using on the Core Ultra 100 series mobile chips. "Arrow Lake" is also expected to debut a new CPU socket on the desktop platform, the LGA1851, with more I/O capabilities than the LGA1700 and "Raptor Lake."
Sources:
BenchLife, VideoCardz
According to a report by Chinese tech publication Benchlife.info, the introduction of "Arrow Lake" would see Intel's desktop processor model numbering align with that of its mobile processor numbering, and incorporate the Core Ultra brand to denote the latest microarchitecture for a given processor generation. Since "Arrow Lake" is a generation ahead of "Meteor Lake," processor models in the series get numbered under Core Ultra 200 series.
There are also some 65 W non-K models in the middle, although these don't have similar processor model numbers to the K/KF parts. There's the Core Ultra 9 275 (8P+16E, 65 W); the Core Ultra 7 255 (8P+12E, 65 W); and the Core Ultra 5 240 (6P+4E, 65 W).
"Arrow Lake" is a chiplet-based processor, just like "Meteor Lake." Its compute tile, the piece of silicon with the CPU cores, packs up to 8 "Lion Cove" performance cores (P-cores), and up to 16 "Skymont" efficiency cores (E-cores). The processor is also expected to feature a 50 TOPS-class NPU for on-device AI acceleration, and a truncated version of the Xe-LPG iGPU the company is using with "Meteor Lake," which could be branded differently from the Arc Graphics branding Intel is using on the Core Ultra 100 series mobile chips. "Arrow Lake" is also expected to debut a new CPU socket on the desktop platform, the LGA1851, with more I/O capabilities than the LGA1700 and "Raptor Lake."
101 Comments on Core Configurations of Intel Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake-S" Desktop Processors Surface
It’s also possible that if 20A underperforms in efficiency, they will use TSMC N3B for the mobile chips instead.
I wonder if that 5.5 is final. And at what wattage. If Intel stays at 5.5 for the final top product, then they either can't go higher, don't need to go higher thanks to IPC gains, or knew that their silicon was having instability and degrading issues at 6.x GHz and decided this time to stay at safer frequencies. Of course it is a new chip, new architecture, new node, anything can be a reason.
This time Amd has the chance to prove that SMT/HT is more important than additional, fake, cores.
If the current rumors are true, the p-cores will not offer hyper threading this time as well. How that impact performance i am curious to know.
And rumored lower max clock as well.
Intel need a significant ipc boost to compensate for the loss of ht and lower core clocks.
They have to beat the X3D parts all around the board. I want to believe!
Intel now. Well Intel advertises cores and it works great. I guess by removing Hyper Threading capability they can make P cores smaller, meaning more room for more P cores or more room for more E cores or more room for both. It's probably the correct thing to do, from a marketing perspective at least. In games or applications that see more than 8 threads, I wonder if those E cores will be enough to keep up. If not, buyers of these processors will have an extra reason to upgrade later, because I am expecting (weren't there rumors?) to see Intel CPUs with 12 P cores in the future.
In the age of massive core counts HT/SMT is not needed. Without it you can clock higher, use less voltage, and design more secure processors.
Others know that the E-cores contribute a lot in multithreading scenarios and even in gaming when it comes to shader compilation. Where AMD users with a measly eight core 7800X3D have to wait for an hour or two for shaders to compile in The Last of Us Remastered, it takes all of 10 minutes max on a 13900K/14900K thanks to 32 very fast threads.
It looks like flagship 285K will perform similar to a 13700K for traditional CPU tasks at the same power consumption. Threads are dropping from 32 to 24. Clock speeds are dropping from 6.2Ghz to 5.5Ghz and if Meteor lake is anything to go by, P core IPC will probably drop as well.
That being said AI, E core and iGPU performance will probably all go up. If these types of processes benefit your workload then it might interest you.
I predict bases on rumors that the Ryzen 9 9950X will be on average 30-40% faster for traditional computing tasks. Finally, the immature 20A process node will help with efficiency but limit the size and speeds of these chips.
Edit: And one more thing, Intel could have a surprise up its sleeve such as 3D cache for gaming.
The way you described Meteor Lake makes me think you don't really understand what IPC is. The worst it can do is stay the same due to no radical arch changes. It doesn't and didn't "drop" due to a clock deficit.
That said, yes I agree, if Intel wants to compete with X3D they will have to leverage tiling to get significantly more cache. Trying to get a bit more traditional L3 or relying on Pcore arch alone isn't going to cut it.
Also I wonder if the recent BIOS "updates" will make the upcoming chips suddenly look better o_O
I hope the next set of desktop reviews include the inflated numbers from these factory OCed 13/14 gen chips, the new normal & then the next gen core ultra or whatever they release.
In any case i have a feeling gaming performance will be much better than last gen, just turning off HT on a chip designed for HT nets you 5-7% and double digits in some games if they can address caching, that by itself is going to be huge -- add in an IPC increase and further tweaks and we are looking at really solid fps increases. Even if multicore performance will be roughly the same.