• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Intel Unveils a Clean-slate CPU Core Architecture Codenamed "Sunny Cove"

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,235 (7.55/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
Intel today unveiled its first clean-slate CPU core micro-architecture since "Nehalem," codenamed "Sunny Cove." Over the past decade, the 9-odd generations of Core processors were based on incrementally refined descendants of "Nehalem," running all the way down to "Coffee Lake." Intel now wants a clean-slate core design, much like AMD "Zen" is a clean-slate compared to "Stars" or to a large extent even "Bulldozer." This allows Intel to introduce significant gains in IPC (single-thread performance) over the current generation. Intel's IPC growth curve over the past three micro-architectures has remained flat, and only grew single-digit percentages over the generations prior.

It's important to note here, that "Sunny Cove" is the codename for the core design. Intel's earlier codenaming was all-encompassing, covering not just cores, but also uncore, and entire dies. It's up to Intel's future chip-designers to design dies with many of these cores, a future-generation iGPU such as Gen11, and a next-generation uncore that probably integrates PCIe gen 4.0 and DDR5 memory. Intel details "Sunny Cove" as far as mentioning IPC gains, a new ISA (new instruction sets and hardware capabilities, including AVX-512), and improved scalability (ability to increase core-counts without running into latency problems).



The first products featuring "Sunny Cove" cores is slated as early as by 2019, and will be built on Intel's 10 nm DUV silicon fabrication process. Intel didn't stop at "Sunny Cove," and went on to mention two of its successors. "Willow Cove" is an incremental update, letting its designers eke out more effective IPC by improving on-die caches, transistor optimization, and the addition of new security features. In many ways, "Sunnycove" and "Willow Cove" relate to each other like AMD's "Zen" and "Zen+." The first "Willow Cove" based processors will launch in 2020, based on a refined 10 nm process node.



Lastly there's "Golden Cove," slated for 2021. Here Intel could take advantage of a newer silicon fabrication process (either an extremely refined 10 nm-derivative or even 7 nm EUV), to increase IPC (single-thread performance). In addition, Intel will improve the core's "AI performance" (probably the ability to multiply matrices), and improved host-signal processing for 5G and networking.

Intel's low-power architectures see "Tremont" succeed "Goldmont" in 2019, packing increased IPC, battery management, and network HSP. "Gracemont," slated for 2021, will improve IPC further, and improve "Vector performance," possibly heralding AVX in some form to the low-power architecture. Gracemont is succeeded by "next" mont (Intel hasn't decided a codename yet) in 2022+, with even higher IPC.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2013
Messages
6,186 (1.53/day)
Location
Over here, right where you least expect me to be !
System Name The Little One
Processor i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard AZW SEI
Cooling Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory 64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s) Iris XE
Storage WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s) 2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s) Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply 65w brick
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores PDQ
xxx-Cove, xx-mont, etc...

Code names are great for flashy, techno-babble-filled press releases, vaporware is not.

And neither are moar incremental, miniscule performance increases that come with the least-innovative, lowest-cost approach to design, layout and I/O architectures...

Intel's been talking this same ole same same crapola for many many years, and has yet to deliver anything significantly different than previous generations, except for maybe continually increased prices and flashier retail packaging :(
 
Joined
Jun 10, 2014
Messages
2,987 (0.78/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900X ||| Intel Core i7-3930K
Motherboard ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR ||| Asus P9X79 WS
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S ||| Be Quiet Pure Rock
Memory Crucial 2 x 16 GB 3200 MHz ||| Corsair 8 x 8 GB 1333 MHz
Video Card(s) MSI GTX 1060 3GB ||| MSI GTX 680 4GB
Storage Samsung 970 PRO 512 GB + 1 TB ||| Intel 545s 512 GB + 256 GB
Display(s) Asus ROG Swift PG278QR 27" ||| Eizo EV2416W 24"
Case Fractal Design Define 7 XL x 2
Audio Device(s) Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus
Power Supply Seasonic Focus PX-850 x 2
Mouse Razer Abyssus
Keyboard CM Storm QuickFire XT
Software Ubuntu
Calling this a clean-slate CPU core might be quite a stretch, everything presented about the dies looks like logical incremental changes similar to previous generations from Intel.

One important quote from Anandtech which should have been mentioned:
As stated above, these are just the microarchitecture names. The actual chips these cores are in will likely have different names, which means a Lake name for the Core microarchitecture. At the event, Intel stated that Ice Lake would have Sunny Cove cores in it, for example.

It's worth emphasizing that this CPU architecture have been in development longer than any recent x86 architecture from Intel. The Ice Lake core was in fact finished in design 1.5 years ago, but has been held back by a faulty node.
 
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,954 (0.52/day)
Location
MN
System Name Personal / HTPC
Processor Ryzen 5900x / Ryzen 5600X3D
Motherboard Asrock x570 Phantom Gaming 4 /ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming
Cooling Corsair H100i / bequiet! Pure Rock Slim 2
Memory 32GB DDR4 3200 / 16GB DDR4 3200
Video Card(s) EVGA XC3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti / EVGA RTX 3060 XC
Storage 500GB Pro 970, 250 GB SSD, 1TB & 500GB Western Digital / lots
Display(s) Dell - S3220DGF & S3222DGM 32"
Case CoolerMaster HAF XB Evo / CM HAF XB Evo
Audio Device(s) Logitech G35 headset
Power Supply 850W SeaSonic X Series / 750W SeaSonic X Series
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Black Microsoft Natural Elite Keyboard
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 / Windows 10 Pro 64
Keep those people that are starting to look to AMD on the ropes that something NEW AND IMPROVED will be coming from Intel. They want you to hang in there and wait for their product before jumping to the competition.....

I guess we wait and see if they can offer something new here or if it's just a very slight improvement over what they currently offer.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
10,759 (1.73/day)
Location
Austin Texas
System Name stress-less
Processor 9800X3D @ 5.42GHZ
Motherboard MSI PRO B650M-A Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory 64GB DDR5 6000 CL30-36-36-76
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 FE
Storage 2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s) Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s) Yes
Power Supply Corsair SF750
Mouse DeathadderV2 X Hyperspeed
Keyboard 65% HE Keyboard
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
Calling this a clean-slate CPU core might be quite a stretch, everything presented about the dies looks like logical incremental changes similar to previous generations from Intel.

One important quote from Anandtech which should have been mentioned:


It's worth emphasizing that this CPU architecture have been in development longer than any recent x86 architecture from Intel. The Ice Lake core was in fact finished in design 1.5 years ago, but has been held back by a faulty node.

This makes so much sense. They really spun their wheels for a long time with the lakes.
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
4,841 (1.53/day)
Processor Core i7-13700
Motherboard MSI Z790 Gaming Plus WiFi
Cooling Cooler Master RGB something
Memory Corsair DDR5-6000 small OC to 6200
Video Card(s) XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage 970 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB,,WD850N 2TB
Display(s) Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case Phantek Eclipse P400S
Audio Device(s) EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G G413 Silver
Software Windows 11 Professional v23H2
Intel is doing Arm's big.LITTLE?
Foveros (8)_575px.jpg
 

OneMoar

There is Always Moar
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
8,795 (1.65/day)
Location
Rochester area
System Name RPC MK2.5
Processor Ryzen 5800x
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit SE
Memory CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC
Storage Nextorage NE1N 2TB ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner
Display(s) LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz
Case Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W
Mouse Kone burst Pro
Keyboard SteelSeries Apex 7
Software Windows 11 +startisallback
This makes so much sense. They really spun their wheels for a long time with the lakes.
maby they should have gotten studded snow tires
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
1,568 (0.66/day)
Location
London, UK
Funny, this initiative was only possible thanks to amd, if it was not for amd then intel would be forever nehalen aka 2006 initiative milking in mode, this is the first time intel is saying it wants to improve its cpu ipc for once in 12 years, that gotta mean something right? hehe
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
19,371 (3.56/day)
Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
Funny, their stagnant IPC and performance growth was also due to AMD... thanks? Why in the world would [insert company name here] innovate when the floor was already being wiped up with [insert name of competition] mops?
 
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,141 (0.53/day)
Location
Serbia
Processor Ryzen 5600
Motherboard X570 I Aorus Pro
Cooling Deepcool AG400
Memory HyperX Fury 2 x 8GB 3200 CL16
Video Card(s) RX 6700 10GB SWFT 309
Storage SX8200 Pro 512 / NV2 512
Display(s) 24G2U
Case NR200P
Power Supply Ion SFX 650
Mouse G703 (TTC Gold 60M)
Keyboard Keychron V1 (Akko Matcha Green) / Apex m500 (Gateron milky yellow)
Software W10
Apart from the active interposer, nothing here is that exciting.
 
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
Messages
228 (0.08/day)
This is a tablet, mobile chip, so nothing really of note. AMD will continue to dominate on the desktop, server and database markets with their superior CPU's and cheaper prices!
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
4,931 (0.74/day)
Location
Hong Kong
Processor Core i7-12700k
Motherboard Z690 Aero G D4
Cooling Custom loop water, 3x 420 Rad
Video Card(s) RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming
Storage Plextor M10P 2TB
Display(s) InnoCN 27M2V
Case Thermaltake Level 20 XT
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster AE-5 Plus
Power Supply FSP Aurum PT 1200W
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
Anyone notice that in the Intel slide, Tremont and Gracemont is followed by 'Next' Month? o_O
Does Intel even prove read their own PR stuff these days?
 

OneMoar

There is Always Moar
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
8,795 (1.65/day)
Location
Rochester area
System Name RPC MK2.5
Processor Ryzen 5800x
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit SE
Memory CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC
Storage Nextorage NE1N 2TB ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner
Display(s) LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz
Case Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W
Mouse Kone burst Pro
Keyboard SteelSeries Apex 7
Software Windows 11 +startisallback
Funny, their stagnant IPC and performance growth was also due to AMD... thanks? Why in the world would [insert company name here] innovate when the floor was already being wiped up with [insert name of competition] mops?

because then the idiots wouldn't have a reason to talk shit about [insert company name here] because [competition branded] mops are worthless :roll:

seriously good job on the clickbait title tho nothing '`new'` here move along
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2013
Messages
1,266 (0.29/day)
System Name Gentoo64 /w Cold Coffee
Processor 9900K 5.2GHz @1.312v
Motherboard MXI APEX
Cooling Raystorm Pro + 1260mm Super Nova
Memory 2x16GB TridentZ 4000-14-14-28-2T @1.6v
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 LiquidX Barrow 3015MHz @1.1v
Storage 660P 1TB, 860 QVO 2TB
Display(s) LG C1 + Predator XB1 QHD
Case Open Benchtable V2
Audio Device(s) SB X-Fi
Power Supply MSI A1000G
Mouse G502
Keyboard G815
Software Gentoo/Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Always only ever very fast
Notice the "Security Features"? Maybe they decided to stop chasing raw IPC with aggressive speculative execution and will be dialing this back a bit, in order to catch up with AMD on the security front. The mitigation performance penalties in I/O were not acceptable.

Otherwise, very meh so far announcement.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
1,568 (0.66/day)
Location
London, UK
Also, take notice that now they want to significatnly improve single thread performance further, because it seems intel is accepting defeat as they cant fight x amd on multithread performance anymore and amd is still 10% behind intel on single thread performance as it stands. Reason people are buying intel right now is for single thread performance and nothing else.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
22,439 (6.03/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar b650m wifi
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance 30CL6000
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Lexar NM790 4TB + Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial BX100 250GB
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Lian Li A3 mATX White
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores Over 9000
Clean slate yet they literally showed near-identical slides of good old Skylake next to Sunny Cove.

??

 
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Messages
2,355 (0.50/day)
System Name msdos
Processor 8086
Motherboard mainboard
Cooling passive
Memory 640KB + 384KB extended
Video Card(s) EGA
Storage 5.25"
Display(s) 80x25
Case plastic
Audio Device(s) modchip
Power Supply 45 watts
Mouse serial
Keyboard yes
Software disk commander
Benchmark Scores still running
I will be surprised if there's anything "clean slate" here. Smells like PR dept to me. Repartioning / resizing the reservation stations is not ground breaking. They probably did more changes than normal, and went all out on the public statement about it.
 

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
17,622 (2.41/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/yfsd9w
Anyone notice that in the Intel slide, Tremont and Gracemont is followed by 'Next' Month? o_O
Does Intel even prove read their own PR stuff these days?

Sure did, quite a funny typo.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2015
Messages
142 (0.04/day)
System Name Avell old monster - Workstation T1 - HTPC
Processor i7-3630QM\i7-5960x\Ryzen 3 2200G
Cooling Stock.
Memory 2x4Gb @ 1600Mhz
Video Card(s) HD 7970M \ EVGA GTX 980\ Vega 8
Storage SSD Sandisk Ultra li - 480 GB + 1 TB 5400 RPM WD - 960gb SDD + 2TB HDD
Funny, their stagnant IPC and performance growth was also due to AMD... thanks? Why in the world would [insert company name here] innovate when the floor was already being wiped up with [insert name of competition] mops?

Yeah, The honest and respectable intel has nothing to do with the lack of resources in the red side. Of course, it's all AMD fault.

It's funny to see someone defending a company that steals, lies and bribes people.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
1,568 (0.66/day)
Location
London, UK
This looks like when apple showed its first commercial computer 40 years ago, nothing was real.
 
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,141 (0.53/day)
Location
Serbia
Processor Ryzen 5600
Motherboard X570 I Aorus Pro
Cooling Deepcool AG400
Memory HyperX Fury 2 x 8GB 3200 CL16
Video Card(s) RX 6700 10GB SWFT 309
Storage SX8200 Pro 512 / NV2 512
Display(s) 24G2U
Case NR200P
Power Supply Ion SFX 650
Mouse G703 (TTC Gold 60M)
Keyboard Keychron V1 (Akko Matcha Green) / Apex m500 (Gateron milky yellow)
Software W10
Clean slate was the jump from Core 2 to Nehalem, or Bulldozer to Zen.
To me this looks more like the jump from Haswell to Skylake.
But who knows, maybe there is more than meets the eye.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
19,371 (3.56/day)
Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
Also, take notice that now they want to significatnly improve single thread performance further, because it seems intel is accepting defeat as they cant fight x amd on multithread performance anymore and amd is still 10% behind intel on single thread performance as it stands. Reason people are buying intel right now is for single thread performance and nothing else.
JFC, you are the fluffmeister of AMD... LOL

On a more serious note, Intel is catching up on AMD's 'going wide' thought instead of IPC performance. People really need to step back and see the forest through the trees though. More cores/threads aren't needed by the masses. Hell most enthusiasts will happily run a 4c/8t CPU and not lose any performance. The fact is, to me, both companies CPUs have their merits. AMD is a great offering for those who need more threads at cores at the same pricepoint and is OK in a very slight IPC deficit. Intel just plain old has the fastest around in IPC, is lacking in core count for the same price, and overclocks better than AMD. It does indeed cost more.

So, thanks, AMD, for multiple generations of being dozens of % slower IPC, finally getting into the ballpark and adding more cores and threads people don't need? Again, so few people need the cores/threads, I'd rather them both work on 4-6c/8-12t count CPUs and improving those than simply adding what amounts to useless (for a vast majority) c/t.

Yeah, The honest and respectable intel has nothing to do with the lack of resources in the red side. Of course, it's all AMD fault.

It's funny to see someone defending a company that steals, lies and bribes people.
I didn't say it was all AMD's 'fault'.. but simply responding to Metroid's assertion that it was AMD which caused this change. Surely competition is a part of it... nice for AMD to be back in the game. But let's not forget how business works while lambasting the other side.

Competition is good!
 
Last edited:
Top