Kevin Glynn, aka "Uncle Webb," our associate software author behind popular utilities such as ThrottleStop and RealTemp, developed a new utility named Counter Control, which lets you monitor and log the performance counters of Intel Core processors since 2008 (Core "Nehalem"). During development for ThrottleStop, Kevin discovered a fascinating bug with Windows Defender, the built-in security software of Windows, which causes significantly higher performance impact on the processor than it should normally have. Of course a security software is bound to have some (small) performance impact during real-time protection, but this is much bigger.The first sign that something is happening is that HWiNFO will be reporting a reduced "Effective Clock" speed when the CPU is fully loaded. A much bigger problem is that when Defender is affected by the bug, performance of your machine will be significantly reduced. For example, a Core i9-10850K running at 5.00 GHz all-core loses 1000 Cinebench points (or 6%). Such a performance loss has been reported by owners of Intel Core 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Gen, both desktop and mobile CPUs, on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. AMD processors are not affected.

AMD is preparing to update its mobile sector with the latest IP in the form of Zen4 CPU cores and RDNA3 graphics. According to Red Gaming Tech, we have specifications of upcoming processor families. First, we have AMD Dragon Range mobile processors representing a downsized Raphael design for laptops. Carrying Zen4 CPU cores and RDNA2 integrated graphics, these processors are meant to power high-performance laptops with up to 16 cores and 32 threads. Being a direct competitor to Intel's Alder Lake-HX, these processors also carry an interesting naming convention. The available SKUs include AMD Ryzen 5 7600HX, Ryzen 7 7800HX, Ryzen 9 7900HX, and Ryzen 9 7980HX design with a massive 16-core configuration. These CPUs are envisioned to run along with more powerful dedicated graphics, with clock speeds of 4.8-5.0+ GHz.

Next, we have AMD Phoenix processors, which take Dragon Range's design to a higher level thanks to the newer graphics IP. Having Zen4 cores, Phoenix processors carry upgraded RDNA3 graphics chips to provide a performance level similar to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q SKU, all in one package. These APUs will come in four initial configurations: Ryzen 5 7600HS, Ryzen 7 7800HS, Ryzen 9 7900HS, and Ryzen 9 7980HS. While maxing out at eight cores, these APUs will compensate with additional GPU compute units with a modular chiplet design. AMD Phoenix is set to become AMD's first chiplet design launching for the laptop market, and we can expect more details as we approach the launch date.

It would appear that we're slowly getting closer to the launch of AMD's AM5 platform, as ASRock just put up its first X670E motherboard on its website. The page still has very limited information and there's only a single picture of the motherboard, which is the same one that the company shared at Computex. However, we now get a few more details with regards to what to expect in terms of additional features. For starters, ASRock has gone for a 26-phase SPS Dr.MOS power design, which should be plenty even for the most avid overclocker. The board has a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots that operate in dual x8 mode when both slots are used. In addition to this there are four M.2 slots, where ASRock has decided to call the CPU connected slot for Blazing, as it's PCIe 5.0, whereas the three PCIe 4.0 slots are using the Hyper name the company has used so far.

The board also has eight SATA ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which apparently are USB4 certified as well and a header for a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) case mounted port. Furthermore the board has five rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) USB-A ports around the back, plus three USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and a further four via headers, as well as a single HDMI port of unknown version. ASRock has gone for an Intel Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controller and an Intel Killer AX1675X WiFi 6E and Bluetooth card, with the combo having Killer DoubleShot Pro support. Finally audio is via a Realtek ALC4082 USB connected audio codec and an ESS Sabre 9218 DAC. Overall this looks like a pretty kitted out board without too much excessive bling and will hopefully be priced accordingly.

The US Congress hasn't been able to agree on passing what is known as the CHIPS Act, which consists of some US$52 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturers and it appears that Intel isn't very pleased. As such, the company is said to have put the brakes on the groundbreaking ceremony for its planned Ohio fab, which was meant to take place on the 22nd of July. Intel allegedly sent out an email to various state and federal lawmakers that it has placed the ceremony on hold, indefinitely due to the lack of progress on the CHIPS Act. In an official response from Intel to the Register, the company said that the event hasn't been rescheduled, which the publications says means that there's no new date planned for the groundbreaking ceremony.

It will apparently still be held at some point, but the Intel spokesperson had no answer when questioned if the ceremony was contingent on the CHIPS Act. However, the Register was told that the planned construction start date remains unchanged, for now. That said, Intel also issued a statement saying "the scope and pace of our expansion in Ohio will depend heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act.", which was also part of the initial press release back in January when the fab plans were announced. If the CHIPS Act doesn't happen, Intel's plan seems to be to focus on countries outside of the US where the company is getting subsidies, although the Ohio fab is still likely to be built, just at a slower pace. Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger hasn't been mincing his words either, having told Congress "We've already wasted several quarters since the Senate acted last year, and now it's time for us to move forward rapidly," back in March.

Just hours ago a CPU-Z screenshot of an Intel Raptor Lake ES CPU appeared and the same CPU now appears to have been put through a full battery of benchmark tests, courtesy of Expreview. This upcoming 13th gen Core CPU from Intel is limited to a maximum clock speed of 3.8 GHz and as such, was tested against a Core i9-12900K that was clocked at the same speed, for a fair comparison. Both CPUs were used with an unknown Z690 motherboard, 32 GB of DDR5 5200 MHz memory with unknown timings and a GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card. According to Expreview, the 13th gen CPU is on average around 20 percent faster than the 12th gen CPU, although the extra eight E-Cores might have something to do with that in certain benchmarks.

In Sisoft Sandra 2021 the ES sample is as much as 51.5 percent faster in the double precision floating point test, which is the extreme outlier, but it's ahead by around 15-25 percent in most of the other tests. In several other tests, it's ahead by anything from as little as less than three percent to as much as 25 percent, with more multithreaded types of benchmarks seeing the largest gains, as expected. However, in some of the single threaded tests, Alder Lake is edging out Raptor Lake by 10 percent or more, for example in Pov-Ray and Cinebench. Most of the game tests favour Intel's 12th gen over the 13th gen ES sample, although it's possible that the limited clock speeds are holding back the Raptor Lake CPU. The two are either neck in neck or Alder Lake being ahead with anything from a couple of percent to almost nine percent. Keep in mind that it's still early days and everything from UEFI support to drivers will be improved before Raptor Lake launches later this year. There's also the limited clock speed which is likely to play a significant role in the final performance as well, but this does at least provide a first taste of what's to come. Head over to Expreview for their full set of benchmarks.

According to fresh benchmark numbers from someone on bilibili, Intel's Arc A380 cards perform even worse when paired with an AMD CPU compared to when paired with an Intel CPU. The card was tested using an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 on an ASUS TUF B550M motherboard paired with 16 GB of DDR4 3600 MHz memory. The Intel system it was tested against consisted of a Core i5-12400 on an ASUS TUF B660M motherboard with the same type of memory. Both test systems had resizable BAR support set to auto and above 4G decoding enabled. Windows 11 21H2 was also installed on both systems.

In every single game out of the 10 games tested, except League of Legends, the AMD system was behind the Intel system by anything from a mere one percent to as much as 15 percent. The worst performance disadvantage was in Forza Horizon 5 and Total War Three Kingdoms, both were 14 to 15 percent behind. The games that were tested, in order of the graph below are: League of Legends, Dota 2, Rainbow 6 Extraction, Watch Dogs Legions, Far Cry 6, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Total War Three Kingdoms, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, CS:GO and Forza Horizon 5. For comparison, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 was also used, but only tested on the Intel based system and the Arc A380 only beat it on Total War Three Kingdoms, albeit by a seven percent margin. It appears Intel has a lot of work to do when it comes to its drivers, but at last right now, mixing Intel Arc graphics cards and AMD processors seems to be a bad idea.

Although Intel's 13th generation of Core CPUs—codenamed Raptor Lake—aren't expected to launch until sometime in September or October this year, details of some of ASRock's motherboards for the new CPUs have leaked. ASRock is preparing to launch at least nine Z790 and three H770 motherboards, of which at least four will have support for DDR4 memory, according to VideoCardz. The list is missing a flagship Aqua model, but contains Taichi, Pro RS, Phantom Gaming Lightning and Riptide models, as well as a Steel Legend H770 boards and a couple of -C models, which are likely budget boards, despite being based on the Z790 chipset.

There will be a microATX Phantom Gaming Lighting board with DDR4 and a Phantom Gaming Riptide model with DDR5 support. So far no other features have been reported and from our understanding, the Z790 won't differ hugely from the Z690 chipset. The extra PCIe lanes from the 13th gen Core CPUs are expected to support PCIe 5.0 this time around, which will allow for faster NVMe based M.2 drives to be used. Intel is not planning on integrating Thunderbolt 4 support in these CPUs based on available information.

VAIO, the premier Japanese computer brand known for exceptional quality notebooks equipped with the latest technology, expands its FE Series to offer new high-performance laptops with an impressively long battery life to work, create, game, and watch entertainment from anywhere, for longer. Equipped with 12th Gen Intel Core processors, Windows 11, and THX Spatial Audio, the new VAIO FE laptops deliver maximum performance and immersive entertainment experiences in a slim, portable design. With powerful computing capabilities and up to 10 hours of battery life, the VAIO FE Series laptops are perfect for on-the-go lifestyles. Priced affordably, VAIO is available at Walmart and Walmart.com and coming soon to Sam's Club.

With a sleek, elegant design and new vibrant colors, VAIO FE laptops have Full HD anti-glare screens, wider viewing angles, and a crisp, clear display for impeccable picture quality. VAIO FE notebooks come fully equipped with two built-in speakers, front-facing camera, fingerprint scanner for extra security, and a precision touchpad. This power packed feature set, along with the THX Spatial Audio technology brings a near-cinema quality experience to enjoying music, movies, streaming or gaming.

Intel's Arc Alchemist graphics cards launched in laptop/mobile space, and everyone is wondering just how well the first generation of discrete graphics performs in actual, GPU-accelerated workloads. Tellusim Technologies, a software company located in San Diego, has managed to get ahold of a laptop featuring an Intel Arc A370M mobile graphics card and benchmark it against other competing solutions. Instead of using Vulkan API, the team decided to use D3D12 API for tests, as the Vulkan usually produces lower results on the new 12th generation graphics. With the 30.0.101.1736 driver version, this GPU was mainly tested in the standard GPU working environment like triangles and batches. Meshlet size is set to 69/169, and the job is as big as 262K Meshlets. The total amount of geometry is 20 million vertices and 40 million triangles per frame.

Using the tests such as Single DIP (drawing 81 instances with u32 indices without going to Meshlet level), Mesh Indexing (Mesh Shader emulation), MDI/ICB (Multi-Draw Indirect or Indirect Command Buffer), Mesh Shader (Mesh Shaders rendering mode) and Compute Shader (Compute Shader rasterization), the Arc GPU produced some exciting numbers, measured in millions or billions of triangles. Below, you can see the results of these tests.

j5create, a world leader in high tech computer accessories, and Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips, are working together to develop one of the world's first USB4 multi-port adapters. USB4 is the latest USB specification offering several improvements over legacy USB-C adapters including higher transfer speeds, more efficient bandwidth allocation between data and display protocols, as well as backward compatibility with older USB and Thunderbolt specifications.

"We're thrilled to work with Intel to bring the latest USB peripherals to market." said Steven Lyu, Chief Operating Officer at j5create. "We are always innovating to deliver high-performance solutions users have been anticipating through a variety of products, technologies, and design collaborations."

Intel's Arc A380 desktop graphics card is generally available in China, and real-world gaming benchmarks of the cards by independent media paint a vastly different picture than what we've been led on by synthetic benchmarks. The entry-mainstream graphics card, being sold under the equivalent of $160 in China, is shown beating the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 in 3DMark Port Royal and Time Spy benchmarks by a significant margin. The gaming results see it lose to even the RX 6400 in each of the six games tested by the source.

The tests in the graph below are in the order: League of Legends, PUBG, GTA V, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2. We see that in the first three tests that are based on DirectX 11, the A380 is 22 to 26 percent slower than an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, and Radeon RX 6400. The gap narrows in DirectX 12 titles SoTR and Forza 5, where it's within 10% slower than the two cards. The card's best showing, is in the Vulkan-powered RDR 2, where it's 7% slower than the GTX 1650, and 9% behind the RX 6400. The RX 6500 XT would perform in a different league. With these numbers, and given that GPU prices are cooling down in the wake of the cryptocalypse 2022, we're not entirely sure what Intel is trying to sell at $160.

One of the biggest dividends of the Arc discrete graphics lineup for Intel is getting to use its own GPUs in its NUC desktops. The next-generation NUC 12 "Serpent Canyon" desktop sees the 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" quad-core + RTX 2060 "Turing" combination replaced by advanced 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" 6P+8E processor, and the Arc "Alchemist" A770M discrete GPU. Intel's choice of mobile versions of "Alchemist" and "Alder Lake" may have to do with not just lower TDP, but possibly also an implementation of the Intel Deep Link feature.

The A770M maxes out the 6 nm ACM-G11 silicon, packing 32 Xe Cores (512 execution units, or 4,096 unified shaders), and has 16 GB of 256-bit GDDR6 memory. When paired with the 14-core "Alder Lake-H" processor, the duo could make for a formidable performance-gaming and creator machine. "Serpent Canyon" also sees the integration of Thunderbolt 4, SDXC UHS-II, Wi-Fi 6E, and 2.5 GbE interfaces, along with a number of USB 3.2 ports. Although its marketing images are leaked to the web on Chinese social media, there's no release date for the thing yet, but it could be just around the corner.

Back in January, Intel overturned an antitrust ruling by the EU and didn't have to pay the $1.2 billion fine, but it seems like the company isn't satisfied with getting out of having to pay a huge fine, but is now asking the EU to compensate the company for interest lost. As such, Intel has filed for "payment of compensation and consequential interest for the damage sustained because of the European Commissions refusal to pay Intel default interest" with the EU General Court. The sum of money Intel is asking for is based on the European Central Bank's refinancing rate and as the original fine was levied back in 2009, Intel claims they're owed more than half of the value of the fine.

Intel is also expecting further interest on the money, if the payment is late from the EU. It should be noted that the European Commission has already paid Intel €38 million in interest on the fine that was paid back in 2009, but Intel is clearly not happy and is asking for a much greater sum. However, the battle between the European Commission and Intel isn't over, as the Commission is working on appealing the ruling, so depending on the outcome of that appeal, Intel might have to pay back the fine to the EU. For those that don't remember the original reason for the antitrust fine, Intel was accused of giving rebates to certain partners and system integrators to make sure they didn't use AMD products in their systems, among other things.

Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, networking, and green computing technology, is announcing the global availability of a wide range of systems for edge computing, including the recently announced SuperEdge and a range of Intel Xeon D processor-based systems, with up to 20 cores, 25 GbE networking built-in, and a temperature operating range from -40° C to 85° C. These systems are optimized for the Intelligent Edge, where responsive systems that reduce latency are required. In addition, locating powerful AI systems closer to where data is generated reduces network traffic and lowers response time.

"We are pleased to be able to deliver our high-volume optimized edge systems worldwide due to our expanded factories and capacity," said Charles Liang, president, and CEO of Supermicro. "Our latest systems are designed for harsh conditions with the highest performing CPUs and GPUs that are available. Supermicro has the unique ability to quickly deliver industry-optimized solutions from the edge to the data center by using our Building Block Solution approach. We are also committed to lessening our servers' carbon footprint, resulting in fewer emissions and a greener planet."

As global adoption of Edge AI continues to rise through smart transitions, ASRock Industrial is excited to release the new iEPF-9010S/iEP-9010E Series Robust Edge AIoT Platform, enabled by 12th Gen Intel Core Processors (Alder Lake S) with R680E/H610 chipsets to bring breakthrough performance at the Edge. Featuring excellent computing power with energized Edge AI acceleration, the iEPF-9010S/iEP-9010E Series provide high memory capacity, rich I/Os and expandability, wide RF connectivity- 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.2 with real-time TSN/TCC, plus ruggedness for industrial environments. The Series is an effective all-in-one consolidation for high-demanding workloads, tailor-made for mission-critical industrial applications such as factory automation, machine automation, robotic control, AI AOI, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and much more.

Intel's high-end desktop (HEDT), usually reserved for workstation and enterprise applications, is due for an update, and the company is readying an entire family of updated products. Today, we found a leak of what appears to be an Intel Sapphire Rapids design made for desktops. Called Xeon W5-3433, the CPU appears in the SiSoftware Sandra benchmark database. It carries a configuration of 16 cores and 32 threads and is equipped with 32 MB of L2 cache and 45 MB of L3 cache. Having 2 MB of L2 cache per core suggests that the design is not an Alder Lake variation. This specific SKU is clocked at 1.99 GHz, meaning an early engineering sample.

The Sapphire Rapids HEDT platform is codenamed FishHawk Falls. Intel is supposed to offer Alder Lake-X processors with higher core counts and the FishHawk Falls. Both will be running on the same W790 chipset; however, the Sapphire Rapids implementation will carry more cores in a Xeon package designed for professionals. There was an Ice Lake-X Xeon processor called Xeon W-3335 with 16 cores and 32 threads, meaning that the leaked Xeon W5-3433 is its direct successor.

Intel has recently published a document outlining the requirements for Arc GPU support on desktop including the supported platforms. The guide states that supported processors are limited to 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake", 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake", and 10th Gen Core "Comet Lake" with Resizable BAR support enabled on the motherboard. The document also notes that other platforms supporting Resizable BAR / Smart Access Memory may work with Intel Arc graphics cards indicating potential unofficial support for AMD platforms also. Intel has also specified that only Windows 10/11 is supported and installations must be using the GPT partition type. The page contains instructions to enable Resizable BAR support and switch to a GPT partition but no information is provided as to whether the cards will work without this functionality.

15th September, 2022, is when AMD will debut its Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" desktop processors. The launch strategy of these chips looks similar to that of the Ryzen 5000 series. The company is preparing a lean launch lineup with just four SKUs—the Ryzen 9 7950X, the Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7800X, and the Ryzen 5 7600X. These SKUs succeed the 5950X, 5900X, 5800X, and 5600X, which made up the previous launch lineup. AMD in its recent interview with us, made it clear that 16-core/32-thread is the maximum core-count for the 7000 series, which would make the 7950X such a chip. The core-counts of the other SKUs are not known. All these models are built in the Socket AM5 package, featuring PCI-Express Gen 5 and DDR5 interfaces. But wait, there's more.

Although AMD led us to believe that it's going all-in with DDR5, we're hearing a spectacular rumor that suggests otherwise. Apparently, the company is designing Socket AM4 processors with "Zen 4" chiplets, possibly paired with the existing cIOD that supports PCI-Express Gen 4 and DDR4 interfaces. The rumor surfaced among sources lower down the supply-chain (resellers). It seems like AMD isn't convinced it could target the lower-end of the market with AM5 just yet, and isn't 100% confident that affordable DDR5 memory will come through in time. The "Zen 4" + AM4 processors would compete with Intel 600-series chipset motherboards that have DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4 connectivity. Trouble is, you can upgrade your Intel LGA1700 motherboard to one that has DDR5+PCIe Gen5 while keeping your processor; but you can't do so with an AM4 Zen 4 processor (you're stuck on AM4). AMD still gets to sell some processors, and those with AM4 platforms can rejoice.

In 2017, the semiconductor world was shocked to discover new vulnerabilities in modern Intel, AMD, and Arm processors. Dubbed Spectre and Meltdown, these exploits used cache-based side-channel attacks to steal information from the system. Today, we are getting a more advanced side-channel vulnerability hidden in every CPU capable of boosting frequencies. Interestingly called "Heartzbleed," the new exploit can steal secret AES cryptographic keys when observing CPU's boost frequencies. The attack works by monitoring the power signature of any cryptographic workload. As with any other element in a CPU, the workload's power varies according to the processor's frequency scaling in different situations. Observing this power information can be converted into timing data, allowing an attacker to steal cryptographic keys. This is done using Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS), a part of any modern processor.

Intel and AMD already published that their systems are vulnerable and affected by Heartzbleed exploit. It is labeled Intel-SA-00698 ID and CVE-2022-24436 ID for Intel CPUs and CVE-2022-23823 for AMD CPUs. It affects all Intel processors, and Zen 2 and Zen 3 AMD CPUs. The attacker can exploit this vulnerability remotely without requiring physical access. Intel and AMD will not offer microcode mitigations that should prevent this type of exploit from executing successfully. Additionally, Intel stated that this attack is not very practical outside of laboratory research, as it allegedly takes hours to days to steal cryptographic keys. The performance penalty for mitigating this attack ranges from high to low, depending on the type of implementation.

Intel officially launched the Arc A380 "Alchemist" entry-mainstream desktop graphics card in China, priced at RMB ¥1,030, including VAT, which roughly converts to USD $153. The Arc A380 "Alchemist" is based on the Xe-HPG graphics architecture, and the smaller DG2-128 (ACM-G11) silicon, which is built on the TSMC N6 (6 nm) silicon fabrication process.

The A380 desktop GPU is endowed with 8 Xe Cores, or 128 EU (execution units), which work out to 1,024 unified shaders. The chip features a 96-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, running 6 GB of memory. Despite these hardware specs, you get full DirectX 12 Ultimate capability, including ray tracing, and the XeSS performance enhancement. There are also several content-creation accelerators, including Intel XMX, and AV1 hardware-encode capabilities.

A part of the process of building a graphics card is designing compatibility to execute the latest graphics APIs like DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan. Today, we have confirmation that Intel's Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards will be compatible with Vulkan's latest iteration - version 1.3. In January, Khronos, the team behind Vulkan API, released their regular two-year update to the standard. Graphics card vendors like NVIDIA and AMD announced support immediately with their drivers. Today, the Khronos website officially lists Intel Arc Alchemist mobile graphics cards as compatible with Vulkan 1.3 with Intel Arc A770M, A730M, A550M, A370M, and A350M GPUs.

At the time of writing, there is no official announcement for the desktop cards yet. However, given that the mobile SKUs are supporting the latest standard, it is extremely likely that the desktop variants will also carry the same level of support.

Researchers from Università di Bologna and CINECA, the largest supercomputing center in Italy, have been playing with the concept of developing a RISC-V supercomputer. The team has laid the grounds for the first-ever implementation that demonstrates the capability of the relatively novel ISA to run high-performance computing. To create a supercomputer, you need pieces of hardware that seem like Lego building blocks. Those are called clusters, made from a motherboard, processor, memory, and storage. Italian researchers decided to try and use something different than Intel/AMD solution to the problem and use a processor based on RISC-V ISA. Using SiFive's Freedom U740 SoC as the base, researchers named their RISC-V cluster "Monte Cimone."

Monte Cimone features four dual-board servers, each in a 1U form factor. Each board has a SiFive's Freedom U740 SoC with four U74 cores running up to 1.4 GHz and one S7 management core. In total, eight nodes combine for a total of 32 RISC-V cores. Paired with 16 GB of 64-bit DDR4 memory operating at 1866s MT/s, PCIe Gen 3 x8 bus running at 7.8 GB/s, one gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.2 Gen 1 interfaces, the system is powered by two 250 Watt PSUs to support future expansion and addition of accelerator cards.

Intel's semiconductors nodes have been quite controversial with the arrival of the 10 nm design. Years in the making, the node got delayed multiple times, and only recently did the general public get the first 10 nm chips. Today, at IEEE's annual VLSI Symposium, we get more details about Intel's upcoming nodes, called Intel 4. Previously referred to as a 7 nm process, Intel 4 is the company's first node to use EUV lithography accompanied by various technologies. The first thing when a new process node is discussed is density. Compared to Intel 7, Intel 4 will double the transistor count for the same area and enable 20% higher performing transistors.

Looking at individual transistor size, the new Intel 4 node represents a very tiny piece of silicon that is even smaller than its predecessor. With a Fin Pitch of 30 nm, Contact Gate Poly Pitch of 50 nm between gates, and Minimum Metal Pitch (M0) of 50 nm, the Intel 4 transistor is significantly smaller compared to the Intel 7 cell, listed in the table below. For scaling, Intel 4 provides double the number of transistors in the same area compared to Intel 7. However, this reasoning is applied only to logic. For SRAM, the new PDK provides 0.77 area reduction, meaning that the same SoC built on Intel 7 will not be half the size of Intel 4, as SRAM plays a significant role in chip design. The Intel 7 HP library can put 80 million transistors on a square millimeter, while Intel 4 HP is capable of 160 million transistors per square millimeter.

Intel is preparing to launch its 13th generation of desktop processors codenamed Raptor Lake. Succeeding Alder Lake, the 13th gen design will implement up to eight P-cores with 16 E-cores manufactured on Intel's improved 7+ technology node. Today, we got a performance preview from SiSoftware that has collected SiSoftware Sandra database scores of Intel Core i9-13900 Raptor Lake-S processor. They present an overview of a few benchmarks. Firstly, the SoC features 36 MB of unified L3 cache versus 30 MB in Alder Lake. With DDR5 memory running up to 5600 MT/s and PCIe 5.0, the SoC features the latest IO and memory standards. The big P-cores now lack AVX-512 and feature 2 MB of L2 cache per core. We see 4 MB of L2 cache for a cluster of small E-cores. An exciting addition to E-cores is the AVX/AVX2 support, which is a first for Atom cores.

Regarding testing, the author has collected a few tests that seemed appropriate to compare to the equivalent Alder Lake model. Starting with ALU/FPU tests that benchmark basic arithmetic tasks, Raptor Lake delivered 33% to 50% improvement over Alder Lake. The Raptor Lake design achieved this with 3.7 GHz P-Core and 2.76 GHz E-Core frequency. In vectorized and SIMD tests, the 13th gen design showed only 5% to 8% improvement over the previous generation. For more benchmarks and accurate results, we have to wait for TechPowerUp's test, which will be coming on the release day.

German media is reporting that Intel will be receiving some €6.8 billion in subsidies for its planned Magdeburg fab. Some €2.7 billion has already been set aside for the 2022 federal government budget and the remaining money will be allocated in the 2023 and 2024 budgets. The Magdeburg member of the Bundestag, Martin Kröber, who announced the budget allocation to the local media, said that Intel's establishment in Magdeburg should be a boost for the entire Saxony-Anhalt area.

Intel's total investment in Magdeburg has a budget in excess of €33 billion, which means that the German government is pitching around a fifth of the total investment. That said, the first fab will only end up somewhere around the €17 billion mark, with space for a further two fabs on the location Intel has selected. Production at the new fab is estimated to begin sometime in 2027. In related news, TSMC is said to have decided on skipping Europe for the time being, largely due to lack of local customers, according to Reuters.