Intel's new generation of processors for laptop PCs was only introduced a few days after the announcement of its competitor Ryzen 8040.
After an objectively very disappointing 14th generation of the Raptor Lake Refresh, Intel wants to celebrate a comeback. Last September, the Blues announced their next generation of processors, “Meteor Lake”, which, according to the manufacturer, promised the biggest revolution in 40 years and at the same time formalized the name change of the i5, i7 and i9 series to Core Ultra 5, 7 and 9.
These new processors, currently exclusive to laptops, are based on the architecture introduced by “Alder Lake” while offering innovations that emphasize performance per watt and therefore energy efficiency.
The beginning of low-power CPUs
©Intel
The Intel Core Ultra 100 processor series represents a significant advancement for Intel as it introduces a new naming scheme and an innovative architecture called “Meteor Lake,” based on the Alder Lake architecture but with new features such as the Foveros assembly methodology has. The latter allows the chips to be better connected and offers a more efficient response to different workloads. The new E and P cores help improve performance per watt and promise 11% better performance than AMD Ryzen chips at the same TDP, with up to 25% reduction in power consumption for the Ultra 7 series.
This new range also represents a first for Intel in the use of chips from the TSMC founder, as well as in the use of their new manufacturing method “Intel 4”, where an engraving of 7 nanometers (compared to 10 previously) promises a gain of more than 20 % energy efficiency. The aim of this launch is to keep up with the competition, with a particular focus on energy efficiency.
Update on new features
©Intel
The Intel Core Ultra 100 processors, based on the Meteor Lake architecture, are expected to represent a significant upgrade over the previous generation. They would offer a significant improvement in performance, energy efficiency and functionality. The main innovations in terms of performance include:
- Up to 16 CPU cores, including 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores
- The new Xe-LPG architecture, successor to Xe-LP, for the integrated GPU based on the Xe-HPG architecture of the Alchemist discrete GPUs
- Improved AI acceleration with up to 34 TBPS performance (compared to 16 TBPS with AMD's Ryzen 8040)
- Support for Direct12 Ultimate, hardware acceleration of ray tracing, mesh shading, integration of the XeSS upscaling solution and modern encoding functions such as AV1, H265 or even VP9
- Support for LPDDR5(x)-7467 or DDR5-5600 memory
- Compatibility with the latest connectivity standards including WiFi 7, Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 2.1
- Mobile versions of the Meteor Lake processors will be available in H, P and U versions. The TDPs (power consumption) will vary between 45 and 15W.
Intel announced a total of 11 new models with Core H and Core U variants, offering different performance ranges, graphics features and release dates. The flagship model, the Core Ultra 9 185H, has 16 cores, 22 threads, an Arc GPU with 8 Xe cores and a boost frequency of 5.1 GHz for P-cores and 3.8 GHz for E-cores.
The full Core Ultra 100 Series specifications include models with different thermal envelopes, different core configurations and customizable graphics performance, providing a diverse selection to suit different needs.
Gaming with an iGPU finally possible?
The integrated GPU architecture (iGPU) is based on 8 Xe cores with a maximum frequency of 2.35 GHz on the highest Core Ultra model (185H) and, according to Intel, enables twice the performance of Xe-LPG in Intel 13th generation CPUs and up to 10% higher performance than the Ryzen 7 7840U RDNA3 iGPU.
©Intel
By integrating its XeSS upscaling solution with its integrated GPU, Intel is enabling an increase in gaming performance (thanks to AI) and theoretically enables further reductions in power requirements. Here the manufacturer announces increases of around 39% on average as soon as the option is activated in 1080p resolution. Many games like Ghostrunners 2, F1 2023 or Like a Dragon: Gaiden exceed the symbolic limit of 60 fps.
Note that Intel Arc iGPUs are only available in configurations with an Intel Core Ultra H-series that offers at least 16GB of RAM in dual channel (two identical strips). Lower configurations that offer 8GB of RAM, for example, remain on integrated Intel graphics GPUs.
©Intel
Is there anything new for E-Core and P-Core!?
The Meteor Lake processor's compute tile consists of two types of cores: P-Cores (Redwood Cove) and E-Cores (Crestmont). P-Cores (high-performance cores for the most demanding tasks) and E-Cores (low-power cores for light tasks) have undergone a redesign to offer a significant improvement in IPC (Instructions Per Cycle). ) and are also compatible with AVX512 VNNI instruction sets optimized for neural networks. In addition to these two types of cores, the Compute tile contains an additional E-Core cluster on the SoC tile called the “Low Power Island”. This tile is dedicated to background tasks that Intel considers parasitic tasks.
In addition to the traditional E-Cores and P-Cores already mentioned, the manufacturer is introducing the LP E-Cores (Low Power Efficient Cores), a new generation of low-power cores integrated into a tile for background tasks called the “Low Power Island”. becomes. These new cores theoretically offer a significant improvement in power efficiency compared to previous generation E cores.
©Intel
And AI in all of this?
When it comes to AI, the new processors are no slouch and Intel says they are 70% faster in generative AI workloads with stable diffusion compared to Raptor Lake. The integrated NPU can particularly help optimize video calls on Zoom or Teams and reduce their energy consumption on laptop PCs by almost 40%.
Intel calls it “PC AI” to describe machines that contain its new Core Ultra chips, and for good reason. In fact, every component of its SoC offers optimizations for AI-related tasks. We therefore find an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) specialized in long-term AI calculations, the GPU for generative AI, while the CPU is specialized for low latency tasks.
©Intel
Now available
Intel announces that the Core Ultra 100 will be available for certain models starting in the first quarter of 2024, with others already on the market. This is particularly the case with manufacturer Acer, which already offers a laptop PC that highlights AI capabilities.
We can expect to find a more comprehensive presentation and future machines that integrate all these new chips during CES 2024. Of course, at this point, and especially after the first tests, we can get a real overview of the performance and consumption improvements announced by Intel.
Source: Frandroid