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"Intel is working to be a niche company. So we better be big, for real” said the CEO da Intel, Pat Gelsinger at the conference Intel Innovation, held on Tuesday (19), where it presented the new processors with architecture meteor lake, scheduled for sale from December 14th with the core ultra. Below, check out more details about Intel's new processors:
Meteor Lake Architecture at Intel Innovation
gelsinger announced at the Intel event the production of new processors, which should hit the market in 2024 and 2025. Next year, the arrival of the Arrow Lake e Lunar Lake and, in two years, architecture Panther Lake. Even with previews still far away, the CEO demonstrated the ability of Lunar Lake through a special computer, the Lab CSF. The machine, which looks more like a blue box (following image) than a conventional PC, features some special technologies, such as clear cache e virtual battery (virtual battery).
Interestingly, Intel has already manufactured processors for the Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, reaching a partnership of wide reputation from 2006 onwards. However, in 2020, the manufacturer of MacBooks decided to stop counting on Intel, introducing processors Apple silicon, with architecture ARM. Noting that Apple's parts had more speed and longer battery life, Intel executives understood they needed to make these aspects a priority.
When talking about Panther Lake at this week's event, Intel showed that it carried out three types of tests to ensure its performance: on central processing units (CPUs), in graphics processing units (GPUs) and neural processing units (NPUs). The execution of this assessment took into account a constant amount of energy for all units.
“We looked at the aggregate capacity that we are putting into the three units, and we think that these platforms have become very competitive, more than [the processors in] Mac and others. We are very happy with our manufacturing process.”
Pat Gelsinger, chief executive officer (CEO) from Intel
What are the advantages present in Meteor Lake processors?
From now on, the company wants to innovate in the way it manufactures its processor chips. One of the main changes involves the inclusion of microprocessors in small parts, as you see in the image above. In the next generations, there would be a part dedicated to CPU cores, along with other media tasks (SOC), for graphics and to increase connections between part of the CPU (IOE). In addition to these advances, Intel plans other advantages for its next processors:
More power with less energy consumption
The power delivered to the line's processors meteor lake will have the performance of mobile device chips, parts raptor lake (13th generation), but consuming half the energy. This detail was highlighted by the vice president and general manager of Client Computing Group (Customer Computing Group, in free translation) of the Intel, Michelle Johnson.
However, the company did not indicate exactly how this improvement should be applied to the chips that will be launched. This change is likely to be applied directly to the processors' graphics block. Similarly, processors Snapdragon for computers had a similar update in 2019: more speed applied to the cores, with advances in graphics performance, in addition to new technologies for connectivity. In fact, improving connection is another focus of interest for Intel.
Best performing processor cores
From the processor 12th generation, Alder lake, Intel processors now have two types of cores, one for performance (known as p-core) and one for background tasks (e-core). Now, one more is added to these two in the new line of processors: it would be a new version of the e-core, hence the name Crestmont e-core, which will help carry out tasks that come directly to the CPU.
There is not much information so far about the core Crestmont in a direct comparison with other previous Intel launches, but the company has already released a video in which it tested the new core. Through testing, the internal part proved to be 4% to 6% faster, in terms of instructions per cycle (an expression used to evaluate the number of processes executed by a CPU: the higher the number, the greater the unit's performance).
There is one more point in favor of Meteor Lake: the threads (task sequences referred by programs to the CPU), instead of being sent directly to the cores p-core, are sent to the nuclei e-core low power first. Then go to the e-core common and finally to the performance-dedicated cores. The graphic in the following image explains how the 3D Performance Hybrid Architecture (3D Performance Hybrid Architecture):
Dedication to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This is where the NPUs start to make a difference. The chips for the new processors from Intel will have a Local AI which operates in favor of privacy and the speed of executing tasks on the PC, according to the parts manufacturer. It is worth mentioning that programs that work with Artificial Intelligence perform their activities without necessarily depending on the NPU. The new structure, then, appears as an advancement to bring more performance in activities processed by computers, which will rely on the next generations of Intel chips.
Thus, the company's intention is for the NPU to accelerate both common functions performed by Windows and tools used by developers. With the power of IA, it is quite possible that energy consumption will be improved. Intel also indicates that the computing of this unit with the CPU and GPU will contribute in an unprecedented way to the speed of executing tasks on PCs.
Intel chip manufacturing: new technologies
Even though it is only expected to be launched in 2025, production will begin in the first quarter of 2024. Panther Lake, according to a forecast released by Intel. The company's goal is to accelerate its production, focusing on having more improved nodes in its chips. In this sense, Intel seeks to show the potential of Intel 18A, a new manufacturing process that contains new nodes prepared to accelerate the manufacturing of processor chips.
Besides the Intel 18A, information about factory technologies was also highlighted in the Intel Innovation. New processors Xeon for big data centers had a sample at the event and the company also announced the purchase of accelerators Gaudi, which work with AI. The chip manufacturing process was approached by the company with a new feature: the participation of glass substrate technology, which aims to deliver faster, more powerful and increased processor sizes.
Intel also sought to reinforce the role of AI in the manufacturing process of its chips. During the occasion, the company's participation was announced Stability. ai, which has a platform for generating images with a generative AI system: it starts to collaborate with Intel, being an anchor client, working to assist in long-term projects. Therefore, the company responsible for the new processors meteor lake is paying special attention to 4 thousand Gaudi AI accelerators, to obtain a new supercomputer.
In search of competitiveness, Intel also implemented the use of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) to give a more detailed finish to the manufactured chips. The importance of this feature comes from the fact that it is possible to place transistor circuits in a more detailed way inside the processors. The downside to this strategy is that the use of EUV is not consistent with the objective of having larger processors, as the light only reaches half of a processor made without the use of EUV emission.
Even with this condition, gelsinger highlighted that both the Intel 20A as much as Intel 18A will have a technology that works in the same way as miniature transistors, called Ribbon FET. Along with this new feature, the chips being worked on by Intel will have the “background” power delivery feature, named by Intel as PowerVia: this characteristic also acts to reduce the use of energy expenditure.
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Source: CNET | HowToGeek | PCWorld | The Verge | Bloomberg | Electronics Hub | liquid web | Data Center Dynamics
reviewed by Glaucon Vital in 22 / 9 / 23.
