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January 20, 2022

Issue #155

 Intel's Alder Lake Ushers in a New, Unified Era in CPU Architecture

The 12^th Generation Core brand processors based on Alder Lake are launching in CAD-capable platforms now.

Technology always moves fast, particularly so in the domain of high-performance computing. But the past year’s pace has proven especially frenetic in the CPU industry, with rivals AMD and Intel hogging more than their usual share of attention with an accelerated rollout of competing CPUs for both mobile and fixed client computing applications. That quickened pace has been reflected in this column, which has dedicated more ink to CPU advancements relevant to CAD than ever. This month’s installment will cover another high-profile launch, one that will not only enter into decisions on hardware best suited for CAD in the coming year (at least), but one that introduces a novel concept in architecture addressing the increasing urgency in mitigating power consumption in pursuit of that performance.

Credit that quickened pace, at least in part, to AMD’s resurgence in the market for high-performance CPUs. From the tail end of the 00’s to the latter half of the 10’s, AMD was essentially absent from the high-performance computing markets. Yes, it sold tens millions of processors during that time, but primarily into mainstream, price-focused, consumer-oriented segments of the market. But, in high performance workstation segments, it held virtually no penetration and posed little threat to Intel’s default monopoly, giving the latter the freedom to roll out new products on its own timetable.

Things have changed. AMD’s rise in the past several years — combined with hiccups in Intel’s own execution on the silicon manufacturing front — has placed the latter and long-time CPU leader under tremendous pressure to hold off the former’s gains. That in turn has led Intel to push its own product cycles quicker, arguably forcing it to launch some products with more modest, incremental improvements in order to get something “new” out earlier, rather than wait a bit to focus on products with a more pronounced edge over the previous generation.

Consider Rocket Lake, covered here last summer. Would Intel have bothered with Rocket Lake without AMD on its heels (stated generously, as the latter has been forging ahead as of late)? 11^th Generation Core CPUs based on Rocket Lake and targeting fixed clients — like deskside CAD workstations — looks to have a short life, even by silicon standards. Intel has already launched 12^th Generation Core family, one that represents a far more substantial push forward architecturally. Alder Lake, the basis of that line, not only exemplifies the recognized urgency to address power consumption as much as performance, but should mark a return to a more unified architecture across Intel’s processor business.

A Novel Hybrid Architecture to Optimally
Balance Performance and Power: P-Cores and E-Cores

The truth is, that despite the unified Core branding of Intel’s processors, CPUs targeting mobile applications and those serving fixed/wired applications have not shared a common architectural foundation for a while now. Consider Intel’s 11^th Generation Core family. Its mobile-focused parts are based on a design called Tiger Lake while the desktop parts are derived from Rocket Lake. The reason is justifiable: the two have different priorities, one focused more on power efficiency and the other more on all-out performance. It’s been difficult to employ the same architectural foundation to achieve such disparate objectives.

Alder Lake will help unify the base technology for a wide range of performance and power levels. It will usher in a new era with a hybrid approach that allows a single processor to include heterogenous cores, one focused on performance (a P-core) and another on efficiency (an E-core). Exploiting that common foundation, a design looking for higher performance with a capable power budget, like a line-powered fixed CAD workstation will lean more heavily on P-cores. On the flip side, a battery-powered client, like a mobile workstation, might forgo a few P-cores in favor of more of the power-stingy E-cores. Ultimately, Intel is planning that this new heterogenous approach will serve all client segments, from 9-W CPU power for “ultra-mobile” devices like handhelds, through 45-W (the norm for a mobile workstation), and all the way up to 125-W, typical for a high-performance desktop/deskside CPU.

Alder Cove introduces a heterogeneous, hybrid architecture employing both Performance-oriented (P-cores) and Efficiency-oriented cores (E-cores) in the same processor. Image source: Intel.

In the case of just-released Alder Lake, the P-core is code-named Golden Cove and the E-core Gracemont. For Golden Cove, Intel promises an architecture that’s wider (for more concurrent processing), deeper (for improved pipelining, allowing for higher frequencies for the same work), and smarter (e.g. better instruction prediction ). Wider, deeper, and smarter all combine to improve the ultimate metric, the rate of instructions executed per cycle (IPC). Conversely, Gracemont focuses on minimizing watts and silicon footprint to allow for the least impact to overall power consumption and cost. Worth adding, Alder Lake also boasts a new cache architecture, what Intel calls Smart Cache, with up to 30MB of L3 cache shared among all on-chip P-cores and E-cores.

To Achieve Best Possible Performance,
Fixed Applications Care About Power, Too

While it would be natural to assume that the P-core would play the more significant role in workstation applications, Intel plans to deploy both cores in its CPU products so as to best serve the range of workloads, varying both in demand and priority. Often, we tend to think that mobile platforms care about power efficiency, while fixed, line-powered platforms don’t. That’s because we focus more on power delivery than the thermal dissipation resulting from power consumption. Line-powered fixed systems don’t have the delivery issues that battery-constrained mobiles do. But, with respect to thermal dissipation, fixed platforms do care about power consumption, because saving power where possible allows for expending more where needed. Remember that reducing on-chip heat output improves the ability for silicon to run faster, by retaining higher clock rates and/or voltage levels. That is, paying attention to power also reaps dividends in improved performance, regardless of whether the machine is plugged into the wall or not.

As such, E-cores aren’t just for battery-powered devices, and a design intent on maximum all-out performance isn’t likely to forgo E-cores altogether. Yes, tasks the user wants done as fast as possible — a CAD simulation, model update, or render — will want the services of a P-core (or multiple P-cores). But, there are many tasks that would better warrant the use of an E-core, like the myriad, low-demand OS tasks that happen in the background and which users typically never see.

Learn more about 12th Generation Core brand CPUs based on Alder Lake, launched simultaneously for mobile and desktop, and what performance CAD users can expect to see in 2022.   Read more >>

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