Intel has revealed that Meteor Lake P-Cores & E-Cores are architecturally very much alike to Raptor Lake but there are some improvements with the Intel 4 process node bringing in higher efficiency.
Intel Meteor Lake Redwood Cove P-Cores & Crestmont E-Cores Are Very Similar To Raptor Lake's Raptor Cove P-Cores & Gracemont E-Cores
The Intel Meteor Lake, 1st Gen Core Ultra, CPUs are scheduled for launch on the 14th of December & the company recently unveiled a whole lot of details regarding the latest chips at Innovation 2023 which we covered here. The CPUs will be making use of advanced packaging technologies, a brand new process node, and new cores but will also be very architecturally similar to Intel's Raptor Lake CPUs.
In an interview with ITHome, Intel's Timothy Wilson, who acts as the VP of Design Engineering Group and General Manager of the SOC Design division, revealed that Meteor Lake CPUs are architecturally similar when it comes to the types of cores they both feature. We know that Intel is equipping Meteor Lake chips with new P-Cores codenamed Redwood Cove & E-Cores codenamed Crestmont.
Intel Meteor Lake & Raptor Lake P-Core Architecture:
Intel Meteor Lake & Raptor Lake E-Core Architecture:
Initially, it was thought that these cores would bring a bigger upgrade over Raptor Lake's P-Core codenamed Raptor Cove and E-Core codenamed Gracemont but it looks like the design will be very similar. In fact, even Raptor Cove's architecture is essentially an enhancement of the Alder Lake P-Core codenamed Golden Cove while the E-Cores are the same. Following is the statement:
Compared to the previous generation of Raptor Lake, the microarchitecture of both the P and E cores in Meteor Lake has some improvements. However, we introduced Meteor Lake with the new Intel 4 process. In general, when we introduce new processes, we tend to reduce the risk in terms of architecture. Once we achieve a stable process flow, we tend to make a bigger leap by improving the architecture. So, since this is a new big node update for us, and we can also get the energy efficiency benefits of Intel 4, we've made very few changes to the core architecture, so they're architecturally very similar to Raptor Lake's E-cores and P-cores.
Timothy states that while there will be some architectural improvements, they aren't as significant since Meteor Lake CPUs are built on a brand new node and those bigger upgrades will come once the process becomes more stable and better in terms of overall yields. So it looks like Intel went with a less risky route with its first EUV and chiplet design. The bigger upgrade is likely to come in the following year in the form of Arrow Lake which also offers new P-Cores and E-Cores and makes use of the Intel 20A process node.
So talking about the cores themselves, the Intel P-Core, codenamed Redwood Cove, is targeted for efficient performance by improving the overall chip efficiency, increased bandwidth (per core), an improved performance monitoring unit, and improved feedback through Intel's Thread Director. Each P-Core features a 2 MB ML Cache, 64 KB I-Cache, and 48 KB Data Cache.
For the E-Core which is codenamed Crestmont, Intel is claiming significant gains over the previous E-Core (Gracemont) with increases in IPC, AI Acceleration, a new and enhanced brand prediction & improved feedback with the latest iteration of Intel's Thread Director. The E-Core features up to 4 MB of L2 cache, 32 KB Data Cache (w/ECC), and 64 KB I-Cache.
There's also a low-power version of the same Crestmont E-Core packed within the SoC Tile which is used for maximum efficiency while the non-LP E-Cores offer efficient multi-threaded performance. It is also mentioned that while the architectural changes are not that big, the Intel 4 process node itself leads to some nice gains in terms of overall power efficiency. According to ZDNet, the Meteor Lake CPUs will be heading out later this year in various laptops and mobility form factors including AIOs & pre-built desktop PC designs by the end of this year.
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