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RUMOR: Intel 10nm Alder Lake CPUs To Bring Smartphone’s big.LITTLE Philosophy To Desktop [but why???]

https://wccftech.com/intel-10nm-ald...smartphones-big-little-philosophy-to-desktop/

A very interesting post about Intel's upcoming 10nm-based Alder Lake processors was posted on Chinese PC shopping forums (via @momomo_us) recently. This post was very surprising because not only is Alder Lake quite far out on the horizon (It will be preceded by Rocket Lake which should succeed Comet Lake), it showcases the introduction of a philosophy that has been wildly successful in smartphones: big.LITTLE. It goes without saying, however, that this is just one leak and not substantiated as of this moment and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Intel's Alder Lake CPUs based on 10++ process will feature 8 big and 8 little cores on the LGA 1700 socket
While this particular leak is dedicated to desktop processors, if this technology is introduced in Alder Lake then you can be sure it will trickle down to the notebook parts as well - and it is there which should be able to add some serious value. The big.LITTLE philosophy (invented by ARM) allows processor manufacturers to selectively choose a high performance or a low energy cluster depending on need and demand. While it won't make a lot of difference in a desktop environment, it makes an absolutely huge impact in smartphone applications where TDP envelopes are usually constrained and power quite restricted. Before we go any further, here is a screenshot of the relevant slide:
Intel-10nm-Alder-Lake-big.LITTLE-cores-2.jpg


The three types shown here range from an 8+8+1 configuration (8 big, high powered cores; 8 little, low power cores; and 1 integrated GPU) to a standard 6+1 configuration (only 6 "big" cores with an integrated GPU). The notes also state that Intel is investigating with a 150W design. While it is unclear why Intel is worried about power envelopes in a desktop environment we can expect that the company will allow the big cores to clock fairly high. It will also be interesting to see whether all 16 cores can work in tandem (or only 8 at a time as is usually the case). Judging from the fact that both the 8+8+1 and 6+1 SKUs have the same TDP, however, it likely won't be possible for all cores to operate in tandem.

Another piece of information that this leak reveals is that Alder Lake will utilize the LGA 1700 socket. Since Comet Lake has already shifted users to LGA 1200, it seems as if the stay on the new socket won't be long (and that Intel won't be following in AMD's lead anytime soon as far as sockets go). If you keep in mind Intel's statements at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference, we also know that Intel plans on aggressively pushing 7nm around the same timeframe Alder Lake is supposed to go live - which might mean that ADL-S is relegated to an experimental platform.

Intel will be facing stiff competition form a fully mature AMD in 2021 and we will likely be seeing some serious price wars happening as both companies defend their market share. While Intel has a larger margin buffer, AMD's 7nm financial profile is stronger. That said, Intel has historically been able to achieve higher clocks and it remains to be seen whether this is a trend that will hold going into 10nm (roughly equivalent to TSMC's 7nm).

But take this with a grain of salt. It is a rumor. So what this basically means? Well you know how in smartphones you have like 8 core cpu's? But those cores are not all the same, some are smaller and some are bigger, more powerful cores. Well, Intel apparently is gonna bring that philosophy to the pc. I really see no need for this in desktop environment and it seems like a dumb idea. It makes sense in laptops but on desktops, not so much.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Curious how well Windows is going to deal with this.

That it's Intel gives it more clout with Microsoft, but still, see how much performance boost you get on Threadripper by running Linux instead because it's aware of how to schedule things for it.
 

Leonidas

Member
By maybe 5 percent. But when you factor in the difference in price, the tables then turn.

It's a lot more than 5% in some games... if it was as simple as just 5% I wouldn't care...

Also I frequently upgrade my GPU, when the 3080/3080 Ti comes out the gap might widen.
 
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Kadve

Member
They seem like a credible site.

Well, they might have became better in later years, but historically they have a reputation of latching on to any rumor, no matter how feasible, and write clickbait articles about them presented as facts.

I know at least overclock.net used to ban them as a source, and i think r/hardware did so as well at one time
 
Well, they might have became better in later years, but historically they have a reputation of latching on to any rumor, no matter how feasible, and write clickbait articles about them presented as facts.

I know at least overclock.net used to ban them as a source, and i think r/hardware did so as well at one time
I didn't know that.
I usually get my hardware news fix from hexus.net, anandtech and overclokers but I was in a search for something else and they seemed ok.
 
What could the purpose of such a setup even be? Like, dedicated OS cores leaving the rest dependably available for gaming tasks or something?
Yeah, I guess something like that. But this is very silly in a desktop environment.
I understand this may be pretty good for laptops, like you're using low powered cores when browsing and doing light task workloads and then when you wanna game, you put the laptop on a charger and the big cores take over.
But in desktop, I don't really get it. Maybe for some background tasks or something.
 
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