Engineering:Alder Lake (microprocessor)

Short description: Upcoming Intel microprocessor, expected to be released in 2021

Alder Lake

General Info
Launched	November 4, 2021 (November 4, 2021)
Marketed by	Intel
Designed by	Intel
Common manufacturer(s)	Intel
Cache
L1 cache	80 KB per Golden Cove core (32 instructions + 48 data) 96 KB per Gracemont core (64 instructions + 32 data)
L2 cache	1.25 MB per Golden Cove core 2 MB per Gracemont module
L3 cache	Up to 30 MB, shared
Architecture and classification
Min. feature size	Intel 7 (previously known as 10ESF)
Microarchitecture	Golden Cove and Gracemont
Instruction set	x86-64
Instructions	x86-64
Extensions	AES-NI, CLMUL, RDRAND, SHA, TXT MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4.1, SSE4.2 AVX, AVX2, FMA3, AVX-VNNI VT-x, VT-d
Physical specifications
Cores	Up to 16 (8 P-cores + 8 E-cores)
GPU(s)	Intel Xe-based integrated graphics
Socket(s)	Desktop: LGA 1700
Products, models, variants
Brand name(s)	Intel Core
History
Predecessor	Mobile: Tiger Lake (10 nm) Desktop: Rocket Lake (14 nm) Hybrid Mobile: Lakefield (10 nm)

Alder Lake is Intel's codename for the 12th-generation of Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove high-performance cores and Gracemont power-efficient cores. It is to be fabricated using Intel's Intel 7 process, previously referred to as Intel 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin (10ESF). Intel officially announced 12th Gen Intel Core CPUs on October 27, 2021.

Features

Intel confirmed Alder Lake during the company's Architecture Day 2020. Further details were revealed in the following year.

Alder Lake processors are based on a new hybrid architecture that utilizes high-performance and high-efficiency cores. Intel claims Alder Lake will have their best performance per watt.

CPU

Further information: Engineering:Golden Cove and Engineering:Gracemont (microarchitecture)

• Golden Cove high-performance CPU cores (P-core)
  • AVX-VNNI, a VEX-coded variant of AVX512-VNNI for 256-bit vectors
  • Dedicated floating-point adders
  • New 6-wide instruction decoder (up from 4-wide in Rocket Lake/Tiger Lake) with the ability to fetch up to 32 bytes of instructions per cycle (up from 16)
  • 12 execution ports (up from 10)
  • 512 reorder-buffer entries (up from 384)
  • 6-wide µOP allocations (up from 5)
  • µOP cache size increased to 4K entries (up from 2.25K)
  • AVX-512 (including FP16), while physically present in the die, is disabled to match E-core.
• Gracemont high-efficiency CPU cores (E-core)
  • E-cores are organized in 4-core modules; L2 cache is shared between E-cores within a module
  • 256 reorder-buffer entries (up from 208 in Tremont)
  • 17 execution ports (up from 12)
  • AVX2, FMA and AVX-VNNI to catch up with P-core
• New instruction set extensions
• Up to 1 TB/s interconnect between cores
• Intel Thread Director (Scalable Hybrid Arch Scheduling), a hardware technology to assist the OS thread scheduler with more efficient load distribution between heterogeneous CPU cores. Enabling this new capability requires support in operating systems. Microsoft added support for Thread Director to Windows 11
• Up to 30 MB L3 cache
• Nomenclature:
  • Up to 8 P-core and 8 E-core on desktop
  • Up to 6 P-core and 8 E-core on mobile (UP3 designs)
  • Up to 2 P-core and 8 E-core on ultra mobile (UP4 designs)
• Only P-cores feature Hyper-threading

GPU

• Intel Xe (Gen12.2) GPU
• Up to 96 EU on mobile and 32 EU on desktop

I/O

• LGA 1700 socket for desktop processors
• BGA Type3 and Type4 HDI for mobile processors
• 28 PCIe lanes from CPU
  • 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes
  • 4 PCIe 4.0 lanes
  • DMI 4.0 x8 link with Intel 600 series PCH chipsets
• DDR5, DDR4, LPDDR5, and LPDDR4 memory support
  • Up to DDR4-3200
  • Up to DDR5-4800
• Thunderbolt 4 and WiFi 6E support (integrated for mobile variants)

Dies

For the Alder Lake generation, Intel will (initially) produce 4 different dies. Each die has a different number of P (performance) and E (efficiency) cores and GPU Execution Units.

Segment	CPU configuration	GPU	Width	Length	Die Size
Alder Lake-S	8P + 8E	32 EU	10.5 mm	20.5 mm	209 mm²
	6P + 0E		10.5 mm	15.5 mm	163 mm²
Alder Lake-P	6P + 8E	96 EU	10.62 mm	20.45 mm	215 mm²
Alder Lake-M	2P + 8E

List of 12th generation Alder Lake processors

Desktop processors

• All the CPUs support up to 128 GB of DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800 RAM in dual channel mode.
• Some models feature integrated UHD 770 GPU with 32 EUs and base frequency of 300 MHz.
• Max Turbo Power: the maximum sustained (>1s) power dissipation of the processor as limited by current and/or temperature controls. Instantaneous power may exceed Maximum Turbo Power for short durations (<=10ms). Maximum Turbo Power is configurable by system vendor and can be system specific.

Processor branding	Model	Cores (threads)		Base clock rate		Turbo Boost 2.0		P-core Turbo Max 3.0	Max GPU clock rate	Smart cache	Base power	Turbo power	Price (USD)
		P-core	E-core	P-core	E-core	P-core	E-core
Core i9	12900K	8 (16)	8 (8)	3.2 GHz	2.4 GHz	5.1 GHz	3.9 GHz	5.2 GHz	1.55 GHz	30 MB	125 W	241 W	$589
	12900KF								N/A				$564
Core i7	12700K	8 (16)	4 (4)	3.6 GHz	2.7 GHz	4.9 GHz	3.8 GHz	5.0 GHz	1.50 GHz	25 MB		190 W	$409
	12700KF								N/A				$384
Core i5	12600K	6 (12)	4 (4)	3.7 GHz	2.8 GHz		3.6 GHz	N/A	1.45 GHz	20 MB		150 W	$289
	12600KF								N/A				$264

See also

• Intel Core
• Intel Lakefield
• Sapphire Rapids, a codename for Intel's next generation Xeon server processors based on Intel 7.