Besides speaking about its Xe-HPG GPU architecture during its Architecture day, Intel did also speak about its next-generation desktop CPU lineup, the 12th generation Alder Lake-S. As we all know, Alder is set to be the first set of desktop processors from the chipmaker to fully move away from 14nm and into the realm of 10nm.
As initial reports and rumours had pointed out, Alder Lake-S will indeed be powered through a combination of new Performance Cores (P-Cores) and Efficient Cores (E-Cores), along with Intel’s new Thread Director scheduling technology. Another confirmation point is its size; the CPU will ship out with an LGA1700 socket, making it Intel’s largest consumer-level processor to date.
In regards to its internal specifications, the Alder Lake-S CPU lineup will be governed by an entirely new P-Cores and E-Cores architecture, with up to 16-cores comprising eight P-Cores and eight E-Cores; up to 24-Threads with two threads per P-Core and one thread per E-Core; and up to 30MB of a non-inclusive LL Cache. And in case it wasn’t already made clear, the lineup will be built on the Intel 7 process node, which is essentially the 10nm Enhance SuperFIN process.
Then there is the list of new features. As promised, Alder Lake-S will support the new DDR5 memory standard at speeds of 4800MHz, but at the same time, it will also support DDR4-3200MHz memory. This memory support is further supported with additional features such as Dynamic voltage-frequency scaling and enhanced overclocking support.
Another important note is that Alder Lake-S will support the upcoming PCIe 5.0 interface, with bandwidth speeds of up to 32Gbps per lane, while also making way for newer, faster versions of NVMe storage options.
As for the exact launch date of Alder Lake-S, Intel says consumers can expect its CPU lineup to be in their hands by Fall 2021.
