The chip giant used the Hot Chips 2023 scenario to introduce a new CPU that has a very curious configuration, 8 cores and 528 threads. This new Intel processor does not use the x86 architecture, but is based on RISC, and as you might imagine, it makes sense for certain workloads, especially those that require a high degree of parallelism.

For example, graph analysis programs such as DARPA’s HIVE would benefit from such a design so much that it would theoretically be possible improve the ratio of power to consumed watt 1000 times if we compare with the result we would get with a conventional processor.

Looking at the package image, we can appreciate all the key components that make up this new Intel processor. It is produced in TSMC 7nm nodehas a 15 metal layer interconnect system, adds to the total 27.6 billion transistorsoccupies an area of ​​316 mm2 and uses a BGA 3275 socket.

The middle section shows two separate blocks to the left and right of the four cores, and just above them are the high-speed I/O blocks. This processor offers 66 threads per core, each core has 192 KB of cache and 4 MB of SRAM memory. This design features 16 “multi-threaded pipelines” and “single-threaded pipelines” offering up to 8x performance in single-threaded tasks.

As we said before, this processor uses RISC architecture and adopts a fully customized design 32 records per thread. At the socket level, this new CPU offers 32 GB of DDR5 memory at 4400 MHz, 32 optical I/O ports at 32 GB/s are compatible with the PCIe Gen4 x8 standard. He used an Intel processor to revive this silicon photonicsit creates a 2D interconnection network with 16 routers so that the cores can communicate with each other and with the rest of the system directly.

According to Intel, it will be possible to configure up to 16 sockets, which leaves us with the maximum 128 cores and 8,448 threads. In this case, the total RAM would be 512 GB. This processor has a TDP of 75 watts, although most of this is used by the photonic system and the cores consume only 21% of this number, or 15.75 watts. With a consumption between 35 and 55 watts, it is able to work at speed between 3.35 GHz and 3.5 GHz.