Today is a big day, the chip giant has announced the introduction of Intel Core Ultraa new generation of processors for notebooks and low-power devices that represents a big technological leap and is located in the Intel Meteor Lake family that we told you about earlier.

Intel Core Ultra departs from the monolithic core design that Intel has used to date and adopts a disaggregated design based on “tiles”, a name we can translate as blocks. In a monolithic core design, all processor elements are integrated into a single silicon chip, while in Intel Core Ultra we have a total of four silicon blocks grouped into four chips.

Intel implemented packaging substrate and tiles which serves as the base on which these four chiplets sit and interconnect thanks to Foveros Die Interconnect (FDI) technology. We have a 36 µm case-to-case pitch with a metal cover and an operating power between 0.15 to 0.3 pJ at 2 GHz, values ​​that can vary depending on aspects such as voltage, current and frequency.

Based on this, as I said at the beginning, a total of four “tiles” made in different nodes thanks Foveros 3D packaging. This disaggregated design, composed of chips made in different nodes, allows us to achieve a greater degree of optimization both at the level of consumption and production costsas the most advanced node is reserved for the most complex chiplet and other nodes more appropriate to the importance and complexity of the rest of the chips are used.

Intel Core Ultra: four tiles pave the way to specialization

He first block which integrate Intel Core Ultra processors gpu, and as the name suggests, a graphics processing unit is integrated into it. It is produced in TSMC’s 5nm nodeand integrates an Intel Arc Xe-LPG GPU that doubles the performance and efficiency compared to the previous generation. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which means it is compatible with such important features as mesh shaders.

A GPU that also integrates Intel Core Ultra processors supports AV1 codec, They have the hardware for it speed up ray tracing and supports scaling technology Intel XeSS through DP4a instructions. We do not have an XMX array, so there is no hardware acceleration of such rescaling technology. All in all, its support is good news as it will greatly improve gaming performance.

He The second block It is known as SoC, it is manufactured in a node 6nm from TSMC and the truth is that it is one of the big innovations within Intel Core Ultra. The chip giant has implemented a Network-On-Chip (NoC) that serves as the link between all blocks and allows to minimize bandwidth-level constraints, a model that offers important advantages over traditional network routing.

They are in this block neural processing unit or NPU, which specializes in artificial intelligence and offloads AI-related tasks to the rest of the components. We have too two LP-E (Low Power Island) cores with very low consumptionwhich use the Crestmont architecture and are designed to handle workloads that do not require the performance offered by the P and E cores.

Logically, we might think that display subsystem is integrated into the GPU block, but nothing could be further from the truth because Intel has integrated it into the SoC block. This image and display subsystem supports the most advanced standards, including DisplayPort 2.1.

The third block is computational. This is produced in Intel node 4and that’s where all the CPU elements are located, i.e. cores and caches. The chip giant has kept the hybrid design, which means we have high-performance P cores and high-efficiency E cores.

They use P cores Redwood Cove Architecture, which bring significant improvements to the hop predictor and Intel Thread Director, have more bandwidth and offer higher efficiency. For their part, the E cores use Crestmont Architecture, which offers an increase in IPC compared to the previous generation (Gracemont), also has improvements in the jump predictor in Intel Thread Director and has AI acceleration.

We finish with fourth block, which is the smallest of all that give life to Intel Core Ultra processors. It integrates the subsystem input and output (I/O) and is produced in the node 6nm from TSMC. This block integrates Thunderbolt 4, USB, SATA and PCIe Gen5 connectivity as well as wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and Intel Silicon Security Engine (ISSE)which improves security at the hardware level.

Performance, intelligence and efficiency

These are the three great values ​​that define Intel Core Ultra processors. The CPU block offers CPU performance improvements up to 9% in multithreading compared to the previous generation (Intel Core i7-1370P), thanks to the use of Redwood Cove and Crestmont architectures, but without a doubt We have the most important progress at the level of GPU and AI.

We started talking about performance improvements at the GPU level and found an important leap directly over the previous generation. Depending on the game we see that the Intel Arc Xe-LPG Intel Core Ultra 7 165H it is capable of doubling the GPU performance of the Intel Core i7-1370Pand in the worst case we have a 9% increase in performance.

Intel XeSS Smart Scaling technology support, which as I said is created through DP4a instructions, is an important value because it allows for better performance and efficiency. In the attached chart The increase in frame rate per second is marked in purple What we can achieve by enabling this technology in games. The difference is so big that it can make titles that weren’t running perfectly smoothly start up optimally.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, the chip giant opted for heterogeneous design gain power up to 34 TOPS. This performance is achieved by combining the performance that the CPU, GPU and NPU of Intel Core Ultra processors are able to offer. The difference in performance in AI varies greatly depending on each specific application, but as we can see in the attached graph It can multiply the performance of the previous generation up to 5.4 times.

I know what you’re thinking, and why should I be interested in artificial intelligence? Even if you’re not using apps and tools optimized to take advantage of this technology, which is the situation most users find themselves in today, the truth is that AI will make your life easier. By implementing AI into mainstream consumer computers and with Intel Core Ultra processors, you will be able to:

• Create a picture of anything you want with a simple written description.
• Mix your favorite song with a few clicks and a text description, or even separate the music from the vocals to create a karaoke track.
• Enhance your photos with intelligent lighting correction.
• You can also enhance your photos by adding various effects to improve the realism and level of detail.
• You’ll have access to many other smart features at the operating system level, which will also be hardware-accelerated, meaning they won’t affect your computer’s performance.

A look at all Intel Core Ultra processors

Intel Core Ultra processors are divided into two large series, “H” which refers to high-performance models and “U” which includes low-power models. The most powerful models are configured with 6 P cores, 8 E cores and 2 LPE cores, which leaves us with a total of 16 cores and 22 threads (Only P cores support HyperThreading, which allows one process and one thread per core.)

You can see in the attached table a complete teardown with all Intel Core Ultra processors that hit the market. All will be available starting today, December 14, with the sole exception of the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, Core Ultra 7 164U, and Core Ultra 5 134U, which will arrive in the first quarter of 2024.

This table also includes the maximum operating speeds of P and E cores, the amount of L3 cache they integrate, GPU speed and Xe core count, base and maximum TDP, and RAM level support. It’s important to be clear that the U models not only have a lower core count, they also ship clearly worse GPUsomething that is necessary to reduce consumption.

Intel Core Ultra redefines the Evo Edition platform

And it does so in a big way by guaranteeing a number of technologies and minimum requirements that are essential to guarantee good user experience. The Intel Evo platform is based on a clear commitment, offering a high level of performance without giving up high autonomy, adding state-of-the-art connectivity, fast charging and artificial intelligence to the formula.

You can see them grouped in the attached picture all keys which are part of said platform. Among the most important we can highlight:

• Power-on and verification time 1.5 seconds.
• Biometric authentication system.
• Intel Core Ultra 5 processor.
• At least 8 GB of dual-channel RAM and a PCIe SSD of at least 256 GB.
• AI and NPU have hardware acceleration.
• At least 10 hours of autonomy and fast charging (4 hours of use in just 30 minutes of charging).
• Wi-Fi 6E and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity.
• A screen between 12 and 16 inches with at least FHD resolution.
• Support for Intel Unison technology, which facilitates the integration of various devices with the computer, such as smartphones and tablets.

Intel has confirmed that more than 35 OEMs will offer computers with Intel Core Ultra processors and that we will see more than 230 unique designs. Intel’s most important partners include caliber giants ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, HP, Acer, Lenovo and Samsung. We still don’t have details on the starting prices of the new laptops equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors.