Intel Arrow Lake-S & Arrow Lake-HX High-End CPUs Bring 37 AI TOPs
According to Intel’s previously announced plans, the next-generation Arrow Lake processors are slated for release in 2024. Arrow Lake encompasses multiple sub-platforms for desktops and laptops, with the “S” series designated for desktops utilizing the LGA 1851 socket and the “HX” series aimed at high-performance gaming laptops. These can be considered as the same chip packaged differently to suit distinct platforms.
Wccftech reports that while both Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX, like their contemporaneous Lunar Lake counterparts, employ the Lion Cove architecture for P-Cores and the Skymont architecture for E-Cores, there are notable differences in their cache designs.
The E-Cores of Lunar Lake are designed for low power consumption, known as LP E-Cores, which contrasts with the E-Cores in Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX. In Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX, each Skymont E-Core cluster (comprising four cores) is equipped with 4MB (16-Way) of L2 cache and 3MB of L3 cache, whereas Lunar Lake lacks dedicated L3 cache. Additionally, the P-Cores in Lunar Lake have been slightly modified, with each Lion Cove P-Core featuring 2.5MB (10-Way) of L2 cache and 3MB of L3 cache, in contrast to the 3MB (12-Way) L2 cache and 3MB L3 cache in Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX.
- Arrow Lake P-Core Cache (Lion Cove): 3 MB L2 / 3 MB L3
- Arrow Lake E-Core Cache (Skymont): 4 MB L2 / 3 MB L3
- Lunar Lake P-Core Cache (Lion Cove): 2.5 MB L2 / 3 MB L3
- Lunar Lake E-Core Cache (Skymont): 4 MB L2 / 0 MB L3
- Raptor Lake P-Core Cache (Raptor Cove): 2 MB L2 / 3 MB L3
- Raptor Lake E-Core Cache (Gracemont): 4 MB L2 / 3 MB L3
The highest configuration of Arrow Lake chips boasts 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores, with a combined 40MB of L2 cache and 36MB of L3 cache, totaling 76MB. In comparison, Raptor Lake-S/HX features a total of 68MB, meaning Arrow Lake-S/HX has approximately 12% more cache.
Moreover, Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX deliver an AI performance of 37 TOPS, significantly higher than Raptor Lake and comparable to AMD’s Ryzen 8000G series, codenamed “Hawk Point” (39 TOPS). The GPU in Arrow Lake-S/HX, supported by the new architecture, sees an increase in AI performance from 3 TOPS to 9 TOPS. The built-in NPU offers 13 TOPS of AI capability, and the CPU section boasts an 87.5% enhancement in AI performance, reaching 15 TOPS.
