Alder Lake

PassMark’s CPU Mark single-thread performance chart for desktop processors now features a few more new Intel Rocket Lake chips, which have offered up a mixed bag of results. While the Intel Core i9-11900K still reigns and the i9-11900KF has performed well, both AMD’s Ryzen 5000 and Apple’s M1 have remained steadfast.

Chinese memory module producer Jiahe Jinwei is among the first to receive DDR5 chip shipments from Micron for implementation. SK Hynix and Samsung are expected to begin shipping their DDR5 chips soon, as well. By the end of 2021, we should be seeing a decent selection of DDR5 modules for the Intel Alder Lake-S processors.

The Apple M1 8-core chip has finally managed to leapfrog the Intel Core i7-11700K in PassMark’s CPU Mark chart for single-thread performance in desktop processors. This leaves only the top-end Rocket Lake i9-11900K ahead of the Apple Silicon. While the i9-11900K has an MSRP of US$539, an M1 Mac mini with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage costs from US$699.

Several key Alder Lake features have been highlighted via a new leak. This particular SKU will come with eight Golden Core and eight Gracemont cores that will offer up to 20% and 2X better single and multi-threaded performance. DDR5 and PCI Gen5 support is confirmed too, along with some key Intel 600 series chipset specifications.

The Geekbench OpenCL tests reveal a few new specs for both the GPU and the CPU, but the actual results appear to be too low to reflect the performance of the final product. Intel is probably testing the stability of the chips, as the drivers are not optimized enough for now.

The roadmap presented by VideoCardz looks to be a bit outdated since it shows Rocket Lake launching in 2020, but Intel sure seems determined to release a new CPU generation each year. In 2022, we should be getting the Raptor Lake family that includes desktop processors with improved caches for gaming and new vPro instruction sets, while the mobile SKUs will feature LPDDR5x support and DLVR tech for greater power savings.

According to a leaked internal document, Intel will have six processor segments in its Alder Lake Mobile product stack. The company's H-series 45 W processors have been usurped by 55 W versions, while a U28 segment should bring Core i9 processors to thin and light laptops. The same leak reveals core configurations for all Alder Lake Mobile segments, too.

A new Intel Alder Lake-S has surfaced on Geekbench ahead of the platform's release later this year. The processor has eight 'big' cores, uses the LGA 1700 socket and supports DDR5 RAM. Unsurprisingly, the processor does not hold back the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, either.

Intel's upcoming 11th gen Rocket Lake-S led by the Core i9-11900K will launch on March 15, according to a report from HKEPC. The publication also states that the 12th gen Alder Lake-S will be announced sometime in September, and the platform's Golden Cove cores will offer up to a 20% IPC increase over Willow Cove.

An Intel Alder Lake-S processor has been spotted being tested on UserBenchmark, where it recorded an average boost rate of 0.8 GHz and was awarded with a 24.9% average bench. But before AMD fans start celebrating the untimely demise of Alder Lake, it seems likely that the 12th Gen chip’s hybrid architecture is fudging the numbers.

Sources close to Moore's Law Is Dead claim that the Alder Lake-U CPUs with up to 6 big cores and 8 little cores can deliver double the multi-core performance of current Tiger Lake-U models, and the single-core Alder Lake performance should be 20% better, as well. The top desktop Alder Lake CPUs with 8 big cores and 8 little cores may thus beat AMD's Ryzen 9 5900X models in multi-core loads.

Tipster @momomo_us recently shared details of what appears to be an upcoming Intel Ice Lake Xeon SP model. The part in question features 40 cores, running at 2.4 GHz, with a 270W TDP. @momomo_us further confirmed that lower-tier models would be available with 32-36 cores and lower power demands.

An Alder Lake-S engineering sample has been spotted on Geekbench revealing its 16-core, 24-thread configuration and DDR5 RAM support. The benchmark results place the Intel Alder Lake part in the same ballpark as the Comet Lake i9-10900K, but the upcoming 10nm series will eventually be pitched against AMD’s Zen 3 refresh and Zen 4 processors.

Chinese tipster @YuuKi_AnS released what appear to be the first leaked images of Intel's upcoming Sapphire Rapids Xeon server processor. Featuring up to 56 Golden Cove cores, Sapphire Rapids would be Intel's first server processor built on 10nm lithography.

A Counterpoints Research study has determined that TSMC has 28% of the market share in matured nodes (40nm and below), making it the world leader in the global semiconductor manufacturing market. UMC, SMIC and Samsung take second, third and fourth place with market shares of 13%, 11% and 10%, respectively.

A 14C/20T Intel 12th gen Alder Lake-P processor has been spotted on Geekbench showing a boost up to 4.7 GHz. This particular entry pertains to the OpenCL benchmark of the 96-EU Xe GT2 iGPU, and the score is in line with expectations, though there definitely seems to be further scope for improvement.

A new report suggests that Intel has outsourced a good chunk of its future manufacturing to TSMC. Production is expected to kick off when TSMC's 3nm node is fully operational, which is expected to happen sometime in H2 2022. Intel is reportedly assisting TSMC in its 2nm R&D too.

Intel may launch the 12th gen Alder Lake-S family as early as September this year alongside 600-series chipset-based motherboards, just six months after Rocket Lake-S becomes available. Alder Lake-S will feature a similar Xe LP iGPU as Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake-S but now, we may also get to see a GT0.5 variant.

Previous rumors were reporting that Intel may start outsourcing for some 10 nm and 7 nm CPUs in the next few years, but the latest financial report suggests that the company will not rely too much on external fabs. Apparently, Intel managed to fix its 7 nm nodes and will produce most of the 2023 CPU in its own fabs, while the 10 nm nodes should become fully working this year with quadrupled supply unit growth.

A 16-core Alder Lake-S processor from Intel has been spotted revealing some of its secrets on the SiSoftware database. Along with once again confirming support for DDR5 memory, the listing gave some details about the Xe Gen 12.2 iGPU and revealed a 30 MB L3 cache. Clock rates were measured at 1.8 GHz to 4.0 GHz.

ASUS recently announced the Fanless Chromebox, a small form-factor PC based on the ChromeOS platform, with a wide range of display outputs and great wireless connectivity.

Alder Lake is probably the last CPU lineup to be produced exclusively by Intel's fabs. After that, Intel plans to gradually outsource CPU lineups to TSMC, with the low-end Core i3 models scheduled to be produced by the Taiwanese fabs in the second half of 2021. A year later, TSMC is also expected to begin mass-production for Intel's mid-range and high-end processors on the 3 nm nodes.

Intel showed off a preview of the Rocket Lake-S Core i9-11900K and compared its gaming performance against a PC powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. The performance improvements seem within the margin of error for now. Intel also briefly mentioned about 11th gen Tiger Lake-H 45 W and Alder Lake processors coming later this year.

Latest sales data from Mindfactory has been compiled into a handful of charts and graphs that make for great reading for AMD, with both Matisse and Vermeer parts selling by the truckload. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Ryzen 5 5600X join the Ryzen 7 3700X in being particularly popular, leaving Intel’s Rocket Lake with a Sisyphean task in regard to attracting buyers.

Intel investor Third Point is urging for the adoption of serious measures to restore the chip maker's market position. Suggested solutions include selling off unnecessary acquisition and splitting up the manufacture and design operations, plus outsourcing some of the production to the new Oregon facilities built by TSMC. Intel should present a clear course of action in its financial report scheduled for late January.

It looks like Intel's upcoming Alder Lake-S CPUs are going to be the first to benefit from the DDR5 RAM standard. ADATA is already collaborating with motherboard makers like Gigabyte and MSI to ensure compatibility for the ”latest Intel platforms.” Expect to see DDR5 RAM modules with up to 64 GB capacity and up to 8400 MT/s speeds launching in the second half of 2021.

DG2 refers to second-gen discrete graphics solutions from Intel, said to launch in the first half of 2021 (1H2021) at the earliest. It is rumored to have an increased execution unit (EU) count compared to its Xe Max predecessor. According to code allegedly found in a new driver from the OEM, this may indeed be the case.

According to PassMark's CPU usage data, which measures the percentage of CPUs running the company's benchmarks by brand, AMD briefly overtook Intel in total Desktop CPU usage share. However, this victory was short-lived. Intel also continues to dominate in the laptop and server arenas, according to PassMark's data.

A WCCFTech investigation into AIB Z590 partner boards indicates that Intel’s new platform will only support the PCIe 4.0 standard with Rocket Lake S processors. While Comet Lake S owners will be able to use Z590 boards, they’ll be missing out on this key feature that Ryzen 3000 and Ryzen 5000 parts already support.

The Rocket Lake-S flagship processor Intel Core i9-11900K has recorded a CPU-Z single-thread benchmark score that takes it past AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X by 2.7-5.7% depending on the test run. While this will likely make the upcoming chip attractive to some desktop gamers, there’s still bones of contention to be had with multithread performance, power, and postponements.

An interesting 16-core Alder Lake processor from Intel has been spotted on Geekbench revealing some of its secrets, including the fact that it can utilize 24 threads and has a surprisingly low base clock. However, the Alder Lake-S part is clearly an engineering sample, as its maximum clock was recorded at a desktop-melting 17.6 GHz.