Intel Unveils Lunar Lake Architecture: New P and E cores, Xe2-LPG Graphics, New NPU 4 Brings More AI Performance
by Gavin Bonshor on June 3, 2024 11:00 PM ESTNew Graphics: Intel Xe2, 2nd Gen Arc Xe Core For Mobile
Along with Lunar Lake, Intel has just unveiled its Xe2 graphics architecture for mobile, supported by the 2nd Generation Arc Xe Core. On paper, it offers an extraordinary bump in performance and efficiency. Aside from gaming, which we don't think the 4P+4E part would cut it, we've opted to focus on the critical takeaways of Intel's presentation for graphics, including the media engine within.
Intel's introduction of the Xe2 architecture significantly improves computational capabilities by providing up to 67 TOPs and offering increased ray tracing units compared to Xe-LPG on Meteor Lake. According to Intel, the 2nd gen Xe-cores offer 1.5x faster graphics performance than Meteor Lake, which is helped and achieved by the new XMX engines. Enhanced XeSS kernels deliver improved graphics and compute performance.
One element that Intel looks to have changed from Meteor Lake is that it offers more flexible and higher-quality display outputs. Within the Display engine, the streams in the dual-pixel pipeline can be combined for multi-stream transport. With this architecture, ports will be available in four locations, which will be flexible for connectivity. An eDP port is also provided in Intel's configuration, which will augment the display to set high resolutions and refresh rates for the output on high-end, premium, and capable displays.
Intel's eDisplayPort 1.5 includes the panel replay feature integrated with adaptive sync and selective update mechanisms. This helps decrease power consumption by refreshing only the parts of the screen that change instead of the entire display. These innovations save not only energy but also improve visual experiences by reducing display lag and increasing sync precision.
Portraying the pixel processing pipeline is one of the fundamental bases on which Intel's display engine sits, enabling six planes per pipeline for advanced color conversions and compositions. In addition, it integrates hardware support for color enhancement, display scaling, pixel tuning, and HDR perceptual quantization, ensuring that the graphics on the screen is vibrant and accurate. The design is quite flexible, highly power-efficient, and performance-engineered to support various input and output formats, at least on paper. Intel hasn't provided any quantifiable power metrics, TDPs, or other power elements so far.
When considering compression and encoding, the architecture Xe2 extends up to 3:1 display stream compression visually losslessly, including transport encoding for HDMI and DisplayPort protocols. These chip features further reduce the data load and maintain high resolution at the output without losing visual quality.
Intel's adoption of the VVC codec is a big deal for video compression technology improvement. This codec offers up to a 10% reduction in file size compared to AV1, supported by adaptive resolution streaming and advanced content coding for 360-degree and panoramic videos. This will ensure lower bitrates for streaming without losing quality—an essential aspect for modern multimedia applications.
The Windows GPU software stack is robust, from top to bottom, with the support of D3D, Vulkan, and Intel VPL APIs and frameworks. This means that combining these qualities provides comprehensive support for the varied runtimes and drivers in the market, thus increasing its overall efficiency and compatibility in different software climates.
Intel's Xe2 and second-generation Arc Xe Core improve performance, efficiency, and flexibility significantly. These innovations strengthen Intel's position in the competitive landscape of solutions for mobile graphics, with reinforced capabilities across display, media, and compute operations.
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The Hardcard - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
There will be Lion Cove with hyperthreading. It is designed such that it can be physically left out or included in depending on the value to each product.It was left out of Lunar Lake as the primary goal here is performance per watt and battery life superiority over Apple and Qualcomm.
Server Lion Cove will absolutely have hyperthreading. Rumors are Arrow Lake will have it as well.
TMDDX - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
Is on chip "AI" the new connected standby for NSA spying?ballsystemlord - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
Shhhhh, you're not supposed to say that. It's classified. ;)sharath.naik - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
So would this have on package memory, what is the size of memory? how many P cores how many E cores? So many questions no answers. Is this like a paper launch?sharath.naik - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
Never mind I was wrong. 4E+4P and up to 32 GB RAM. I wish they had option for 64GB, but 32GB is a good numberstephenbrooks - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
The wider Lion Cove core looks pretty impressive, I'll be interested to see how it does in desktops.name99 - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
"In total, this puts 240KB of cache within 9 cycles' latency of the CPU cores"Does it? If they do things the usual Intel way the L1 is inclusive of the L0...
Other options are possible, of course, but were they implemented?
mode_13h - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
I wonder if the tag RAM for the L0, L1D, and L2 are all separate? It would be interesting if they grouped it all together in a tree-structured lookup and put that as close as possible to the core's load/store unit. The actual data memory of the caches could be the only part that's physically separate.Bruzzone - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
It's worth the wait to Lunar and Arrow?Or take advantage of the Intel and AMD current generation clearance sales?
Intel is flooding the channel with Raptor desktop and mobile in the last eight weeks apparently to sustain a Core supply bridge' into Lunar and Arrow. Intel is also sucking the financial capital out of the channel in an effort to block or slow the procurement of anything other than Intel.
In parallel fighting it out for surplus control, AMD is also engaged sucking financial capital out of the channel by flooding the channel specifically with Raphael desktop.
Where Meteor Lake and AMD Phoenix, Hawks and Granite Ridge continue as intermediate 'Al' technologies into Strix mobile and Arrow desktop. Not that I care about AI functionality currently.
14th desktop channel available + 98% in the prior eight weeks
13th desktop + 24.6%
12th desktop + 33.4%
Intel desktop all up;
14th desktop available today = 24.9%
13th desktop = 37% that is 48.4% more than 14th
12th desktop = 37.9% equivalent with 13th
Specific Intel mobile;
Intel Meteor Lake mobile channel available gains + 216%. Within Meteor Lake Core SKUs are 10.3%. Among total, H performance mobile = 43.9% and U low power mobile = 56%. Meteor Lake associated are 11% of all Raptor Lake 13th mobile.
14th mobile H + 16% in week and 30% of all Meteor and 36% of all 13th Raptor mobile H.
13th mobile itself gains + 5.1%
13th H specifically gains + 8.6%
13th P clears down < 3.2%
13th U gains + 4.8%
12th Alder mobile all up + 13.2% in the prior eight weeks
12th H specifically = flat
12th P clears down < 3.2%
12th U clears down < 2.6%
I will have AMD desktop and mobile supply, trade-in and sales trend up later today at my SA comment line. Here are some immediate observations;
5900XT and 5800XT on AMD so said pricing is sufficient to push Vermeer channel holdings down in price at so said $359 and $249 now pulled by AMD in the moment. The channel might not have been happy with that regulating price move on how much R5K there is too clear from the channel. R5K channel available is up + 68% since March 9 when R5K was 68% of all R7K and today 98% of R7K available.
R7K desktop since March 9 channel supply volume available + 18%. R9K will minimally dribble out allowing R7K and R5K to clear? R9K might have to be priced up on specific SKUs to accomplish the same dribbling out objective allowing AMD back generation to clear?
Notably 3600 gains in the channel + 94% in the prior month.
3600X came back to secondary resale + 35%.
3700X is up + 15.8% that's all trade-in.
AMD might have to adjust R9K desktop top SKU and R5K desktop regulating SKUs not to interfere with the channel's ability to liquidate especially Vermeer from channel inventory holdings plus R7K SKUs that will follow in a first in first out channel sales system.
In summary, there is plenty of Intel and AMD product in the channel. The PC market remains in a downward deflationary price spiral until at least q1 2025 aimed to clear existing inventories for channel financial reclaim to buy next generation.
Subsequently there's this inventory bridge to traverse to Intel and AMD next generation products and through the summer into q4 it's never been a better time to buy a PC. I don't think desktop and mobile prices will be as low as they are heading into year end and for a long time following.
For Intel at least flooding the channel with product indicates Intel is buying time.
mb
BushLin - Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - link
Thanks for the uncited nonsense Mike, we were all on tenterhooks.