Although Intel has not yet introduced the tenth-generation Core desktop processors (Comet Lake-S), details of the Alder Lake-S processors, desktop representatives of the twelfth generation of Core chips, have already appeared on the Web. And in short, they will offer up to 16 cores, but in a non-standard form.
Last year, Intel introduced Lakefield processors on a combined microarchitecture that combine one “large” Sunny Cove core with maximum single-stream performance, and four “small” energy-efficient Tremont cores for multi-threaded loads. Alder Lake-S processors seem to be taking a similar approach. It is reported that the Alder Lake-S family will feature 16-core processors, with half of the cores being “small” and the other half being “large”. These definitions are given in the screenshot published by the source, allegedly from the documentation of Intel itself.
Assuming that Intel in Alder Lake-S chips continues to develop the idea of Lakefield processors, it turns out that the user will get a 16-core processor with energy consumption slightly higher than that of an eight-core one. Eight “large” productive cores will work in the main tasks, while “small” cores will be connected where maximum multithreading is needed. Typically, such parallelized algorithms are simpler, and they do not need complex processor logic with a complete transition prediction, a complex instruction decoder, and so on. Thanks to this, the “small” cores just have to perfectly cope with the “bare” calculations on straightforward algorithms.
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In addition to using different cores, Alder Lake-S processors will be made in a new housing for the processor socket LGA 1700, which is already previously reported. This means that the future LGA 1200 socket, which will come with Comet Lake-S processors, will be relevant either only for them, or also for Rocket Lake-S processors (11th generation), which will replace them.
Also note that the twelfth-generation Core processors may be the first mass Intel desktop processors to support the PCIe 4.0 interface. But whether they will support DDR5 memory is not yet known. The TDP level of the older Alder Lake-S processors will be 125 watts, but Intel is also exploring the possibility of increasing it to 150 watts. For simpler models, the TDP level will be 80 watts. At the same time, Alder Lake-S processors are expected to be manufactured using a 10-nm process technology. By the way, it is strange that only 8 + 8-core and 6-core processor models are mentioned in the table: we still have no explanation for this.
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