Intel's Architecture Day 2018: The Future of Core, Intel GPUs, 10nm, and Hybrid x86
by Dr. Ian Cutress on December 12, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Memory
- Intel
- GPUs
- DRAM
- Architecture
- Microarchitecture
- Xe
Intel’s First Fovoros and First Hybrid x86 CPU: Core plus Atom in 7 W on 10 nm
Perhaps someone will correct me, but I can’t ever remember a time when Intel has put multiple x86 cores of different configurations on the same bit of silicon (ed: Intel Edison). Ever since Arm starting doing it with its big.Little designs in smartphones, a perennial question was if Intel was going to do something similar, either with big and small Atom cores, or by moving a high-performance Core into the mix. When Intel left the smartphone and tablet market, we assumed the idea was dead. But, like a reanimated zombie, it has risen from the grave. Enter Intel’s Hybrid x86 CPU.
This tiny 12x12 package is built using Intel’s Fovoros technology, using a 22FFL IO chip as the active interposer connected with TSVs to a 10nm die that contains both a single Sunny Cove core and four Atom (Tremont?) cores. This tiny chip is smaller than a dime, and is designed to have a 2 mW standby power. It would appear that this chip is destined for mobile devices.
Here’s the manufacturing diagram, showing the idea that POP memory is placed over the Fovoros design to give the final product. Very much like a mobile chip.
The demo system that Intel had on display looked similar to the previous Sunny Cove design, however this heatsink was smaller and it had a few different connectors. We were told that this chip will support PCIe for M.2 as well as UFS, both of which are found in mobile. There also looked like a couple of SIM card connectors on this motherboard.
The key part of this discussion however is this block diagram that was on one of the Intel slides. Here we see a single ‘Big CPU’ with 0.5 MB of private medium level cache, four ‘Small CPU’s with a shared 1.5 MB L2 cache, an uncore that has 4MB of last level cache, a quad-channel memory controller (4x16-bit) with support for LPDDR4, a 64 EU design with Gen11 graphics, the Gen 11.5 display controller, a new IPU, MIPI support with DisplayPort 1.4, and all of this in a tiny package.
Seriously though, this has the potential to be a large revenue stream for Intel. They’ve made this chip, which allows the cores to enter C6 sleep states when not in use, that has a die size smaller than 12x12mm (144 mm2), and target the sub-7W fanless device market. That’s with a big Core, four Atom cores, and a GT2 64 EU design.
Intel actually says that the reason why this product came about is because a customer asked for a product of about this performance but with a 2 mW standby power state. In order to do this, Intel created and enhanced a number of technologies inside the company. The final product is apparently ideal for the customer, however the chip will also be made available for other OEMs.
In our Q&A session with the senior members of Intel, it was clear that this technology is still in its infancy, and Intel now has a new toy to play with. Jim Keller stated that internally they are trying lots of new things with this technology to see what works and what would make a good product, so we should be seeing more Foveros designs through 2019 and 2020.
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StrainedDig4 - Thursday, December 13, 2018 - link
I cannot read a thing when the text is partially blocked by a video Ad. I will simply read elsewhere. They need add dollars and that is more important than my reading their article, obviously. Thanks for your input.davidefreeman - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
I've never had that problem before, and I keep ads unblocked on Anandtech to support them. Did you try refreshing the page?FunBunny2 - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
"Without ads, you don't get to read the content for pleasure, and then it all is a moot point, now isn't it."the 'advert business model' is a crock and scam. always has been. at least in print media, everyone who 'clicks' on the newspaper or magazine has to pass over, at least, the advert. with the innterTubes, the adverts not only steal more and more of the screen, but definitely slow down the process.
and here's what the proponents of the advert business model keep denying: those that block adverts won't interact with them at all. neither the page owner nor the advert buyer actually lose a 'real' customer. the page owners are scamming the advert buyers with 'eyeballs' metric. it means nothing but the buyers are too stupid, or scared, to insist on metrics that measure actual $$$ they earn from clicks. the page owners won't do that because it will reveal that innterTube adverts are of negative infinity value.
FunBunny2 - Thursday, December 13, 2018 - link
I wonder how much longer the 'if we build it, they will buy' mantra works? do all those cube dwellers in MegaCorpUSA play high requirement games all day long?tommybobberson - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
could someone tell me what they mean by IP in the first qna question please?ajc9988 - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
IP = Intellectual Property. This covers Patents, Copyright, Trademarks, and potentially trade secrets (this is things like processes, etc., that they cannot receive other protections for or that they choose not to patent because there is a time clock after which it falls into public domain, so keeping it secret can potentially allow for longer protection periods).THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU NEED LEGAL ADVICE, PLEASE SEEK THE ADVICE OF COUNSEL WITHIN YOUR JURISDICTION. THIS IS GENERAL LEGAL INFORMATION, IS PRESENTED AS IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS.
tommybobberson - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
Also, could i know what embargo they were talking about in the second last slide?ajc9988 - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
The slide is just marked as under embargo until the contractual embargo of information is lifted. During the presentation, there was an embargo that lifted like hours or a day after the conference. Nothing to really be concerned about.tommybobberson - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
oh i see, thanks for the reply. though I was hoping it would be something about their products :Pwatersb - Saturday, December 15, 2018 - link
Great work, lots of info. Thanks very much!