The how and why of this growth the extra fascinating half to contemplate. Directions depend upon the CPU cores, and it is possible that not less than one model of Arrow Lake’s compute tile (the a part of the chip the place the CPU cores will reside) will likely be shared between each desktop and laptop computer. Nonetheless, there are nearly definitely two low-power E-cores within the SoC tile as properly (identical to in Meteor Lake), and these cores is likely to be the explanation why the desktop CPUs have extra directions.
Though the 2 cores within the SoC tile are largely supposed for dealing with mild responsibility background duties and enhancing energy effectivity, they’re nonetheless equal to the extra highly effective cores on the compute tile so far as an working system is anxious. If these two E-cores on the SoC tile do not help particular directions, then your entire CPU cannot use these directions with out a workaround. With Arrow Lake-H, it is potential that it makes use of the identical SoC tile as Meteor Lake, which suggests no new directions will be launched regardless of there being a brand new compute tile with up to date cores that will help new directions.
Arrow Lake-S then again is a desktop CPU, and with desktop CPUs battery life is not a priority. They will additionally possible have extra E-cores, which are leveraged for huge number of duties. In that case, disabling the E-cores on the SoC tile will allow these directions with out a lot impression to efficiency. This Linux kernel commit is one thing of a microcosm for the potential strengths and weaknesses of Intel’s new tile-based design philosphy, and the way Intel can take very comparable silicon and tweak it for various markets.
