The era of AI PC is coming, the processor is the top priority, let's get to know Intel Core Ultra

At the end of this year, the highlight of the hardware circle took place in the middle of this month. Intel officially released the new Core Ultra processor platform. This platform uses Intel 4 process technology and combines 3D Foveros packaging technology to bring a new core arrangement - performance core (Redwood Cove) and energy efficiency core (Crestmont)

Specifically, Core Ultra has up to 6 performance cores and 8 energy efficiency cores, as well as 2 low-power island energy efficiency cores, and a new Arc GPU graphics card, equipped with up to 8 units of Xe core display. Achieved twice the performance improvement, able to provide excellent performance for ultra-thin notebooks

Different from previous conventional upgrades, Core Ultra is also equipped with a new AI acceleration processing NPU for the first time, which is optimized for AI applications through hardware. The NPU also uses an interface compatible with standardized programs such as OpenVINO to facilitate the popularization of AI development and applications. .

The AI ​​tide is sweeping across and is reshaping thousands of industries. In particular, AI applications represented by generative artificial intelligence (AIGC) and large models are fundamentally changing the way people live and work. As an industry leader, Intel took the lead in proposing the concept of AI PC.

Before talking about AI PC in detail, we can first understand Intel’s naming ideas and why the Meteor Lake processor platform is named the first-generation Core Ultra instead of the 14th-generation Core after 13.

Meteor Lake is Intel's first processor using the Intel 4 process technology. It is a very important part of Intel's "four-year, five-node" process development plan. The mass production of Intel 4 marks Intel's very smooth introduction of the process. EUV has laid a very solid foundation for the smooth development of Intel 3 and subsequent Intel 20A and Intel 18A.

Compared with Intel 7, Intel 4 has achieved a 2-fold increase in crystal density, optimized the CPU high-performance logic library, further achieved a higher-density metal layer, and achieved more efficient power supply. Compared with Intel 7, Intel 4 has significantly improved energy efficiency, which is also a very important feature of Meteor Lake processors.

Meteor Lake adopts a new separated module architecture, specifically the computing module, graphics module, SoC module and IO module. These modules are connected through Intel Foveros 3D packaging technology.

The modular design realizes independent power supply control of the module, effectively improving the energy consumption management of the entire processor. At the same time, in cooperation with the operating system, the hardware thread scheduler implements more advanced third-order thread scheduling management

The separated modular design implements the concept of an independent "low-power island" with low-power E-Core built into this island. At the same time, functions such as memory controller, display processing unit, video codec and NPU are also integrated into the low-power island. This design greatly improves the overall execution efficiency of the processor

From 13 to 14, the simple change of numbers can no longer cover so many upgrades, so Intel launched a new brand-Core Ultra. And, this is just the beginning

In addition to the epoch-making NPU, Core Ultra also integrates the new Intel Arc GPU, adopts the new Xe LPG architecture, and is equipped with up to 8 Xe core displays, achieving nearly twice the performance improvement compared to the previous generation model.

Arc GPU supports DX12 Ultimate features, supporting new graphics features such as hardware ray tracing and mesh shading. In terms of encoding, Arc GPU not only supports H.265 and H.264, but also adds support for AV1, up to 8K 10bit HDR.

Is there any relationship between nuclear display and AI? The answer is yes. The new core display Arc GPU not only supports DP4a instructions, which can accelerate AI calculations faster, but also has the XeSS super sampling function. Through AI enhanced upgrades, it can achieve intelligent and efficient computing, that is, first use low-power Render at a high resolution, and then use AI technology to upscale the image to a high resolution, which is much faster than directly rendering at a high resolution.

As a new product specially built for AI PC, Intel Core Ultra processor can be said to be a new generation platform that emerged for the AI ​​PC scenario. Core Ultra's CPU, GPU and NPU can all be used for AI processing, and can be flexibly deployed based on application scenario characteristics and needs.

CPU is suitable for processing lightweight, low-latency AI requirements, while GPU is suitable for AI applications that require high performance and high throughput, such as AIGC's Vincent Text or Vincent Graph. The new NPU is specially designed for AI workloads. It has the advantages of high energy efficiency and low power consumption, and is especially suitable for long-running AI applications. For example, in video conferencing scenarios involving long-term background blurring and task tracking requirements, the introduction of NPU can reduce the calls to the CPU and GPU, thus greatly extending the battery life of thin and light notebooks and effectively reducing the battery anxiety of business office workers

Intel officially gave a set of data. During Zoom video conferencing, if related special effects such as background removal are transferred to the NPU, up to 38% of power consumption can be saved.

What the new processor is like will ultimately depend on its actual performance. According to official data released by Intel, under the same power consumption, the Core Ultra 7 165H has a performance lead of about 8% compared to the previous generation model Core i7-1370P. When compared with products from competitors, it leads by 11%.

Comparing the same Core Ultra 7 165H to the products of its competitors, Video Editing leads by 31%, Premiere Pro leads by 41%, and Lightroom also leads by 19%.

Power consumption has always been the strength of Intel processors. In online video playback scenarios, the Core Ultra with lower power consumption LPE core can achieve 25% more power than the previous generation product - the Core i7-1370P with P core and E core. Compared with competitors, the gap is even greater. In online video playback, 4K local video, standby, Teams video conferencing and other scenarios, it can save up to 79% of power consumption. What is the concept? That is to say, the power consumption is only A quarter of the same grade products from our friends!

The development of AI PC requires attention to both hardware and software. Hardware is the foundation of AI PC, and software is an important component that supports its operation. Intel should focus on both hardware and software development. OpenVINO is a unified software interface through which Intel can help users encapsulate the underlying layers of different architectures into a unified interface and even deploy AI loads from the CPU to the NPU. Because the interface is unified, compatibility can be guaranteed

Core Ultra has also embraced the wave of generative AI. A large number of models have begun to be adapted to the front end, and can handle large language models with up to 20 billion parameters. With the blessing of Core Ultra, thin and light notebooks can also perform generative AI without the help of a separate graphics card, and the threshold for use is greatly lowered. In Intel's ecosystem, a large number of partners are developing AI applications or using AI to reshape their existing application foundations.

On the well-known Vincent graph open source model Stable Diffusion, the performance of Core Ultra has been improved by 1.7 times compared with the previous generation products, and compared with competitors, the performance has been improved by up to 3.2 times

In general, the Core Ultra processor has injected a boost into the freezing PC market. Through the new Intel 4 process technology and 3D packaging hybrid architecture, the Core Ultra processor not only has better performance, but also It also has better performance in terms of energy efficiency. The more powerful Arc GPU core provides better graphics performance for PCs, which not only brings greater productivity, but also can handle more games, allowing you to have both work and entertainment, without regrets in performance and battery life.

AI is a highlight of Core Ultra. The new processor integrates an NPU designed specifically for AI, which works seamlessly with the CPU and GPU to more flexibly respond to the AI ​​computing power needs in different scenarios. In order to promote the development of AI PC, Intel plans to provide more than 100 million PCs with AI capabilities to the market in the next two years and embrace the new era of AI PC with more partners.

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