Intel could bring 16-core Alder Lake designs to laptops

[mongeese]

In a nutshell: A new leak has brought back the possibility of Intel bringing full-fledged desktop processors to the mobile market. It will be the first time a manufacturer has ever marketed a 16-core processor for laptops if it proves valid.

It's not impossible to find a laptop with a 16-core processor, but in such cases, the processor is a desktop part that's been squished into a notebook without the proper adjustments being made. It will run too hot and be too hungry.

According to a slide first leaked in mid-2021, Intel plans to bring the i9-12900 to the mobile market in a 55W TDP package. It'll consume much more power while it turbos, but the system will have usable battery life during light workloads.

In 2021, the leaked slide wasn't wholly believed amid a barrage of false information, but it's since proven mostly correct. It describes a bracket of mobile Alder Lake processors with eight performance and eight efficiency cores that target the "muscle" market segment.

On Friday, The credible leaker Komachi Ensaka tweeted that Intel recently began distributing test systems equipped with these processors. They're codenamed Alder Lake-HX. One of them might come to market as the i9-12980HX, for example. For context, Intel's current flagship, the i9-12900HK, has 14 cores—six performance and eight efficiency. It also has a 45W TDP.

8+8 BGA、本当にAlderLake-HXって名称なんすね。

— 遠坂小町 (@KOMACHI_ENSAKA) February 25, 2022

Komachi Notes that the HX series will use a BGA (ball grid array) socket. It will allow the CPUs to use more power and fit into a smaller package than a regular socket. Intel's socket manufacturer even publicly lists the Alder Lake BGA in question.

Another distinguishing feature of this series is its GPUs with 32 EUs. Intel's current high-end mobile processors come equipped with 96 EUs, but the HX series can't because the desktop silicon that it's based on has only 32 built-in.

If these processors are coming, it'll likely be soon, given that the rest of the Alder Lake lineup has already launched.

Image credit: Fritzchens Fritz

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93564-intel-could-bring-16-core-alder-lake-designs.html

 

[Squid Surprise]

I would LOVE to see this paired with a 3080Ti.... maybe I can find a worthy successor to my Alienware 18!

 

[grumblguts]

Enough coper to build heat sink ?

 

[yRaz]

And 14 of them would be E cores

 

[Vulcanproject]

Maybe. I think most people know notebook performance is as much about the watts, rather than the core count.

Power efficiency is all, you can have 32 cores but if they're all hitting a thermal limit at 2GHz they'll be stomped in nearly all practical applications employed by a user with an 8 core at the same TDP. Who really uses lots of slow cores in a notebook?

 

[Mr Majestyk]

All I can say is this is worth a triple facepalm.

 

[zamroni111]

And 14 of them would be E cores

I think it will be 8p+8e combination

 

[yRaz]

I think it will be 8p+8e combination

The joke is that in a mobile platform the thermals will force the P cores to perform like E cores.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Oh joy, even more e cores to give me terrible 1% lows. Just what laptops need, even more latency issues.

 

[Nobina]

Oh joy, even more e cores to give me terrible 1% lows. Just what laptops need, even more latency issues.

Gaming isn't always a priority.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Could happen.
People said ADL was hot and asked "why?" before it was out and now it is the dominant x86 architecture.
We'll just have to wait for the final product to make a realistic assessment.

FYI, laptops outsell desktops 7:3. If it's good, people will buy it.

 

[Sausagemeat]

My iPad Pro replaced my Ryzen 5 laptop and it does a much better job at what I use it for (travel, Netflix, email, video calls, light video editing and watching movies). The only thing I wish it could do is play PC games but when I’m out the house I don’t really have time for gaming anyway.

The thing is for most users, 16 cores is overkill. I personally would rather have 8 cores and double the battery life for example. But that’s not possible due to the way that these cores consume power. 4 cores clocked at higher speeds probably uses more power than 8 cores with low clocks.

55watt TDP is still very high compared to most tablets. And unless you happen to need windows for what you’re doing you mayaswell go with a mobile solution.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

My iPad Pro replaced my Ryzen 5 laptop and it does a much better job at what I use it for (travel, Netflix, email, video calls, light video editing and watching movies). The only thing I wish it could do is play PC games but when I’m out the house I don’t really have time for gaming anyway.

The thing is for most users, 16 cores is overkill. I personally would rather have 8 cores and double the battery life for example. But that’s not possible due to the way that these cores consume power. 4 cores clocked at higher speeds probably uses more power than 8 cores with low clocks.

55watt TDP is still very high compared to most tablets. And unless you happen to need windows for what you’re doing you mayaswell go with a mobile solution.

A Rembrandt 6800H would be more than enough IMO even for power users. The 12900H will need to be plugged into a wall to beat the 6900H. Rembrandt's battery life is way better than mobile AL and doubles Renoir's.

 

[hahahanoobs]

A Rembrandt 6800H would be more than enough IMO even for power users. The 12900H will need to be plugged into a wall to beat the 6900H. Rembrandt's battery life is way better than mobile AL and doubles Renoir's.

Wait, what?!

Example:
Users work long hours on their laptops. Probably at a desk or table right? Probably even indoors. So what does battery life have to do with anything in that very common scenario? Point being, there is a market for high end laptops with poor battery life!

Or are we ignoring benchmarks now? They no longer matter? Hardware review sites should shut their doors? Get rid of innovation? Just be happy with whatever can work on battery only? That's the only benchmark now?

No.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Wait, what?!

Example:
Users work long hours on their laptops. Probably at a desk or table right? Probably even indoors. So what does battery life have to do with anything in that very common scenario? Point being, there is a market for high end laptops with poor battery life!

Or are we ignoring benchmarks now? They no longer matter? Hardware review sites should shut their doors? Get rid of innovation? Just be happy with whatever can work on battery only? That's the only benchmark now?

No.

Sure no one uses their laptop unplugged and everyone is doing CAD, rendering, etc that the 10% extra performance the 12900H brings using 120W makes it so much more appealing.

You're right. No indeed.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Sure no one uses their laptop unplugged and everyone is doing CAD, rendering, etc that the 10% extra performance the 12900H brings using 120W makes it so much more appealing.

You're right. No indeed.

You took a left somewhere. I said none of that. Unlike yourself, I don't need to go to the extreme to get a point across. There is a middle ground. A logical ground.

You're arguing against a market that isn't in trouble. Why? I tried to get a logical answer, but I didn't. I got extremes and an bad opinion...