Intel promised ”dramatic” clock-speed increases in its 11th-gen “Tiger Lake” Intel Core CPU. It delivered.
In August, Intel shocked us by promising that its new SuperFIN transistor would push Tiger Lake to a greater-than-generational enchancment in CPU efficiency. While that declare must watch for precise testing, the numbers assist bolster its case: The base clock pace of the highest four-core, eight-thread Core i7-1185G7 reaches 3GHz—far above that of Intel’s flagship 10th-gen Ice Lake chips—with single-core turbo speeds hitting 4.8GHz.
All advised, Intel is launching 9 new Tiger Lake processors for notebooks, 5 of which embody the brand new Xe built-in graphics core. More than 150 designs primarily based on the brand new 11th-gen Intel Core processors are anticipated from companions together with Acer, Asus, Dell, Dynabook, HP, Lenovo, LG, MSI, Razer, Samsung and others, Intel says. Twenty will probably be “Intel Evo” notebooks, the brand new identify for Intel’s ongoing Project Athena lineup of collaboratively designed premium pocket book PCs.
Intel’s making bold efficiency claims, together with that Tiger Lake is 2.7 occasions as quick as “competitive products” in video modifying, and that it will probably add an hour or so of battery in comparison with Ice Lake. Keep in thoughts, nevertheless, that the present panorama favors AMD’s cell Ryzen, particularly pocket book processors like the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen Mobile 4800U that simply compete with Intel’s 10th-gen “Ice Lake” H-series processors for gaming laptops. Intel hasn’t introduced a gaming-class Tiger Lake processor but, although it’s made the case that Tiger Lake enables thin-and-light gaming performance the place none existed earlier than.
Acer’s Swift 5 will function Intel’s 11th gen Tiger Lake CPU and Xe graphics.
Tiger Lake appears to be like considerably quicker
Intel has talked at size concerning the architectural particulars underlying Tiger Lake, but it surely’s mentioned little concerning the the precise clock frequencies of the chips themselves. On Wednesday, Intel unveiled them. The higher-power ‘UP3’ collection of chips (beforehand referred to as the ‘U’ collection cell CPUs for laptops) will embody 5 chips starting from the dual-core, 3GHz Core i3-1115G4 on as much as the quad-core, 3GHz Core i7-1185G7. The lower-power ‘UP4’ collection chips for tablets and thin-and-light PCs (designated in prior generations with the ‘Y’ suffix) contains 4 processors, starting from the 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-1110G4 as much as the 1.2GHz quad-core Core i7-1160G7.
IntelIntel’s 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors for thin-and-light notebooks and tablets. It appears to be like as if Intel could differentiate between the UP4 and UP3 chips through mannequin quantity: A last “0” for UP4 pill chips, and a last “5” for UP3 pocket book processors.
Compared to Intel’s first 10th-gen Ice Lake processors, a number of variations stand out with Tiger Lake. Top to backside, the bottom clock speeds in addition to the single-core turbo speeds are all larger, even considerably in some circumstances. The max all-core turbo speeds are larger, too. The closest generational comparability is Ice Lake’s Core i5-1035G1 (1GHz base, 3.6GHz single-core turbo, 3.3GHz all-core turbo) and Tiger Lake’s Core i3-1125G4 (2GHz base, 3.7GHz single-core turbo, 3.3GHz all-core turbo). Actual efficiency will fluctuate, and can must be established through testing.
Intel isn’t providing as a lot processor alternative as in Ice Lake, as there are 5 UP3 Tiger Lake processors (versus six Ice Lake-U chips) and 4 UP4 Tiger Lake processors (in comparison with 5 Ice Lake Y-series chips). Intel could establish the lower-power UP4 chips with mannequin numbers ending in zero.
There’s a probably important distinction in working energy. Ice Lake’s U-series chips provided a 15W nominal TDP and a 25W “up” TDP, permitting for larger frequencies and efficiency variations. The info Intel launched doesn’t make that distinction. Intel hasn’t mentioned whether or not the 12W-28W UP3 processors point out a nominal TDP of 12W, or whether or not they’re 15W components with a TDP “down” possibility of 12W. Intel might be providing laptop computer makers the choice of shopping for a single processor, and operating it in both an upclocked, downclocked, or nominal (inventory) configuration.
IntelLast yr, Intel confirmed a Tiger Lake motherboard at CES.
We knew a bit about Intel’s plans for its Xe built-in graphics, as a result of Intel mentioned final month that Tiger Lake would come with as much as 96 EUs. That’s a bump up from the 64 EUs Ice Lake provided, earlier than any efficiency enhancements from Intel’s new Xe Core (now dubbed Iris Xe) are factored in. Graphics frequencies are larger, too. Tiger Lake’s Xe GPU helps 8K HDR shows and as much as 4 simultaneous 4K HDR shows, in addition to Dolby Vision.
Interestingly, Intel is just not making any distinction between the graphical capabilities of processors just like the Core i7-1185G7 (96EUs, 1.35GHz GPU frequency) and the Core i5-1135G7 (80EUs, 1.3GHz). Both are recognized with the identical G7 suffix, and each embody the Intel Iris Xe branding. There will possible be some variations in graphics efficiency between the 2 that the branding and mannequin numbers received’t disclose.
Otherwise, Intel’s product matrix tells us that the cache sizes will fluctuate among the many totally different processors, affecting efficiency considerably. The reminiscence choices embody the identical DDR4-3200 as Ice Lake had, plus a quicker LPDDR4X-4266 possibility that Ice Lake didn’t have. Tiger Lake can also be Intel’s first CPU line to assist PCI Express Gen4. Tiger Lake notebooks could have as much as 4 ports of Thunderbolt 4 and WiFi 6 (Gig+), too.
Actual efficiency stays unknown
Intel’s current Intel Architecture Day revealed one motive why Tiger Lake represents a greater-than-generational leap in efficiency: its SuperFIN transistor. According to Ruth Brain, an Intel fellow specializing in know-how growth and interconnects, the sum whole of all of the intranode enhancements made within the 14nm era can be equaled by one intranode efficiency enhance from Ice Lake to Tiger Lake. That’s a era’s value of “++” enhancements, wiped off the desk by the SuperFIN transistor.
IntelIntel believes that Tiger Lake affords a wider vary of performance-versus-power choices than Ice Lake ever did.
That would possibly assist clarify the higher vary in Tiger Lake’s working energy, too, because the “Willow Cove” CPU inside Tiger Lake is designed for a broader vary of working energy and frequency than the “Sunny Cove” CPUs within Ice Lake.
For now, nevertheless, there’s nonetheless a mishmash of considerably imprecise efficiency comparisons. Intel claims that the built-in Xe core outperforms “90 percent of the discrete graphics in the segment,” and that the chip can play video games twice as quick because the built-in Ice Lake GPU. (The latter declare is predicated on a comparability between the Core i7-1065G7U and the Core i7-1185G7, utilizing Gears Tactics at 1080p, Medium settings. Intel had additionally made some initial performance claims about Tiger Lake final yr.)
Intel additionally says that Tiger Lake affords video modifying that’s twice as quick, and picture modifying that is 2.7 occasions as quick, in comparison with rival merchandise. Last month, Intel released video explaining how Tiger Lake would carry out in video games starting from Battlefield V to Grid —however with out body charges to again it up. Still, with the ability to play Borderlands 3, Far Cry New Dawn, and Hitman 2 on built-in graphics, and on a thin-and-light PC, is noteworthy. We’ll see if Intel can present us extra about how the Core i7-1185G7 compares to the Ryzen Mobile 4800U.
Until we have now laptops in home to check, it’s all educational. It’s in all probability truthful to say that till Intel introduced its SuperFIN transistor, the comparability between AMD’s cell Ryzen and Intel’s Tiger Lake regarded fairly dangerous for Intel. Now, the panorama might be rather more aggressive.