Internet tech leaker Jaykihn has revealed new details about Intel’s next-generation Arrow Lake CPUs for desktops, known as Arrow Lake-S, and the high-end laptops, Arrow Lake-HX. According to him, the CPUs will bring significant improvements in cache size and AI performance compared to their Raptor Lake predecessors.

Intel Arrow Lake cache changes

Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX will have a similar cache structure to Lunar Lake CPUs, which use the same Lion Cove performance cores and Skymont efficiency cores. However, there are some key differences: Arrow Lake CPUs will have 3 MB of L2 cache per P-core and 4 MB per cluster of 4 E-cores. This is higher than Raptor Lake and Lunar Lake, which have 2.5 MB and 3 MB per P-core, respectively. Additionally, Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX will feature 3 MB of L3 cache per P-core and per cluster of E-cores. Lunar Lake has the same L3 cache for P-cores but no dedicated L3 cache for E-cores.

While this is all rather technical, what does this actually mean for performance? Well, because Arrow Lake CPUs boast a larger cache pool compared to Raptor Lake, it will translate to faster performance by reducing the time it takes to access data, improving data reuse within the CPU. Furthermore, you’ll find smoother handling of multi-threaded workloads, although the exact impact will depend on specific tasks.

AI gets a boost too

Arrow Lake CPUs are expected to see a significant boost in AI performance compared to Raptor Lake. This improvement comes from three sources. Firstly, the Xe Graphics Architecture. The integrated GPU will see a 3x increase in AI performance to 9 TOPS. Secondly, Arrow Lake may include an upgraded Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with a potential future refresh offering even better performance. This NPU is estimated to deliver 13 TOPS. And finally, the CPU cores themselves are expected to see an 87.5% increase in AI capabilities, reaching 15 TOPS.

Combined, these advancements will give Arrow Lake CPUs a total AI performance of 37 TOPS, putting them actually closer to AMD’s Ryzen 8000G “Hawk Point” APUs.

What else can we expect?

Arrow Lake CPUs are also expected to bring various other improvements, including more support for PCIe Hot-Plug for easier device connection and removals. Increased support for ESPI devices, enhanced audio capabilities, and support for PCIe clock output and SRC clock requests are also anticipated.

The Arrow Lake-S CPUs for desktops are expected to launch in October 2024 alongside new Z890 motherboards.

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Tom Valentine

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