Willow Cove (microarchitecture)

Last updated
Willow Cove
General information
LaunchedSeptember 12, 2020;6 months ago (September 12, 2020)
Designed by Intel
Common manufacturer(s)
Cache
L1 cache 80 KiB per core (32 instructions + 48 data)
L2 cache1.25 MiB per core
L3 cacheUp to 12 MiB, shared
Architecture and classification
Min. feature size Intel 10 nm (10SF)
Instruction set x86-64
Extensions
Products, models, variants
Product code name(s)
History
Predecessor Sunny Cove
Successor Golden Cove

Willow Cove is a codename for a CPU microarchitecture developed by Intel and released on September 2020. Willow Cove is the successor to the Sunny Cove microarchitecture, and is fabricated using Intel's enhanced 10 nm process node called 10SF (10nm SuperFin). [1] The microarchitecture powers 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processors (codenamed "Tiger Lake"). [1] [2]

Contents

The Willow Cove microarchitecture will be succeeded by Golden Cove. [3]

Features

Intel first described Tiger Lake and Willow Cove during their Architecture Day in 2020. [4] Willow Cove is almost identical to the previous microarchitecture but introduces new security features, a redesigned cache subsystem, and higher clock speeds. [4] Intel claims that these changes, in addition to the new 10SF process node, give an additional 10-20% performance increase from Sunny Cove. [5]

Improvements

Products

Willow Cove powers Intel's 11th Gen Core mobile processors (codenamed "Tiger Lake"). Tiger Lake-U processors were released on September 2, 2020, [12] while Tiger Lake-H35 were released on January 11, 2021. [13] Tiger Lake-H45 processors are set to be released at a later date. [14]

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Sunny Cove is a codename for a CPU microarchitecture developed by Intel, first released in September 2019. It succeeds the Palm Cove microarchitecture and is fabricated using Intel's 10 nm process node. This microarchitecture is implemented on 10th Gen Intel Core processors for mobile and Xeon server processors. 10th Gen Intel Core mobile processors were released in September 2019, while the Xeon server processors are set to be released in April 6, 2021.

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Alder Lake is Intel's codename for the 12th and upcoming generation of Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove high-performance cores and Gracemont power-saving cores. Intel expects to launch Alder Lake in the second half of 2021. It is expected to use the 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin (ESF) process and a new LGA 1700 socket with DDR5 support.

Gracemont is an upcoming microarchitecture for low-power processors used in systems on a chip (SoCs) made by Intel, and is the successor to Tremont. Like its predecessor, it will also be implemented as low-power cores in a hybrid design of the upcoming Alder Lake processors.

References

  1. 1 2 Cutress, Dr Ian. "Intel's 11th Gen Core Tiger Lake SoC Detailed: SuperFin, Willow Cove and Xe-LP". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  2. "Intel teases its Ice Lake & Tiger Lake family, 10nm for 2018 and 2019". TweakTown. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  3. Cutress, Dr Ian. "Intel Alder Lake: Confirmed x86 Hybrid with Golden Cove and Gracemont for 2021". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  4. 1 2 "Intel goes over Tiger Lake and Willow Cove at Architecture Day". Windows Central. 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  5. Cutress, Dr Ian. "Intel's 11th Gen Core Tiger Lake SoC Detailed: SuperFin, Willow Cove and Xe-LP". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  6. "Compiler Support Getting Wired Up For AVX-512 VP2INTERSECT - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  7. 1 2 October 2020, Anton Shilov 16. "Intel's Latest Celeron and Pentium CPUs Finally Get AVX2, AVX-512 Support". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  8. "A Technical Look at Intel's Control-flow Enforcement Technology". Intel. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  9. "Intel Releases New Technology Specification for Memory Encryption". Intel. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  10. https://software.intel.com/content/dam/develop/external/us/en/documents/343965-intel-key-locker-specification.pdf
  11. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Key-Locker-LLVM
  12. "2019 Intel Investor Meeting: The Transformation of the PC Sector" (PDF). 2019 Intel Investor Meeting. May 8, 2019. p. 11. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  13. Cutress, Dr Ian. "Intel's New H35 Series: Quad Core Tiger Lake now at 35 W for 5.0 GHz". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  14. Cutress, Dr Ian. "Intel's 8-Core Mobile Tiger Lake-H, at 45 W, to Ship in Q1". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2021-01-12.