Intel Comet Lake surfaces in Linux drivers - Intel going for 10 cores for desktop procs

Published by

teaser

New pending desktop processors from Intel under codename Comet Lake-S, seem to get a maximum of 10 cores. The decacore proc will follow the Core i9 9900K, and is a modified version of the Skylake architecture. 



To avoid any confusion, these are being produced at 14 nanometers. The discovery was made as some entries surfaced in Linux drivers now another infusion of Skylake architecture is mentioned for the first time. The drivers list CML processors, which is the abbreviation for Comet Lake in Intel's nomenclature. The procs get GT1 and GT2 integrated graphics units (ninth generation of Intel's integrated graphics chips) and that indicates a fourth gen Skylake architecture.


INTEL_WHL_U_GT2_IDS(&intel_coffeelake_gt2_info),
INTEL_AML_CFL_GT2_IDS(&intel_coffeelake_gt2_info),
INTEL_WHL_U_GT3_IDS(&intel_coffeelake_gt3_info),
INTEL_CML_GT1_IDS(&intel_coffeelake_gt1_info),
INTEL_CML_GT2_IDS(&intel_coffeelake_gt2_info),
INTEL_CNL_IDS(&intel_cannonlake_info),
INTEL_ICL_11_IDS(&intel_icelake_11_info)

{ CPUID_COMETLAKE_U_A0, "Cometlake-U A0 (6+2)" },
{ CPUID_COMETLAKE_U_K0_S0, "Cometlake-U K0/S0 (6+2)/(4+2)" },
{ CPUID_COMETLAKE_H_S_6_2_P0, "Cometlake-H/S P0 (6+2)" },
{ CPUID_COMETLAKE_H_S_10_2_P0, "Cometlake-H/S P0 (10+2)" }


The indications that desktop procs will get up to ten cores and notebooks up to six cores. Interesting is the CML-S which has a design with ten cores, ie a Decacore for desktop systems. The processor would follow the eight-core Core i9-9900K (test) and, as usual, use an optimized Skylake microarchitecture.

Comet Lake seems to be a reaction to the launch of Zen 2, aka Ryzen 3000. There are expected models with eight, twelve and sixteen cores coming towards the PC mainstream segment. 


CodenameCore GenerationnodeCores + graphicsiGPULaunch
Arrandale 1st gene 32 nm 2 + GT2 Gen5.75 2010
Sandy Bridge 2nd Gen 32 nm 2 + GT2 Gen6 2011
Ivy Bridge 3rd gene 22 nm FinFet 2 + GT2 Gen7 2012
Haswell (HSW-ULT) 4th Gen 22 nm FinFet 2 + GT2, 2 + GT3 Gen7.5 2013
Broadwell (BDW-U) 5th Gen 14 nm FinFet 2 + GT2, 2 + GT3 Gen8 2014
Skylake (SKL-U) 6th gene 14 nm FinFet 2 + GT2, 2 + GT3e Gen9 2015
Kaby Lake (KBL-U) 7th gene 14+ nm FinFet 2 + GT2, 2 + GT3e Gen9.5 2016
Kaby Lake Refresh (KBL-U R) 8th gene 14 ++ nm FinFet 4 + GT2, 4 + GT3e Gen9.5 2017
Cannon Lake (CNL-U) 8th gene 10 nm FinFet 2 + GT2 (deactivated) GEN10 2018
Whiskey Lake (WHL-U) 9th gene 14 ++ nm FinFet 4 + GT2 Gen9.5 2018
Comet Lake (CML-U) 9th gene 14 ++ nm FinFet 2 + GT2, 4 + GT2, 6 + GT2 Gen9.5 2019
Ice Lake (ICL-U) 10th gene (?) 10+ nm FinFet 4 + GT2 Gen11 2019
Tiger Lake 11th gene (?) 10 ++ nm FinFet ? Xe (?) 2020 (?)
* Golem Overview of Intel Core (Client Mobile) Generations

Intel Comet Lake surfaces in Linux drivers - Intel going for 10 cores for desktop procs


Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print