Intel Boosts Meteor Lake CPU & Arc Graphics Tile With “Adamantine” L4 Cache

Intel Meteor Lake CPUs will be the first to feature the brand-new Adamantine L4 cache which will give a big boost to the Arc graphics tile.

A few weeks back, it was reported that Intel was working to implement a new ADM L4 cache on its upcoming 14th-Gen Meteor Lake CPUs. The new cache will come in capacities of several MBs and be targeted primarily at the Arc Xe-LPG GPU which is featured on the graphics tile, one of the many tiles on Meteor Lake GPUs.

In a patent published by Intel back in 2020, it is mentioned that the Adamantine L4 cache will sit on the base tile and will be accessible to the rest of the IPs and tiles on the interposer. This design will be fully utilized by the Meteor Lake-M and Meteor Lake-P chips which target the mobility platform.

Coelacanth-Dream also explains why the Intel Arc Xe-LPG GPUs will be the main beneficiary of the Adamantine L4 cache. In recent patches, discovered by Phoronix, it was revealed that, unlike the previous designs, Intel Meteor Lake GPU cannot utilize the LLC on the chip which was previously shared by both the CPU and GPU. As such, the Adamantine L4 cache will play a huge role to assist the performance of Meteor Lake chips in graphics workloads.

Since the Adamantine L4 cache can also be used by the Compute Title (CPU Cores), which are made up of Redwood Cove (P-Core) & Crestmont (E-Core) hybrid configurations, it can lead to faster boot times and overall lower latencies compared to moving data to the primary DRAM. The patent states that:

Next generation client SoC architectures may introduce large on-package caches, which will allow novel usages. Access time for the L4 (e.g., “Adamantine” or “ADM”) cache may be much less than the DRAM access time, which is used to improve host CPU and security controller communications. Embodiments help to protect innovations in boot optimization. Value is added for high end silicon with higher pre-initialized memory at reset, potentially leading to increased revenue. Having memory available at reset also helps to nullify legacy BIOS assumptions and make a faster and efficient BIOS solution with a reduced firmware stage (e.g., pre-CPU reset stage, IBBL stage and IBB stage) for modern device use cases like Automotive IVI (in-vehicle infotainment, e.g., turn on rear view camera within 2 sec), household and industrial robots, etc. Accordingly, new market segments may be available.

Intel Patent (Early Platform Hardening Technology For Slimmer And Faster Boot)

As a rumor, Moore's Law is Dead points out to the Adamantine L4 cache being used by Intel in both Meteor Lake CPUs and Battlemage GPUs. It is mentioned that while the current Meteor Lake chips are outfitted with 128 - 512 MB of Adamantine L4 cache, it can be expanded into GBs. The L4 cache makes perfect sense if Intel wants to offer a boost in graphics performance since the competition is also going to implement its own on-die cache in upcoming products such as the Ryzen 8000 Strix APUs.

The Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs are scheduled to hit laptops first in the second half of 2023. There are also reports of Chipzilla sampling its first desktop parts to clients and OEMs.

News Source: VideoCardz