Sunny Cove (microarchitecture) explained

Sunny Cove
Manuf1:Intel
Designfirm:Intel
L1cache:80KB per core:
L2cache:512KB per core
L3cache:2MB per core
Size-From:Intel 10 nm FinFET process
Pcode1:Ice Lake (mobile)
Pcode2:Ice Lake-SP (server)
Arch:x86, x86-64
Extensions:AES-NI, CLMUL, RDRAND, SHA, TXT, SGX, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, FMA3, VT-x, VT-d

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.[1] The microarchitecture is implemented in 10th-generation Intel Core processors for mobile (codenamed Ice Lake) and third generation Xeon scalable server processors (codenamed Ice Lake-SP). 10th-generation Intel Core mobile processors were released in September 2019, while the Xeon server processors were released on April 6, 2021.[2]

There are no desktop products featuring Sunny Cove. However, a variant named Cypress Cove is used for the 11th-generation Intel Core desktop processors (codenamed Rocket Lake). Cypress Cove is a version of the Sunny Cove microarchitecture backported to Intel's 14 nm process node.

The direct successor to the Sunny Cove microarchitecture is the Willow Cove microarchitecture, which powers the 11th-generation Intel Core mobile processors.[3]

Features

Sunny Cove was designed by Intel Israel's processor design team in Haifa, Israel.[4] [5]

Intel released details of Ice Lake and its microarchitecture, Sunny Cove, during Intel Architecture Day in December 2018, stating that the Sunny Cove cores would be focusing on single-thread performance, new instructions, and scalability improvements. Intel stated that the performance improvements would be achieved by making the core "deeper, wider, and smarter".[6]

Sunny Cove features a 50% increase in the size of L1 data cache, a larger L2 cache dependent on product size, larger μOP cache, and larger second-level TLB. The core has also increased in width, by increasing execution ports from eight to ten and by doubling the L1 store bandwidth. Allocation width has also increased from four to five. The 5-level paging scheme supports a linear address space up to 57 bits and a physical address space up to 52 bits, increasing the virtual memory space to 128 petabytes, up from 256 terabytes, and the addressable physical memory to 4 petabytes, up from 64 terabytes.[7]

Improvements

Cypress Cove

Cypress Cove
Manuf1:Intel
Designfirm:Intel
L1cache:80KB per core:
L2cache:512KB per core
L3cache:2MB per core
Size-From:Intel 14 nm FinFET process
Pcode1:Rocket Lake
Arch:x86, x86-64
Extensions:MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4.1, SSE4.2
Extensions1:AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, FMA3
Extensions2:AES, CLMUL, RDRAND, SHA, TXT
Extensions3:VT-d, VT-x

}

Cypress Cove is a CPU microarchitecture based on the Sunny Cove microarchitecture designed for 10 nm, backported to 14 nm. It succeeds the Skylake microarchitecture, and is manufactured using Intel's 14 nm process node. Cypress Cove is identical to Sunny Cove, aside from a number of improvements and other changes.[14] Notably the L1 data cache latency has been reduced from five cycles that is on Sunny Cove to just three cycles on Cypress Cove by change from 8 way associativity on Sunny Cove to 12 way associativity On Cypress Cove. Intel claims an increase of 19% in IPC in Cypress Cove-based Rocket Lake processors compared to Comet Lake.[15]

Cypress Cove is implemented on 11th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (codenamed Rocket Lake). Rocket Lake and its underlying microarchitecture were first described in November 2020,[16] and was later released on March 30, 2021.[17] [18]

SGX is removed from Rocket Lake.

Products

Sunny Cove powers the 10th generation of Intel Core mobile processors (codenamed Ice Lake) and the third generation of Xeon Scalable server processors (codenamed Ice Lake-SP). Cypress Cove is implemented on 11th-generation Intel Core desktop processors (codenamed Rocket Lake).

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Garreffa . Anthony . January 21, 2016 . Intel teases its Ice Lake & Tiger Lake family, 10nm for 2018 and 2019 . TweakTown . en-US . June 3, 2016.
  2. Web site: Media Alert: Intel to Launch 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Portfolio . Intel Newsroom . en-US . Santa Clara, CA . March 22, 2021 . April 9, 2021.
  3. Web site: Cutress . Ian . August 13, 2020 . Intel's 11th Gen Core Tiger Lake SoC Detailed: SuperFin, Willow Cove and Xe-LP . AnandTech . en-US . September 29, 2020.
  4. Web site: May 28, 2019 . Intel launches 10th gen core processor developed in Israel . en.globes.co.il . he . October 6, 2019.
  5. Web site: Solomon . Shoshanna . May 28, 2019 . Intel launches new processors that bring AI to the PC, sired by Haifa team . The Times of Israel . en-US . October 6, 2019.
  6. Web site: Cutress . Ian . December 12, 2018 . Intel's Architecture Day 2018: The Future of Core, Intel GPUs, 10nm, and Hybrid x86 . AnandTech . en-US . January 14, 2019.
  7. Web site: May 2017 . 5-Level Paging and 5-Level EPT . Intel . en-US.
  8. Web site: Schor . David . May 28, 2019 . Intel Sunny Cove Core To Deliver A Major Improvement In Single-Thread Performance, Bigger Improvements To Follow . WikiChip Fuse . en-US . May 28, 2019.
  9. Web site: Schor . David . May 28, 2019 . Intel Announces 10th Gen Core Processors Based On 10nm Ice Lake, Now Shipping . WikiChip Fuse . en-US . May 28, 2019.
  10. News: HotHardware . October 23, 2018 . Intel Ice Lake 10nm CPU Benchmark Leak Shows More Cache, Higher Performance. en-us . HotHardware . November 9, 2018.
  11. Web site: Dynamic Tuning - Intel - WikiChip . WikiChip . en-US . May 28, 2019.
  12. Web site: Cutress . Ian . July 30, 2019 . Examining Intel's Ice Lake Processors: Taking a Bite of the Sunny Cove Microarchitecture . AnandTech . en-US . August 1, 2019.
  13. Web site: Intel® Deep Learning Boost . Intel AI . en-US . August 1, 2019.
  14. Web site: Cutress . Ian . March 30, 2021 . Intel Rocket Lake (14nm) Review: Core i9-11900K, Core i7-11700K, and Core i5-11600K . AnandTech . April 6, 2021.
  15. Web site: 11th Gen Intel Core: Unmatched Overclocking, Game Performance . Intel Newsroom . en-US . March 15, 2021 . April 6, 2021.
  16. Web site: Cutress . Ian . October 29, 2020 . Intel's 11th Gen Core Rocket Lake Detailed: Ice Lake Core with Xe Graphics . AnandTech . en-US . April 6, 2021.
  17. Web site: Alcorn . Paul . March 23, 2021 . Intel Rocket Lake Price, Benchmarks, Specs and Release Date, All We Know . Tom's Hardware . en-US . April 6, 2021.
  18. Web site: Mah Ung . Gordon . March 16, 2021 . Intel's new 11th-gen Rocket Lake-S CPU: Everything you need to know . PCWorld . en-US . April 6, 2021.