Intel adopted a hybrid core architecture starting with the 12th Gen Alder Lake family, including two distinct core clusters across most SKUs. The Performance or “P” cluster consists of 2 to 8 cores, while the Efficiency or “E” cluster can feature up to 16 cores. Alder Lake and Raptor Lake leverage the Golden Cove “P” and the Gracemont “E” core architectures (and their derivative, Raptor Cove). The 1st Gen Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” will introduce the Redwood Cove “P” and Crestmont “E” cores.
Intel’s 15th Gen Arrow Lake processors may add a third-core architecture to the mix, bringing the cluster count to 3. Technically, Meteor Lake already consists of three clusters, but (process node ignoring) the E-cores on the SoC and compute dies are architecturally identical and only differ in their power profiles. According to @OneRaichu, Arrow Lake will be powered by three core architectures, namely Lion Cove, Skymont, and Crestmont.
The Performance or “P-cores” will be based on the Lion Cove architecture, succeeding Redwood Cove. We expect a lofty IPC upgrade as these cores are primarily designed with gamers and content creators in mind. The E-cores on the Compute Die will leverage the Skymont core architecture, focusing on performance within a slim power envelope.
Going from Meteor to Arrow Lake, the SoC die will remain unchanged, retaining the two low-power Crestmont cores and making the 15th Gen family Intel’s first consumer range with three distinct core architectures. Not only that, it’ll also feature four different process nodes, namely TSMC’s N6 for the SoC and I/O, N5/N3 for the iGPU tile, Intel 20A for the compute die, and Intel 16 for the Foveros base die.
