The leak confirms the increase in level 2 cache for future Intel processors

A record was found in the SiSoftware performance test database regarding a server or workstation built with two mysterious six-core Intel processors. These processors are particularly interesting because they feature a rather unusual level 2 cache size of 1.25 MB per core.

This is five times more compared to the 256 KB L2 cache in Coffee Lake Refresh desktop processors, and two and a half times more than the latest Ice Lake-U chips, which have 512 KB per core. Moreover, this is 25% more than the current Core-X HEDT processors or Xeon Scalable server processors, which have 1 MB of level 2 cache per core.

Therefore, it is only logical to conclude that this processor uses one of Intel's new architectures. It could be the 10nm Ice Lake or Tiger Lake, or the 14nm Rocket Lake. Of the last two architectures, not much is currently known, however, one of the recent leaks about Tiger Lake pointed precisely to a level 2 cache of 1.25 MB per core.

At the same time, another leak indicated that the Tiger Lake family will feature only mobile processors with no more than four cores. In turn, Rocket Lake chips will offer up to eight cores. Furthermore, the six-core chips tested in SiSoftware have less level 3 cache than the previously leaked Tiger Lake.

Here, one might assume that the smaller amount of L3 cache could be the result of less dense transistor placement, implying a more 'coarse' process technology. It cannot be ruled out that we are witnessing a transfer of architecture from a more 'refined' 10nm process to the good old 14nm. Recently, it was just noted about the release of an unofficial build marked as 'beta.' However, this version is still not available on the official website. It is likely that the company simply allowed the leak., that Rocket Lake will use a new architecture, but on the older process node.

There is another possibility: everything described in the previous two paragraphs may not hold true, and we are actually looking at a system with two 10nm server Ice Lake-SP processors. They could very well have the same cores as the mobile Ice Lake-U, but with a larger amount of level 2 cache per core. This practice is not new for Intel.

Overall, it's challenging to draw any specific conclusions based on this result. As you can see, there are many possibilities, and little evidence. One thing that can be taken for granted is that these six-core processors are not derived from Skylake.

Source: 3dnews.ru