Intel Skylake vs Sunny Cove vs Golden Cove vs Redwood Cove vs Lion Cove

Skylake vs Sunny Cove vs Golden Cove vs Redwood Cove vs Lion Cove

Intel Skylake

• Skylake, introduced in 2015, remains Intel’s most widely used core architecture. It powers the 6th to 10th Gen lineups.
• At the front end, Skylake features a 32KB L1 instruction cache and a Branch Prediction Unit (BPU).
• The BPU predicts whether the next instruction is a branch and its type (conditional/unconditional).
• Skylake’s branch prediction involves a two-step process with 128 (L0) and 4096 (L1) entry Branch Target Buffers (BTBs).
• Accuracy-wise, modern branch predictors exceed 90%.
• The micro-op cache stores frequently used micro-ops, improving efficiency.

Intel Sunny Cove (Ice Lake)

• Launched in H2 2019, Sunny Cove (Ice Lake) brought improvements over Skylake.
• It boasts two dedicated ports for 256-bit loads and stores, wider load and store buffers (128 and 72 entries, respectively), and enhanced performance.
• Sunny Cove’s architecture aimed to enhance IPC (Instructions Per Clock) and efficiency.

Intel Golden Cove (Alder Lake)

• Golden Cove, based on Intel’s 10nm Enhanced SuperFin node (now Intel 7), powers Alder Lake CPUs.
• Major changes compared to Willow Cove include optimizations for performance and power efficiency.
• Golden Cove cores compete with Apple’s Firestorm cores.

Intel Redwood Cove (Meteor Lake)

• Redwood Cove debuted with Meteor Lake, paving the way for Arrow Lake.
• Details on Redwood Cove are still emerging, but it promises further architectural advancements.

Intel Lion Cove (Arrow Lake)

• Lion Cove, part of the Arrow Lake lineup, features the latest core architecture.
• Specifics about Lion Cove are yet to be fully disclosed.

In summary, Intel’s P-Core architectures have evolved significantly over the past decade, from Skylake to Lion Cove. Each iteration brings improvements in performance, efficiency, and features. Exciting times lie ahead as Intel continues to innovate! 🌟