AMD patents new microarchitecture
 

Similar to ARM's big.LITTLE

AMD has patented a different method of moving threads between different types of cores in a heterogeneous processor which is similar to ARM's big.LITTLE design.

According to Tom’s Hardware the design uses clusters of 'big' high-performance cores paired with 'little' efficiency cores.

While many patents don’t go anywhere, there is good reason to expect AMD to come up with a hybrid design to match Intel’s 12th-Gen Alder Lake family.

AMD filed the patent in 2019 and might be an extension of a similar application that AMD also filed in the same year about implementing instruction set architecture (ISA) in a heterogeneous processor.

That dating will fit an ongoing rumour that AMD's Ryzen 8000 (codename Strix Point) APUs could arrive with a hybrid setup. The chips feature high-performance Zen 5 cores and low-powered Zen '4D' cores.

If that is the case, it's unlikely that Strix Point will make it to the market in time to compete with Intel's Alder Lake chips that may launch in late 2021 or early 2022. However, the APUs will probably go head-to-head with Raptor Lake, the alleged successor to Alder Lake.

https://fudzilla.com/news/pc-hardwar...roarchitecture