Intel Demos Meteor Lake CPU with On-Package LPDDR5X
Intel preps Meteor Lake processors with integrated LPDDR5X
Intel on Wednesday demonstrated advancements of its sophisticated packaging technologies such as EMIB (embedded multi-die interconnect bridge) and Foveros and showed off its upcoming Meteor Lake processor with on-package LPDDR5X memory. It looks like Intel has taken a page from Apple's book as the company has been installing LPDDR memory on its M1 and M2 packages for a while now.
The product demonstrated by Intel is its quad-tile Meteor Lake CPU, which uses Foveros packaging for its chiplets and carries 16GB of Samsung's LPDDR5X-7500 memory. Actual configuration of the CPU is unknown, but 16GB of memory can provide a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s, which is considerably higher than the peak bandwidth provided by a memory subsystem featuring DDR5-5200 or LPDDR5-6400.
Putting memory on package with the CPU brings several major advantages, including an increase in performance, a thinner system, and a reduced footprint for the platform — which allows for a larger-capacity battery. There are also disadvantages, however: if a memory chip fails, the whole system fails; platforms with everything soldered down cannot be upgraded; and cooling down both the CPU and the memory requires a more sophisticated cooling system.
Apple was the first company to use on-package LPDDR memory with a client CPU, but Intel has used package-on-package DRAM with its Atom-branded CPUs for tablets and ultra-thin laptops for years. Most recently Intel even used in-package DRAM with its first hybrid CPU called Lakefield.
What remains to be seen is whether laptop makers will bite on Intel's Meteor Lake with on-package LPDDR5X. While this simplifies manufacturing and allows them to make thinner notebooks, it also reduces their flexibility when it comes to configuration. It will also reduce the volumes of memory they procure from DRAM vendors, such as Samsung, directly, which will affect their leverage to negotiate DRAM pricing.
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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ezst036 ReplyAdmin said:It looks like Intel has taken a page from Apple's book as the company has been installing LPDDR memory on its M1 and M2 packages for a while now.
The product demonstrated by Intel is its quad-tile Meteor Lake CPU, which uses Foveros packaging for its chiplets and carries 16GB of Samsung's LPDDR5X-7500 memory. Actual configuration of the CPU is unknown, but 16GB of memory can provide a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s
Looks like this sits firmly inbetween M1 and M1 Pro.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-m1-pro-max-everything-we-know
68.25 GBps200 GBps
Just a little bit above M2, which is 100Gbps. And what level is this anyways, like a level 9 cache? -
JamesJones44 If the performance and battery life are there I think OEMs like Dell and HP will bite all day long. Your lower end is doubtful, but we will see.Reply -
rluker5 I like the on package memory. Even if it only helps performance and efficiency a bit that is better than nothing.Reply
But where is this interposer with the cache that was rumored. I had my hopes up.
Also Apple was first with the on package dram, but that was with Crystalwell, an Intel product back in 2014. -
JamesJones44 The big question I have is does the iGPU have access to this memory in the same way Apple Silicon does? If it does there could be a nice boost for the iGPU in these processors. If not, it may not be as dramatic of a bump that Apple Silicon gets from it's Unified Memory structure.Reply -
jkflipflop98 Replyrluker5 said:I like the on package memory. Even if it only helps performance and efficiency a bit that is better than nothing.
But where is this interposer with the cache that was rumored. I had my hopes up.
Also Apple was first with the on package dram, but that was with Crystalwell, an Intel product back in 2014.
Wut? Exactly what advantages do you suppose putting cache on the interposer will provide? How would you even use that? The interposer is a fancy smart breadboard and nothing more. It's just wires. There's no need to shove transistors in there. -
kwohlt Reply
The advantage of 3D stacking is die space. The die doesn't have room for the rumored 128MB of L4 cache. The rumor was 3D stacked cache by placing the L4 in the active interposer, which would also allow better cooling as the compute tile would be in direct contact with the IHS, rather than being beneath the cache as X3D does.jkflipflop98 said:Wut? Exactly what advantages do you suppose putting cache on the interposer will provide? How would you even use that? The interposer is a fancy smart breadboard and nothing more. It's just wires. There's no need to shove transistors in there. -
hilive This would be ideal for appliance-type devices for which people never upgrade the RAM anyway. Examples:Reply
1. Chromebooks
2. tablets
3. ultrabooks
4. gaming consoles (Steam Deck competitors)
And the idea that the integrated RAM will make heat problems significantly worse is strange. First off, this isn't going to be used on workbooks with 32 or 64 GB RAM. It is going to be used for consumer and prosumer devices like the Dell XPS 13. Even if it did, the node shrink - going from 10nm for Raptor Lake to 7nm for Meteor Lake - would more than overcompensate for it anyway. -
Lucky_SLS They could have gone with 24gb Memory considering that igpu would use from the same Memory pool.Reply
This would be an interesting AMD Z1 extreme competitor. -
jkflipflop98 Replykwohlt said:The advantage of 3D stacking is die space. The die doesn't have room for the rumored 128MB of L4 cache. The rumor was 3D stacked cache by placing the L4 in the active interposer, which would also allow better cooling as the compute tile would be in direct contact with the IHS, rather than being beneath the cache as X3D does.
Your OP didn't say anything about die stacking. You said "where is this interposer with the cache that was rumored." Foveros doesn't need cache itself. You add cache by stacking it on top. There's no need for it to be IN the breadboard. -
Yeshwant Kethineni I would hope with on package memory you would be able to do better than 7500MT/s / 120Gbps bandwidth, but I guess notReply