Intel is reportedly working on a new x86 architecture

Right now it looks like Intel will be ending their Sandy Lake series of CPU designs in 2019 with Tiger Lake, with CPU designs like Cannonlake and Coffee lake coming before it. This means that Intel needs to create a new x86 CPU architecture, with today being the first day that we have heard of Intel’s next-generation CPU architecture.

With AMD’s Zen and Intel’s Sandy Bridge we know that a major architectural leap can deliver some significant performance gains, which means that we should expect some good things from Intel’s next CPU architecture. Right now it seems that Intel plans on creating a new core design that saves die space and delivers enhanced levels of power consumption to performance. 

 

  

One of the biggest changes that Intel plans on making with this new core design is removing some older/unused SIMD and Hardware reminders, removing full x86 backwards compatibility but creating a more streamlined power friendly CPU design. 

While the removal of these old features may seem like a huge problem, they can be rectified in software via emulation. Right now Intel is working hard to emulate x86 on ARM and vice versa, so a lot of these issues may have already been solved in-house. 

This new architecture may be an attempt from Intel to create something that will finally be suitable for both the ultra-mobile market and desktop/servers, with increased performance-per-watt and a streamlined, cheaper to produce design. 

Intel’s new architecture is expected to release in late 2019 or 2020, after Intel’s Tigerlake series CPUs. 

 

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