Intel 14th-gen processors could have ray tracing capabilities

Why it issues: Whereas the Thirteenth-gen Raptor Lake CPU launch could also be proper across the nook, Intel followers are already trying forward at what the 14th era will carry to the desk. A South Korean tech fanatic has uncovered data which will shed extra gentle on Intel’s upcoming 14th-gen CPUs. In line with Coelacanth’s Dream, a graphics compiler present in Intel’s GitHub repository seems to incorporate parts supporting on-board ray tracing performance.

Coelacanth’s Dream posted the preliminary discovering late final week, highlighting an earlier commit that added Meteor Lake to the digital instruction set structure (vISA) in addition to a patch to the Intel Graphics Compiler (IGC). The updates, which present the potential for on-board ray tracing capabilities, would accompany Intel’s already anticipated transfer from the Intel 7 structure to the brand new Intel 4 node.

In line with an article from Tom’s {Hardware}, the structure distinction between the Twelfth- and Thirteenth-gen CPUs and upcoming 14th-gen CPUs helps the speculation that Meteor Lake will embrace ray tracing {hardware}. Alder Lake and Raptor Lake each come outfitted with 96 Xe-LP (low energy) execution items (EUs). Obtainable data factors to Meteor Lake deviating from this structure and as a substitute utilizing the Xe-HPG structure, utilized in Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics playing cards. The transfer may carry 14th-gen processors with wherever from 128 to 196 EUs.

Different adjustments famous within the GitHub findings point out that the 14th-gen iGPU structure could lack the XMX items current in desktop Xe-cores. Whereas not explicitly acknowledged within the GitHub findings, the dearth of dot product accumulate systolic (DPAS) directions, which depend on Xe Matrix eXtensions (XMX items) for processing, signifies the items could also be lacking altogether.

The Meteor Lake structure will mark a departure from Intel’s 10nm course of (Intel 7) and the transfer to the corporate’s new 7nm node, Intel 4. The brand new course of node can be Intel’s first manufacturing run utilizing excessive ultraviolet lithography (EUV) system and is predicted to carry upwards of a 20% efficiency uplift as soon as launched.

Not like AMD, which has discovered success by extending their socket life throughout the Ryzen product line, 14th-gen customers will as soon as once more have to interchange {hardware} to accommodate a brand new socket kind. Whereas Twelfth-gen adopters might be able to use their current motherboards for the upcoming Raptor Lake launch, Meteor Lake adopters must make the shift to the brand new LGA 1851 socket.