At Intel, we recently rounded out our 12th Gen Intel® Core™ family with the launch of the 12th Gen Intel® Core™ HX processors, built to power mobile workstations. These desktop-caliber processors come with more support for just about everything—performance, I/O, and memory—enabling creators to do more from anywhere.
As part of the mobile workstation launch, I interviewed Paula Jinbo, Intel senior director, Worldwide Strategic Alliances and Software Partner Marketing, to get a better understanding of what creators should expect from the latest Intel® processors and the range of new devices they will usher in.
Paula, it’s good to talk with you. Could you start with an overview of what makes these processors so amazing for today’s creators?
Paula: I’m delighted to discuss the 12th Gen Intel Core family, which has so many innovations across the CPU for creator enthusiasts and professionals. There are two kinds of cores in this architecture, the high-power Golden Cove Performance-cores (P-cores) and the Gracemont Efficient-cores (E-cores).
The P-cores are some of the highest performing cores we’ve ever made. They are designed to deliver professional-level performance and responsiveness for compute-intensive workloads like gaming and 3D design.
E-cores are based on a different architecture, and they are optimized for handling highly threaded workloads that can minimize interruptions in background tasks. The E-cores focus on maximizing performance per watt (i.e., efficiency). If we compare our E-core to a single Skylake core for a single logical process, we deliver the same performance while consuming less than 40 percent of the power. Alternatively, a Skylake core would consume 2.5x more power to achieve the same performance as our E-cores.1
With this unique combination of P-cores and E-cores, creators can harness all the engines together for groundbreaking capabilities. No more waiting around for processor-intensive workloads to finish; you can continue your workflow and stay incredibly productive.
A few weeks ago at Intel® Vision , we introduced the 12th Gen Intel Core HX processor. Can you update us on the status of HX mobile workstations?
Paula: Yes, we recently launched the Intel® Core™ i9 HX processor. It is a performance beast that will truly change creators’ workflows. Now with up to 16 cores (8 P-cores, 8 E-cores), 24 threads, and clock speeds up to 5 GHz, the HX processor can deliver the performance that creative professionals need in a lightweight mobile platform. The HX also adds support for overclocking and more PCIe lanes. Plus, it’s going to be the first mobile platform to support PCIe Gen 5.0.
Essentially, the HX processor delivers one of the world’s best CPUs for laptops. And I think the immersive visuals of Intel® Iris® Xe graphics are really going to grab people’s attention. Together they will power better visuals and entertainment. They’ll also change the expectation for what you can do on a lightweight mobile workstation.
What about the software? How do applications adapt to the new way of dealing with the P-cores and E-cores?
Paula: We work closely with ISVs and developers to ensure applications can make the most of the architecture while also optimizing threading libraries. Operating systems typically make decisions on where to place threads and workloads based on received information. However, most of that information is limited to basic statistics around foreground and background tasks that the application designer tells the operating system they want to flag.
The Intel® Thread Director can provide a big advantage here because it enables the new hybrid architecture to work seamlessly by guiding the operating system. Essentially, it allows the OS to make more-intelligent scheduling decisions than it had in the past and work with maximum efficiency in the office, at home, or on the go.
If you had to pick one thing that you think is the biggest technological achievement with 12th Gen, what would it be?
Paula: I think one of the biggest advancements with 12th Gen is Intel Iris Xe graphics. The importance of them is beyond what you might think at first glance. There is Intel® Deep Link technology embedded in there that lets CPUs and GPUs run AI-powered applications at blazing speeds without compromising the user experience. There’s also support for the newest codecs, such as AV1, which means users can stream high-bandwidth or high-quality video even on congested networks.
How does the Intel 12th Gen HX platform compare to the competition?
Paula: We stand firmly behind our claim that the 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors enable some of the best mobile workstation platforms. And they do that by providing 64 percent more performance in multithreaded workloads2 with more cores, memory, and I/O while using Intel Thread Director technology. This means professionals can create, program, render, and work with maximum efficiency. So, from my perspective, the 12th Gen Intel HX platform brings new levels of industry-leading performance.
What does the future hold for creators?
Paula: Creators are everywhere, from solopreneurs to corporate professionals and virtual teams. Intel is committed to leading the ecosystem with people- and experience-led innovation. We’ll continue to work with the ecosystem to innovate on the essential components that move us all forward and make the best possible devices. We’re committed to delivering incredible experiences for creators around the world.
Where can creators learn more about the 12th Gen Intel Core HX platform? Are devices available now?
More than 10 workstation designs powered by 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors are expected to be launched by major OEMs this year, including systems from Dell, HP, and Lenovo. You can learn more about these processors and workstations in this Intel Newsroom article, or you can also subscribe to our newsletter for articles, insights, and events on content creation and innovation.
Notices and disclaimers
- Internal estimates as of June 22, 2021, using internal architecture simulation. See https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/performance/benchmarks/architecture-day-2021/ for additional information.
- Based on performance estimated with measurements on 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-12900HX with RTX 3080Ti against Intel® Core™ i9-11980HK with RTX 3080, Intel® Core™ i9-12900HK with RTX 3080Ti, AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS with Radeon 6700S, Intel® Core™ i7-12700H with RTX 3050Ti, and Apple M1 Max MacBook Pro with 32 core integrated GPU. Best available compilers selected for all processors. Binaries compiled with ICC for Intel/AMD; binaries compiled with Xcode 13.1 for Apple. The metric used is the geometric mean of C/C++ integer benchmarks in SPEC*int_rate_base2017 2021.2 LLVM (1-copy) and SPEC*int_rate_base2017 2021.2 LLVM (n-copy). See intel.com/PerformanceIndex for additional workload and configuration details.
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Performance varies by use, configuration, and other factors. Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates.
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David is an Intel alum and recently re-joined the company as the Marketing Manager for the Intel Create program. Prior to his current position, David managed Intel’s Internet of Things (IoT) digital marketing and social media outreach. He has roots grounded in the Digital Content Creation (DCC) segment where he synthesized technology trends and insights across end-users and defined product strategies that helped establish Intel leadership in Mobile Client Platforms.
At home, David is happily married, is passionate about creativity media and as a struggling guitarist loves all music. In his spare time, he volunteers at Medical Teams International and has three grandkids under the age of six-years that keep him busy.