Alder Lake vs. Sapphire P-Core (Golden Cove)

[AndrewAwalt]

This may be a silly question but since Alder Lake and Sapphire Rapids P-cores are the same or very similar, why doesn't Alder Lake have AMX instructions?

-Andrew

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @AndrewAwalt  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities. I will gladly assist you here. 

Let me do some research about your inquiry. As soon as I have updates, I will post them here. 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @AndrewAwalt  

Thank you for your time. 

The Instruction Set Extensions are additional instructions that can increase performance when the same operations are performed on multiple data objects.  

Please take in mind that Intel AMX instructions are a technology that is exclusive for Intel® Data Center Systems (server processors), which is why you haven't found them on the alder lake models, which is another family supporting its specific set of instructions.  

To know how to find the instructions supported by your processor, you can follow the steps below:  

Option 1 

1. Identify Intel® Processor and note the processor number. 
2. Go to the Product Specification Page and enter the number of the Intel processor in the search box. 
3. Look in the Advanced Technologies section and look for Instruction Set Extensions. 

Option 2 

You can use the Intel® Processor Identification Utility. Follow the steps below: 

1. Install Intel identification utility. 
2. Click CPU Technologies tab. 
3. Look up the Intel® Instruction Set Extensions. 

For more information about Instruction Set Architecture, you can check the following article Intel® Instruction Set Extensions Technology 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician.