Processors for PCs are constantly evolving, with the introduction of a radically new chip design always being a gamble. Arm’s hybrid big.LITTLE design philosophy, widely adopted in the smartphone market, has been a major success story over the past decade. This design has boosted performance and efficiency in mobile devices for years. A similar benefit was seen when Intel introduced a parallel design scheme with its “Alder Lake” processors in 2021, marking one of the biggest architectural paradigm shifts in the company’s history.
While AMD has seen success with its own pioneering processor designs, particularly with its “chiplet” innovations, it has been slow to adopt its own big.LITTLE chip design. Although AMD has made some efforts in this direction, it has yet to implement a true big.LITTLE product. The upcoming generation of AMD processors may change this, but it is important to analyze why AMD needs a true big.LITTLE design in the first place and speculate on what that design could look like.
The concept of a hybrid big.LITTLE processor design involves combining separate processor architectures with different strengths and weaknesses to complement each other in various scenarios. Arm introduced this concept by combining Cortex A7 cores with Cortex A15 cores, while Intel followed suit with its Alder Lake processors featuring high-performance cores (P-cores) and efficient cores (E-cores). These designs aim to balance energy efficiency with performance by utilizing the appropriate cores for different tasks.
AMD’s recent efforts to create big.LITTLE-like designs have differed from those of Arm and Intel, with AMD using a similar architecture for both its high-performance and efficiency cores. The introduction of Zen 4c architecture with smaller CPU cores in the Epyc 9004 Bergamo server processor series showcased AMD’s approach to achieving efficiency gains through redesigning existing architectures.
Although AMD’s current designs have shown promise, they do not fully embrace the big.LITTLE concept seen in Arm and Intel processors, leading to performance discrepancies between different processor cores. This difference in core performance can impact overall system performance and competitiveness in the market.
Looking ahead, it remains to be seen if AMD will develop a new architecture with a true big.LITTLE design. Leveraging older architectures like “Jaguar” or simplifying existing designs like Zen 4c could be potential starting points for creating a more efficient and cost-effective small core. As the tech industry continues to evolve, competition from companies like Intel and Qualcomm may push AMD to explore new design strategies to stay competitive in the market.
In conclusion, the development of a true big.LITTLE processor design could be a critical step for AMD to enhance performance, reduce production costs, and improve overall efficiency in its processor lineup. With AMD expected to unveil its next-generation processor design soon, industry observers eagerly anticipate the company’s future innovations and competitive offerings in the market.
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https://me.pcmag.com/en/processors/23744/a-biglittle-problem-amd-better-hustle-to-top-intel-arm-on-hybrid-chip-designs