Alder Lake mobile processor power consumption limit leak

At present, all signs indicate that Intel will launch Alder Lake processors within this year, and it will be launched on both mobile and desktop platforms. The release time is at least after September, and the actual product launch is expected to wait until the end of the year. Anyway, the 12th generation Core will all adopt Alder Lake architecture, there is no longer a product with two architectures like the 10th and 11th generations.

Coelacanth’s Dream found that the Google Brya platform Coreboot updated the PL4 descriptions of Alder Lake-P and Alder Lake-M. Intel PL4 refers to the maximum power consumption limit of the CPU package, exceeding this value may cause damage to the CPU. In fact, for users, the power consumption of PL2 and PL1 of the CPU is an important factor that affects performance. According to Intel’s specifications, the duration of instantaneous power consumption exceeding PL2 will not exceed 10ms.

The Brya patch revealed the power consumption settings of U9 in Alder Lake-M and U15, U28, and H45 in Alder Lake-P, Alder Lake-M’s M5, and Alder Lake-S’s H55 and desktop models are not involved. Alder Lake-M U9 has 2 large cores and 8 small cores. PL1 is not higher than 9W, PL2 is not higher than 30W, PL4 is not higher than 68W, which is basically the same as Tiger Lake-UP4, PL2 is 5W lower, and PL4 2W higher.

Alder Lake-P U15 also has 2 large cores and 8 small cores. PL1 is not higher than 15W, PL2 is not higher than 55W, and PL4 is not higher than 123W. The counterpoint is the current dual-core Tiger Lake-UP3. Alder Lake-P U28 has 4 large cores and 8 small cores. PL1 is not higher than 28W, PL2 is not higher than 64W, and PL4 is not higher than 115W. The counterpoint is the current quad-core Tiger Lake-UP3.

Alder Lake-P H45 has 6 large cores and 8 small cores. PL1 is not higher than 45W, PL2 is not higher than 64W, and PL4 is not higher than 215W. The counterpoint is the current Tiger Lake-H45, which can be seen on PL2. The limit is lower and there is no change in PL1
The above table is the estimated values ​​of PL1, PL2, and PL4 of Alder Lake-P with different core numbers on Chromebooks. Generally speaking, Tiger Lake has not changed much, but PL1 and PL2 are OEM manufacturers that can change within a certain range according to the positioning and heat dissipation design of the machine, as long as it does not exceed PL4.