[Hardware] Difference between processors with monolithic and heterogeneous cores

[FNX Magokiler]

Surely in recent months you have heard a lot about processors with heterogeneous cores, but you don't know what it means. Although you heard it mainly about Intel processors, we know that AMD will apply it in future generations of Ryzen. We are going to explain in a simple way what a heterogeneous processor is and how it differs from the previous structure of monolithic processors.

First of all, you should know that this is not Intel's heterogeneous processors, but they have copied it. To say that they have copied it is to simplify it a lot, let's say that they have extrapolated the idea of the ARM architecture.

Maybe ARM doesn't dream of you either, but they are specialized in designing cores for smartphone processors. Yes, in your pocket you carry a processor from this company, well, designed by them since they do not manufacture anything. Don't worry, we are going to give you all the keys so that you can show off your technological knowledge at your friends gatherings.

Understanding the term monolithic processor
First of all, you should know that monolithic does not at any time refer to the size of the processors. It rather refers to the cores and not to their size, but to their design.

You should know that processors formerly had 1 core exclusively.

 

 

The first commercial processor to have a higher count was the Intel Core2Duo released in 2011 and which had two cores. Currently we have commercial processors with up to 16 cores and more if we look at solutions for other uses.

Monolithic refers to the design and manufacturing of processors. Specifically, it tells us that all the cores have the same size within the DIE of the processor.

Actually, it does not make any real reference to the size of the core or its power. What's more, up to the 10th generation Intel Core, the size of the cores has been compressed, allowing the number to increase.

Therefore, monolithic is only a type of name to catalog processors with one architecture or typology of cores compared to the new ones that use two architectures or typologies of cores, which are called heterogeneous.

ARM and its big.LITTLE architecture
The first thing you should know is that ARM does not manufacture absolutely anything. This company specializes in core design and other solutions that it offers to companies like Samsung, Qualcomm and any other company that wants its designs. They offer permission for them to take their designs and combine them however they want, paying, obviously.

 

https://hardzone.es/noticias/procesadores/diferencia-procesadores-nucleos-monoliticos-heterogeneos/