Windows 11 is not scheduled to be officially revealed until June 24, but a lot of rumors already suggest that upcoming hybrid CPUs could be getting a performance bump from the new OS.
Overclock3D reports that Windows 11 is going to feature a task scheduler that could be of great help to hybrid CPU architectures, which includes the still-unreleased big.LITTLE architecture from Intel. This could be really great news for Team Blue, who has been feeling the brunt of AMD Ryzen's attack for the past few years.
There are two notable hybrid architectures right now, with one scheduled to release for desktop systems later this year. Lakefield is the one currently out, and Alder Lake is slated for a November launch. These chips, both of which are from Intel, are going to feature tech that used to be exclusive to mobile phone processors, which are designed for maximum efficiency.
A few computer hardware websites put these claims to the test, and HotHardware was among the first. They got hold of the leaked Windows 11 developer build and installed it on a Samsung Galaxy Book S, which features a Lakefield Core i5 L16G7 processor. There was a noticeable improvement, even if the numbers don't suggest an earth-shaking improvement.
VideoCardz reported that in specific benchmark programs like Geekbench, the leaked Windows 11 build showed an almost 6% boost from the current Windows 10 build. Other benchmarks like Cinebench R23 and PC Mark 10 likewise showed improved performance for the Lakefield-based laptop on Windows 11 as well.
Windows 11 and Hybrid CPUs: What's the Deal?
There's not much detail concerning why the leaked Windows 11 build makes a hybrid CPU architecture like Lakefield perform better. But perhaps there could be a hint in the way these chips are designed.
Intel's aptly named big.LITTLE architecture is built differently compared to other modern CPUs. The hint is in the name: a hybrid CPU has a group of full-sized, high-powered cores partnered with another group of small-scale, power-efficient ones. A single-chip may have, say, 8 full-sized cores and 8 smaller cores, just like those featured on the leaked Alder Lake-S chips earlier this year.
The job of the bigger cores will be to perform the major tasks, like gaming or productivity workloads. The smaller cores, on the other hand, will be responsible for handling mostly background apps. This results in increased power efficiency and overall performance because the computer basically only uses the hardware that it actually needs.
Perhaps there is a built-in trick that Windows 11 uses to make use of the big specifically.LITTLE architecture, causing these performance gains. If so, then the rumored LGA 1700 motherboards should feature out-of-the-box support for Windows 11 come launch day.
For now, people should still take this information with a grain of salt. Microsoft isn't going to reveal the next version of Windows until later this week. Until then, everything is mere speculation.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
