Recently, there has been a lot of gossip about Microsoft Win12.
Foreign media WindowsCentral reported that Microsoft will launch the Win12 system in June next year, codenamed Hudson Valley (Hudson River), the main selling point is the "next generation of AI experience", these experiences cover all aspects of the entire system, but most of the new features may need to be matched with new NPU hardware to enable.
For example, Win12 will add a "picture super-resolution technology" that can use NPU hardware to improve the clarity of videos and games through AI technology, similar to NVIDIA's RTX VSR video super resolution technology, which can re-render low-definition video to high-definition video.
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In addition, Win12 will have an AI-enhanced version of live captions, which can translate many different languages in real time, and will not only be able to be used in videos, but also live calls.
There is also news that Microsoft is working on a new History/Timeline feature for Win12, which will enhance Windows' search function, where users can use natural language to search for content that has been previously opened or viewed on a computer.
For example, even if a user doesn't remember the name or content of a document, they can search for "find a document that was sent to me on QQ a few days ago." With AI large language models, Windows can already understand natural language and handle user needs.
So, this wave of Win12 updates is all about a hodgepodge of AI, and there's always a new feature you like.
However, according to foreign media reports, since most of the AI functions of Win12 rely on the NPU of local hardware, it has high requirements for the computing power of the device.
It is reported that Microsoft is working with hardware manufacturers to design hardware products with performance exceeding 40 TOPs to meet the AI computing power needs of the next generation of Windows systems.
As a result, AI PCs in the Windows ecosystem may have a new set of computing power standards, and computers that do not meet the computing power standards will not be able to use Win12. This may lead to a large number of old computers not being able to upgrade to Win12, similar to the dilemma when Win11 was launched, many computers could not be upgraded because they did not have TPM.
As partners of Microsoft, Intel and AMD have long been preparing for the next generation of Win12.
Intel officially launched the first generation of Intel Core Ultra processors based on the Meteor Lake architecture just this week, and the first batch of processors to hit the market includes the Core Ultra 7/5 series. One of the highlights of its products is that it provides up to 34 TOPS of AI computing power.
The new Core Ultra series is powered by the Intel 4 process technology and provides 6 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, and 2 low-power island efficiency cores, for a total of 22 threads.
Thanks to the new inter 4 process, the Core Ultra 7 165H is also more power-efficient than ever, with up to 79% power savings, such as live video streaming or 4K local video playback, which will save more than 40% of power consumption. General daily use, such as web browsing, will also save around 7% of power consumption.
This generation of Ultra also supports AI-accelerated instruction sets (e.g., VNNI). Both E-Core and P-Core can support the same instruction set, and tasks can be executed on P-Core, E-Core or even LPE-Core. This prepares the CPU side for AI acceleration.
In terms of GPU, this generation of Intel Core Ultra integrates Intel Arc GPU, which is different from the 13th generation and supports DX12 Ultimate features after adopting the new Xe LPG architecture, so that the integrated graphics card also supports graphics functions such as hardware ray tracing.
Some of Intel's discrete graphics technologies have also been delegated to Ultra's integrated graphics, such as DP4A AI instruction support to accelerate AI computing faster, and XeSS Super Sampling to improve game smoothness and clarity through AI.
This time, the Core Ultra also adds a new NPU as the main provider of AI computing power, which is dedicated to handling AI work, while being able to balance efficiency and power saving under high loads.
The CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs of this Ultra processor all have greatly enhanced support for AI, so the overall computing power of the Core Ultra has now reached an astonishing 34 TOPs, which is the computing power that can only be achieved by desktop graphics in the past.
And this month, new products equipped with Core Ultra will be launched one after another, such as ASUS Zenbook 14 2024, Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro 16 2024, Thor MIX PRO mini computer, and so on.
Not only Intel is focusing on AI, but AMD next door is also-for-tat, launching Ryzen 8040 series processors to compete with the Core Ultra series.
Earlier this month, AMD officially announced the Ryzen 8040 series APUs, which have a small improvement in overall performance compared with the 7th generation Ryzen, but a significant increase in NPU performance.
The Ryzen 8040 series is equipped with the Zen 4 CPU core architecture with RDNA 3 graphics.
There are three main segments of the series: the Ryzen 8045HS as the flagship model of the series, the Ryzen 8040HS as the mainstream shipping model, and the Ryzen 8040U as the entry-level SKU designed for power-optimized platforms.
According to the official introduction, the 8040 series has added XDNA NPU, providing up to 16 TOPs of computing power, but unfortunately the 8540U and 8440U do not have NPU, in other words, AMD only provides this new NPU in mid-to-high-end models.
According to foreign media revelations, this NPU seems to have achieved a performance improvement through overclocking, and the computing power has increased from 10 TOPs to 16 TOPs.
TO HIGHLIGHT THE AI PERFORMANCE OF THE RYZEN 8040 SERIES, AMD HAS ALSO INTRODUCED NEW STICKERS WITH THE WORDS "RYZEN AI":
However, products with Ryzen 8040 series processors are not available yet, and it is expected to wait until early next year.
At present, Intel AMD's two product lines next year will mainly be volume AI performance. Whether the AI PC concept can successfully bring the sluggish PC hardware market back to the top depends on the demand and response of consumers.
This article originated from IT House