An Article from Sisoftware
What Intel needs is SVE-like variable width AVX (AVX-V?) to solve hybrid
I agree with the premise, but I think they chose possibly the worse possible argument for it. Hybrid is, as far as we know, exclusive to client products. Client does not benefit significantly from wide vector support. They even lampshade this fact by acknowledging that despite using a vector length agnostic ISA, most current ARM cores (including the big ones!) don't actually support large vectors. For the HPC/compute applications that really benefit from it, Intel will have the server chips with all the bells and whistles available.
Instead, I'd argue that the greatest advantage is minimizing fragmentation. The same executable should be compatible across Rapids, Forest, and Lakes. But this could even be achieved with a smaller standard for vector length.
What intel needs is a normal 16 big cores with SMT chip that has no compromises... That's why AMD will have an upper hand with 7950X, it's a no compromise 16 big cores product that clocks super high with comparable (or better) IPC and AVX512 support.
It's not hybrid that's holding Intel back there. The opposite, if anything. Across the multicore loads that would actually give you a reason to buy the 7950x, Alder/Raptor Lake are heavily reliant on Gracemont to keep them competitive. And clearly from the benchmarks we've seen, AVX512 isn't providing a large advantage for common workloads.
As a thought experiment, imagine a Lake product with 16 big cores worth of area, on a competitive node. How would, say, 12+16, 10+24, or even 8+32 GLC/GRT on TSMC N5P perform? Obviously that would be
more than competitive with Raphael, AVX512 or not. But instead Intel's forced to stick with a node disadvantage and choose to invest less silicon. Though in an ideal world, big cores and little cores would be unique dies that could be easily mixed and matched to suit everyone's needs.
Oh, and AMD's probably going to adopt hybrid eventually as well. They've been rather openly considering it, and Zen 4c is just the start. I'm not sure if I believe the Zen 5 + Zen 4c rumors, but it's gonna happen
eventually. I'm sure some of the griping will have stopped by then.