I just want to point out that Arrow Lake is a truly new core for Intel on a brand new (20A) 5nm node. My concern is that Zen 5 will be on TSMC 5nm which they call 4nm because it's more advanced than N5 silicon. It trails TSMC 3nm in efficiency by 15-20%. Zen 5 was supposed to be on the 3nm silicon but TSMC has a shortage of 3nm or AMD elected to wait it out because they are cheap.
Alder Lake was a new Intel process. I know they like to call steps in their tick tock scheme new processes. Arrow Lake is a legit entirely new process. Alder Lake Intel made a huge IPC leap over Rocket Lake. I expect to see another big leap in IPC from Intel with Arrow Lake and a huge jump in efficiency because of the 20A node. I know they like to call it 2nm equivalent to TSMC silicon but it's a true 5nm process. Intel silicon is more dense than TSMC, some think that means better silicon.
Intel is going from 10nm silicon to 5nm (20A silicon with Arrow Lake. My concern for Zen 5 is that people think Intel is blowing smoke and ignoring the new process which brings a level playing field in core count potential as well as much better efficiency. The new 20A node may also provide an uplift in performance similar to what TSMC 7nm delivered for Zen 2.
That's why I said in previous posts that AMD should fast track Zen 5. AMD bumped the TDP of Zen 4 because they worried that Intel would wipe the floor with them. Intel has been selling space heaters disguised as CPU's for a long time. With 20A, that will no longer be the case. It just seems Intel takes two or three steps forward for every step or two AMD makes. Some people choose to ignore facts. Alder Lake was released on 10nm and that was the first Intel CPU on the new node. Everything before that for more than 6 years was on 14nm.
Intel has said they will have a process lead over TSMC with 18A.
AMD better make a strong showing with Zen 5. I think AMD really needs to be on 3nm for the sake of efficiency. I think a lot of people are hyping up Zen 5 without considering the silicon the processors will be sitting on. AMD has yet to show the ability to make a huge generational jump in IPC on the Ryzen platform. Zen 1 does not count because the processors before it were so bad. Zen 2 and Zen 3 were really good gains but Zen 4 was a disappointment. I personally think Intel will have at least a 20% IPC gain with Arrow Lake. AMD's core count advantage will be gone because Intel will be on 5nm silicon as well.
I do not think AMD will be in the rear view mirror of Intel. I do think AMD will end up far enough back where they cannot perform a pit maneuver on Intel. I guess we will find out by the end of the year