Regardless of Intel’s numerous plans to kill AVX-512 on Alder Lake CPUs, older chips can nonetheless make the most of the AVX-512 instruction set underneath the fitting circumstances. Zingaburga on GitHub not too long ago posted an article detailing easy methods to test which Alder Lake CPU has AVX-512 compatibility for customers who wish to use the instruction set on Alder Lake.
To test for AVX-512 compatibility, Zingaburga says you will must test the batch quantity in your Alder Lake CPU or the chip you’re probably shopping for. Batch numbers with V149 or X149 or decrease could have the AVX-512 instruction set enabled on the silicon. Whereas codes beginning with V150 or X150 by V201 or X201 might probably help AVX-512, it isn’t assured.
Codes V202 or X202 or increased will probably be newer Alder Lake chips with the AVX-512 instruction set fused off, so these chips won’t have AVX-512 compatibility of any type.
However there are nonetheless a number of different belongings you want to concentrate on to make sure AVX-512 will perform. The primary is CPU microcode help which must be model 0x16 or earlier to allow AVX-512. If in case you have something newer, AVX-512 will not work. You’ll be able to test this by working {hardware} monitoring apps equivalent to HWInfo64, which is able to inform you what microcode model your system is working at (HWInfo64 lists it as MCU).
Subsequent is BIOS compatibility, which may vary considerably relying on the seller. In accordance with Zingaburga, MSI is the one dependable vendor that seems to be supporting AVX-512 as a complete. For Z690 motherboards, BIOS model 1.1 or later helps AVX-512, whereas BIOS model 1.2 features a CPU microcode toggle to maintain AVX-512 help when you want it.
The identical seems to be true for MSI’s B660 lineup; nevertheless, this hasn’t been absolutely confirmed.
With different distributors, it is extra of a hit and miss which BIOS’s help AVX-512. So you will need to analysis the board you’re looking at (or have already got) to see which helps AVX-512.
Alder Lake’s AVX-512 Story
Try our earlier protection right here for a full rundown story of Alder Lake’s story with AVX-512. Briefly, early manufacturing models of Alder Lake chips had their AVX-512 instruction units intact from the manufacturing unit, however Intel did not need it enabled for unknown causes. Motherboard producer’s caught wind of this and created a change to permit AVX-512 proper from the BIOS.
Intel countered this with new microcode updates to cease AVX-512 enablement, however even that was countered by the truth that older BIOS microcodes nonetheless existed, and customers might change to these variations at any time. To not point out MSI’s good technique of constructing a microcode switcher into newer BIOS’s made the method simpler for customers.
Lastly, Intel put an finish to all of this by completely fusing off the AVX-512 module in newer manufacturing fashions of all Alder Lake processors.