Which is better, one big orange, or a bag full of oranges? This is an analogy to consider when thinking about AMD and Intel's approaches to the design of their processors. In the case of Intel, it has been building its superiors in monolithic architecture since 2005, ever since it became so popular Pentium D which was laughed at when they were found to be two processors put together.
What is monolithic construction?
The word "monolithic" almost speaks for itself. The linear processor is called a monolithic construct whose components are combined into a single integrated circuit, and although these components are built in a different way, they include a single die. In other words, all of its cores, iGPUs, cache memory, memory controller and other processors, everything is integrated into one chip
In the clear sense that everything is integrated into the same chip, it should be said that each composition is obviously unique. So, we can find processors that with the same die combine the two cores up to 64 cores today, but in all cases there is an additional feature that links them all in one place. This is the basic quality of monolithic architecture, and what distinguishes it from other structures, such as that Chiplets the most talked about, or imagined future systematic composition.
Chips and chiplets
To better understand the concept of monolithic construction, we must make a small section on chips and chiplets. Do you remember that earlier we talked about Pentium D, which has two "sticky" processors? AMD took that idea and was able to accomplish it literally but well done.
The Lyzen processor is made up of several CCX (Core Complexes), and each of them is actually an independent crate processor with four crates and its shared L3 cache. For example, the Ryzen 9 3900X has 64 MB of L3 cache divided into 16 MB by each CCX.
The CCX pair connects to each other through infinity Fabric connections to make CCD (Core Complex Die), which also connects to others through infinity Fabric, and up to 8 CCD (each with 8 cores) what is today called MCM, or a large chip module. The main purpose of doing this is basically a reduction in production costs.
This is a significant difference in monolithic composition, and the drawing above certainly describes it very well.
