New rumors regarding Intel's next-gen desktop CPU lineup including Raptor Lake Refresh, Meteor Lake & Arrow Lake have been disclosed.
Intel Readies Raptor Lake Refresh Desktop CPUs For Late Q3 2023, Meteor Lake Up To Core i7 & Arrow Lake Up To Core i9 In 2024
Once again, we have the latest rumors coming from Enthusiast Citizen who talks about at least 3 upcoming Intel Desktop CPU families. These include the Intel Raptor Lake Refresh, Meteor Lake & Arrow Lake. The details can be found below.
Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh Desktop CPU Lineup (2023):
Intel won't be moving away from its 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs for the majority of 2023. In fact, the company plans on launching a Raptor Lake Refresh family around the second half of 2023, or Q3 to be precise. This family will be based on a slightly optimized 10ESF node, allowing the blue team to squeeze 100 or 200 MHz more out of the chips.
The company will also be launching the flagship Core i9-13900KS early next year but that's not a part of the Raptor Lake Refresh family. A small bump in frequency may not be noticeable and won't deliver the same kind of gains that AMD offers with its next-gen X3D parts which are expected in the first half of 2023. The 13th Gen Raptor Lake family will be compatible with the existing Intel LGA 1700/1800 socket.
Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake Desktop CPU Lineup (2024)
Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake-S Desktop CPUs will take a step back and reduce the number of P-Cores while retaining the number of E-Cores. The lineup listed in leaked charts includes five different SKU configurations with the top variants featuring up to 22 cores in a combination of 6 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores. The P-Cores on the Meteor Lake CPUs are based on the brand-new Redwood Cove architecture while the E-Cores will utilize the Crestmont design. Both of these are new and improved architecture as reported by Coelacanth-Dream a few weeks back.
The full list of configurations includes:
- Meteor Lake-S 22 (6P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 125W TDP
- Meteor Lake-S 22 (6P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 65W TDP
- Meteor Lake-S 22 (6P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 35W TDP
- Meteor Lake-S 14 (6P + 8E) / 4 Xe Cores / 65WTDP
- Meteor Lake-S 14 (6P + 8E) / 4 Xe Cores / 35WTDP
In addition to the SKUs, we also get to learn that all SKUs will feature at least 4 Xe Cores for the iGPU and that's going to offer 64 Execution Units or 512 ALUs. That's 2 Xe Cores less than the DG2-powered Arc A310 graphics card which is the lowest-tier discrete board in the family but an integrated GPU with this much capability will be on par or even better than the RDNA 2 iGPU on AMD's Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs. Only the top die configuration will have a 125W "Unlocked" SKU range while the rest will come in the standard "Non-K" and "T" series with 65W and 35W TDPs.
The one thing to note here is that the 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs will only be available in up to Core i7 parts and there will be no Core i9 part due to the lowered core count. The CPU will retain the Intel 4 (CPU) + TSMC N5 (tGPU) + TSMC N6 (SOC) process nodes.
Intel 15th Gen Arrow Lake Desktop CPU Lineup (2024)
The Intel 15th Gen Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs will bring back the 24 cores that we get on Raptor Lake CPUs today. The Arrow Lake-S top die will utilize up to 24 cores which will be a combination of 8 Performance Cores and 16 Efficiency Cores. According to the Enthusiast Citizen, the lineup will only come in Core i7 and Core i9 flavors. The CPU will retain the Intel 4 (CPU) + TSMC N3 (GPU) SKU node layout. It is rumored that the 20A node won't make its way to the desktop lineup. Following is the full list of SKUs to expect from the lineup:
- Arrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 125W TDP
- Arrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 65W TDP
- Arrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E) / 4 Xe Cores / 35W TDP
Intel Desktop CPU Core Count Progression:
| Family Name | Total Cores | Total Threads | P-Cores | E-Cores | Top SKU Frequency | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Bridge | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 3.90 GHz | 2011 |
| Ivy Bridge | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 3.90 GHz | 2012 |
| Haswell | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 4.00 GHz | 2013 |
| Broadwell | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 3..80 GHz | 2014 |
| Skylake | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 4.20 GHz | 2015 |
| Kaby Lake | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | 4.50 GHz | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake | 6 | 12 | N/A | N/A | 5.00 GHz | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake Refresh | 8 | 16 | N/A | N/A | 5.00 GHz | 2018 |
| Comet Lake | 10 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 5.30 GHz | 2020 |
| Rocket Lake | 8 | 16 | N/A | N/A | 5.30 GHz | 2021 |
| Alder Lake | 16 | 24 | 8 | 8 | 5.50 GHz | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake | 24 | 32 | 8 | 16 | 6.00 GHz | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh | 24 | 32 | 8 | 16 | 6.20 GHz? | 2023 |
| Meteor Lake | - | - | - | - | - | Cancelled |
| Arrow Lake | 24 | 32 | 8 | 16 | TBD | ~2024 |
| Panther Lake | 40 | 48 | 8 | 32 | TBD | ~2025 |
| Beast Lake | 80 | 96 | 16 | 64 | TBD | ~2026 |
The difference with the Arrow Lake-S lineup is that all of the configurations feature the top 24 core die and the only difference is the TDP itself. It is likely that lower core count SKUs will be derived from these dies. Intel also seems to have retained the 4 Xe Cores from the Meteor Lake lineup but we expect these to feature a brand new Arc graphics architecture. The 14th Gen Meteor Lake chips are based on a TSMC 5nm GPU architecture while the 15th Gen Arrow Lake CPUs will utilize a TSMC 3nm graphics architecture, as we reported here.
We can't say for sure if Intel will retain the number of ALUs and EUs as the existing Alchemist chips on its future integrated GPUs but the Arrow Lake-P parts are expected to offer up to 2560 Xe Cores which is a 5x increase over the integrated GPUs on the desktop parts.
We know from previous reports that Intel is preparing a new socket known as "V" that will offer support for at least two generations of desktop CPUs, the Meteor Lake-S and Arrow Lake-S. This LGA 1851 socket will be very similar in dimensions to the existing LGA 1700/1800 socket but will offer more pins and added support for new/enhanced features.
During its recent investors call, Intel said that they are progressing really well on their Intel 4 & Intel 3 products. The 14th Gen Meteor Lake production stepping is scheduled to be delivered this quarter with a volume ramp in 2023 while Intel 3 is also expected to enter the early production phase by the end of 2023. Do note that these are early charts and we are still years away from the launch of Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs.
Intel Mainstream CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processor Architecture | Graphics Architecture | Processors Cores/Threads (Max) | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | Intel 7 | Golden Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 16/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh (TBA) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2023 |
| Meteor Lake | Intel 4 | Redwood Cove (P-Core) Crestmont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 22/28 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake | Intel 20A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/32 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake Refresh (TBA) | Intel 20A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | TBD | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2025 |
| Lunar Lake | Intel 18A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe2 (Battlemage) | 8/8? | LGA 1851? | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2025 |
| Panther Lake (TBA) | Intel 18A | Cougar Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe3 (Celestial) | TBD | LGA 1851? | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 6.0? | 2026 |
| Nova Lake (TBA) | TBA | TBD | TBA | TBA | TBA | DDR5? | PCIe Gen 6.0? | 2026 |
| Adams Lake (TBA) | TBA | Douglas Cove (P-Core) | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 2026-2027? |
