Chinese leaker reveals release schedule for Raptor Lake and Sapphire Rapids refreshes as well as Intel's new 4nm and 3nm/2nm processors
Intel has recently hinted at release of new desktop processors when the company announced the Intel InnovatiON event which was used to unveil the 12th and 13th generation Core desktop processors (Alder Lake, Raptor Lake for socket 1700) in previous years. However, it’s likely that only a paper launch will come directly at this event and the real CPUs will come out later. Unofficial reports from Chinese leakers now reveal when that will be.
A user with the nickname ECSM_Official who has a decent track record chimed in on Bilibili with information on when Intel is going to release several upcoming processor families for desktops, workstations, and laptops.
First up will be the new desktop processors, which are supposed to be a refresh of current Raptor Lake chips. According to some indications, they will come out as 14th generation Core processors, i.e. for example a Core i9-14900K, assuming that the old branding would still have been used, with these chips making it out before the rebranding that is going to drop the “i”). These processors will still use the LGA 1700 socket boards and shouldn’t be much different from today’s Core 13th generation processors.
The main thing that will change is probably the clock speed and maybe the TDPs. The maximum corecount is still going to be 8+16 cores / 32 threads, which is determined by the reused older chips Intel has available. But lower-end models may have more cores than before, within this overall envelope. For example, some reports hint at a Core i7 variant with 8 big and 12 little cores (28 threads).
Not just 125W but also 65W models before year’s end
Intel will initially release enthusiast models with unlocked multiplier (i.e. perhaps 14900K, 14700K, 14600K and possibly a KF model without an iGPU) that make up the K-series. These are due out in October this year.
The following detail is interesting: Intel will also release 65W models with a locked multiplier (models like i9-14900, i7-14700 and possibly F variants without an iGPU) almost immediately afterwards. These mainstream processors were usually released by Intel after a longer period of time, usually falling into the following year (for Raptor Lake it was this January). It’s supposed to be different with the Raptor Lake refresh, where the 65W processors – or at least part of them – are due out as early as November or December, still in 2023.
Sill talking about the “current generation” of CPUs, Intel is also planning a refresh of Sapphire Rapids processors in the workstation and high-end desktop segment (W-2400 W-3400 Xeons on the W790 platform) according to ECSM_Official. There will be some new models labelled as Sapphire Rapids Refresh, which would probably also be based on reused current generation silicon, but would differ in clock speed and similar parameters. This refresh should come out sometime in early 2024. However, we know that Intel is also preparing new Emerald Rapids processors for servers and one would expect that those would come on the W790 platform as the next generation (W-2500, W-3500) instead of such a older parts refresh. But it’s possible that Emerald Rapids will be exclusively for servers and won’t come to the WS and HEDT segments.
New generation: Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake in desktop
Processors using Intel’s next generation technology are still a distant future for the desktop. ECSM_Official joins the sources that say 4nm Meteor Lake-S desktop processors have been completely cancelled. This CPU generation is only going to be released in laptop market this year, which will happen in the fourth quarter of the year (i.e. October-December timeframe, likely to be pre-announced at InnovatiON).
These are supposed to be the more powerful Meteor Lake-H models likely using 45W TDP (note: that is assuming that the TDPs will be unchanged from previous generations, the report doesn’t mention actual values for any of these processors, so these are all just guesses). The number of cores are said to be 6 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores (with two other lower-power E-Cores present in the SoC chiplet). No date is given for the launch lower-power U variant.
New technologies for desktop one year later
ECSM_Official also gives a launch timeline for the successor to the cancelled Meteor Lake desktop parts, which is supposed to be the Arrow Lake CPU generation, which will come with a new architecture and probably also an increased number of cores and is rumored to use the 2nm manufacturing process (Intel 20A). However, this may only apply to the mobile versions for laptops, while the desktop version may use a different technology. There has been some talk of the 3nm TSMC process. Arrow Lake will be a chiplet or tile-based processor, so different parts of it will use different process nodes, likely mixing Intel and TSMC-made silicon. Arrow Lake will use the new LGA 1851 socket, and will therefore require new motherboards. It is with these processors that the new features introduced by Meteor Lake in laptops this year would be finally coming to the desktop, though with a delay. And with that, the Core Ultra brand as well, we reckon…
The Arrow Lake-S desktop variant of these processors is expected to be launched in the in either Q4 2024 (October–December) or Q1 2025 (January–March). That’s roughly a year after the desktop Meteor Lake was supposed to be available, which proves that Arrow Lake is basically the next generation, which was originally supposed to be the second one using the LGA 1851 platform.
Sources: VideoCardz, Bilibili, HXL
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
⠀
