Intel “Raptor Lake Refresh” Meant to Fill in for Scrapped “Meteor Lake” Desktop?
“Meteor Lake” is Intel’s first client processor to fully incorporate the company’s IDM 2.0 product development strategy of disintegrating the processor into multiple chiplets built on various foundry nodes based on design needs; and combining them onto a single package with a high-performance interconnect. “Meteor Lake” has just one problem and that is CPU core-counts, with rumors pointing to 6P+16E (6 performance cores + 16 efficiency cores) being the maximum core-count possible, something Intel probably feels won’t be competitive in the desktop segment against AMD, which will probably have a lineup of “Zen 4” X3D processors out by Q3-2023, with up to 16 P-cores. The company will, however, give “Meteor Lake” a sizable launch in the various mobile segments.
“Raptor Lake Refresh” remains shrouded in mystery, particularly what Intel does with packaging it—whether it retains LGA1700 or uses the next LGA1851 package; or whether it is a speed-bump, or like “Coffee Lake Refresh,” Intel could even increases the core-counts. Assuming Intel doesn’t change the silicon from the present 8P+16E, the “Refresh” series could see incremental core-count uplifts among each Core brand extension (eg: Core i5 going from 6P+8E to 6P+16E); besides clock speed increases. Should Intel take the path of changing the socket to LGA1851, the company might change the branding to 14th Gen Core, release a new chipset, with the socket probably offering improved I/O, such as CPU-attached PCIe Gen 5 NVMe (currently Gen 4). These LGA1851 motherboards will come with preparation for next-generation “Arrow Lake” processors due in 2024.