Intel to Go Ahead with “Meteor Lake” 6P+16E Processor on the Desktop Platform?

Late last year, it was reported that Intel is skipping its upcoming “Meteor Lake” microarchitecture for the desktop platform, giving it a mobile-platform debut in late-2023, with “Arrow Lake” following on in 2024, which would address both platforms. In the interim, Intel was expected to release a “Raptor Lake Refresh” architecture for desktop in 2023. It turns out now, that both the “Raptor Lake Refresh” and “Meteor Lake” architectures are coming to desktop—we just don’t know when.

Apparently, Intel will brazen it out against AMD with a maximum CPU core-count of just 6 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores possible for “Meteor Lake.” It’s just that both the P-cores and a E-cores get an IPC uplift with “Meteor Lake.” The processor features up to six “Redwood Cove” P-cores with an IPC uplift over the current “Raptor Cove” cores; and introduce the new “Crestmont” E-cores. A lot will depend on the IPC uplift of the latter. Leaf_hobby, a reliable source with Intel leaks on social media, has some interesting details on the I/O capabilities of “Meteor Lake” on the desktop platform.

Apparently, “Meteor Lake-S” (the desktop variant), comes with a PCI-Express host interface of 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, and 12 PCIe Gen 4 lanes from the processor. This works out to a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 PEG interface, one PCI-Express 5.0 x4 interface for the first CPU-attached NVMe SSD, one PCI-Express 4.0 x4 for a second CPU-attached NVMe SSD; and 8 PCI-Express 4.0 lanes toward the DMI chipset bus.

The companion Z890 chipset, the top desktop motherboard chipset option for “Meteor Lake-S,” comes with an all-Gen 4 PCIe interface. It puts out 24 PCIe Gen 4 downstream lanes. With this platform, Intel could standardize Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be), a new wireless networking standard with a theoretical maximum bandwidth of over 40 Gbps.

Lastly, there’s the question of platform. “Meteor Lake-S” is unlikely to be supported on the current LGA1700 platform, and Intel is expected to debut the new Socket LGA1851 for “Meteor Lake-S” and its succeeding “Arrow Lake.” The new socket could maintain cooler-compatibility with LGA1700, though.