A recent leak from Chinese language social media platform Weibo has urged that we may see 14th-gen Intel CPUs touchdown as early as this yr – however there’s a fairly vital caveat that has me severely anxious about Intel’s upcoming processor plans.
Weibo consumer Golden Pig Upgrade (an exceptional username, I’ve to say) has claimed that the previously-rumored Thirteenth-gen Raptor Lake refresh will really be branded as new 14th-gen merchandise – with the ‘precise’ 14th-gen Meteor Lake CPUs serving as solely a part of the Intel Core 14000 collection.
For the uninitiated, Raptor Lake is Intel’s manufacturing codename for its Thirteenth-gen processor structure; the structure used to construct its present vary of CPUs, led by the super-powerful flagship Core i9-13900K. Meteor Lake is the subsequent era – although if this new leak is correct, Intel’s 14th era of Core chips received’t solely use the brand new structure.
This isn’t totally stunning, since Intel’s Thirteenth-gen CPU vary makes use of a mix of Raptor Lake and the previous-gen Alder Lake architectures. The catch, nevertheless, is that the leak means that Meteor Lake may not come to desktop PCs in any respect, with Intel’s 14th-gen desktop CPUs completely utilizing the refreshed Raptor structure. This aligns with earlier rumors reported by Wccftech, so whereas we should always tread fastidiously round leaks, there’s probably some fact right here.
Opinion: no true next-gen desktop CPUs sounds unhealthy, however there are upsides right here
Whereas this sounds fairly unhealthy on paper, it’s really not the worst transfer from Intel. We’ve reported beforehand that Meteor Lake may not be that totally different from Raptor Lake anyway – and the brand new structure is shaping as much as be wonderful for laptops due to improved energy effectivity, too.
Meteor Lake is Intel’s first ‘tile-based’ CPU structure, which means the totally different segments of the processor are divided between 4 tiles versus the standard ‘monolithic’ design. That is set to drive huge positive factors in vitality effectivity, which isn’t so essential for desktop PCs since they’re not reliant on battery energy.
Nevertheless – and even taking the above under consideration – we don’t urgently want new desktop CPUs proper now. The Core i7-13700K is a mighty processor with an inexpensive price ticket, so if you happen to’re trying to improve, don’t sit round ready for these supposed Raptor Lake refresh chips.
Intel and AMD’s launch cadence for brand new CPUs has grow to be more and more aggressive, however we’re nonetheless that includes some last-gen chips on our finest processors checklist; as a result of, finally, there’s an actual restrict to how typically individuals are prepared to improve.
Sooner laptop computer CPU releases make a bit extra sense; that approach, anybody shopping for a brand-new laptop computer may be (often) assured that they’re getting the most recent and biggest in processor efficiency. However with desktop computer systems, the place your CPU may be upgraded everytime you select, there’s actually no want for this degree of urgency in releasing new chips.
So simply sit back a bit, Intel. Some leaks are even suggesting that Meteor Lake might actually suck, so maybe it wants a bit extra time within the oven. Don’t rush it – you knocked it out of the park with the Thirteenth era, so it’s okay to relaxation in your laurels for some time.