7nm Intel Lunar Lake processors: new CPU and GPU architecture

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Intel has revealed the name of a new upcoming generation of processors. Lunar Lake will bring a new CPU architecture (higher IPC) and GPU on the 7nm process, but we will still wait for it.

Roadmaps of future processors are one of the more interesting things about hardware (maybe for more and more people today, as many of you are probably postponing upgrades and new purchases now). We don’t have a formal roadmap from Intel now, but we are gradually getting a picture. Now, another piece of the puzzle has been added: we probably have the name of the processor that will bring another new CPU architecture (hopefully with major IPC improvements) after the Alder Lake processors coming out this year.

Lunar Lake

These processors will be called Lunar Lake and maybe they could be released sometime in 2024, it could be the 14th (or 15th) generation of Core processors. Intel has not yet announced them publicly, but their trace appeared from an official source: in the drivers for Linux. Intel has sent a patch that adds to the Intel network adapter drivers (e1000e) a preliminary infrastructure supporting the “future platform” Lunar Lake. These seem to be future processors.

This is not the very first mention of this code designation. In the fall appeared for a change in the drivers for MacOS, where it was mainly the graphic part of these processors. Not that the GPU drivers of this operating system already have support for GPU processors, which will be released in maybe three years, but somehow rudely the code is already ready.

According to him, Lunar Lake belongs among the products with GPU architecture Gen13, which should be the next big change after Gen12 / Xe LP architecture in Tiger Lake processors. In addition to Lunar Lake processors, this architecture should also have a separate Jupiter Sound GPU (Intel DG3?). In contrast, Alder Lake processors probably still have graphics derived from the Tiger Lake / Gen12 generation.

12th to 15th generation Intel Core CPU plan

It may be a good idea to recapitulate previous future generations for clarity. As mentioned, Rocket Lake will be the 14th generation Core first, but it’s probably not entirely certain either.

The processors must come out first Alder Lake (12th generation), which will receive DDR5 support, PCI Express 5.0, a new CPU architecture with increased IPC (possibly up to 20%), on the desktop new socket LGA 1700 and also big.LITTLE solution, where in addition to large Golden Cove cores, they will also contain small Gracemont cores to increase the overall multi-threaded performance. These processors will be 10nm, on the desktop for the first time. These processors they will be released at the end of this year.

Gallery: Leaks and information on Intel Alder Lake processors

Two things can happen after Alder Lake. Originally, Intel probably wanted to follow up with his the first 7nm Meteor Lake processors. But then he did caused a problem with the development of this process and had to postpone it. Intel is currently planning 7nm processors, and thus Meteor Lake, until 2023. Meanwhile, information emerged that it was therefore possible after Alder Lake as the 13th generation come out yet their refresh called Raptor Lake (grateful name). In this case, this CPU would be released next year, was still 10nm and probably had the same architecture as Alder Lake, only increased beats.

Then it would be the 14th generation Meteor Lakewhich is due out in 2023 (if the Raptors drop out, then Meteor will be the 13th). It was originally thought that Meteor Lake was already will have a new architecture with improved IPC, but in the meantime it has been refuted and reportedly there will be no higher IPC, so the CPU core will be taken from Alder Lake. Perhaps this is the legacy of the Tick-Tock model, where Intel never released a new architecture at the same time as the new process premiered, so as not to concentrate risks on one generation of chips.

Lunar Lake will have both new CPUs and GPUs at once

As a result, the new CPU architecture, which will once again move single-threaded performance much higher, will probably be born in those newly leaked processors. Lunar Lake. These should follow Meteor Lake, ie about the 15th generation (or 14th, if Intel cancels Raptor Lake).

In these chips, representing the second 7nm generation, both the new CPU architecture and the new GPU architecture will probably come together. But it will not be until 2024, but let’s hope that Intel, for example, will catch up with the first half of the year and it will not be until the end of the year. But it is probably very likely that Lunar Lake will have a new socket on the desktop again after the LGA 1700 platform.

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