Intel teases Meteor Lake 5-125W Core processors with up to 192 EU GPUs, 12th Gen Alder Lake suggested for October 27 launch

Intel showcased its next-generation Meteor Lake processors at the IDM 2.0 Accelerated conference where the company presented its all-new process and packaging roadmap. In addition to the teaser, Intel also hinted at a possible launch date for its next Alder Lake hybrid processors at the start of Q4 2021.

Intel Teases Meteor Lake “Intel 7” Processor Specs, Alder Lake Processors Set To Launch Oct 27

Intel not only showcased its brand new process and packaging roadmap, but also showcased products that will use its new nodes, primarily Intel 7 and Intel 4. First, we have the Alder Lake chips. Client & Sapphire Rapids Data Center which will be based on Intel Node 7 (formerly Intel 10 Enhanced SuperFin).

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Intel 7 Process Powered Alder Lake Client & Sapphire Rapids Data Center

Based on what Intel showed at the event, it looks like we can confirm that the leaks we’ve seen so far are more or less confirmed. The Alder Lake processor can be seen using a hybrid design and includes 8 high performance cores (Golden Cove) and 8 efficiency optimized cores (Gracemont). Intel also hinted at its 12th Gen Alder Lake family launch date of October 27th and this fits with earlier rumors that we heard about the CPU launch around Halloween 2021. The next Intel ON series event will take place virtually in San Francisco on October 27-28, 2021.

Then we have the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon processor which is made up of four compute tiles. We have more detailed pictures of the front full matrix leak which confirm up to 56 cores and 112 threads.

Intel 4 Process Powered Meteor Lake Client and Granite Rapids Data Center processors

Intel 4 will also power two key customer and data center products that are codenamed Meteor Lake & Granite Rapids. This is the first time Intel has given a detailed look at the Meteor Lake SOC which includes three separate chips connected together via Forveros technology. Intel is expected to use a next-generation base architecture that will power the compute matrix while the I / O will be located on its own SOC-LP matrix. The GPU chip will also be separate and will consist of a maximum of 192 UEs (96 UEs for desktops and 192 UEs for mobility). The Meteor Lake range will include processors from 5 to 125 W and a hump pitch of 36u (microns).

Here’s everything we know about the 14th Generation Meteor Lake 7nm processors

We have already obtained details from Intel, such as that the Intel Meteor Lake desktop and mobility processor line is expected to be based on a new Cove base architecture line. This is rumored to be known as “Redwood Cove” and is based on a 7nm EUV process node. It is stated that the Redwood Cove is designed from the ground up to be a knot agnostic, which means it can be made in different factories. There are references mentioned which indicate that TSMC is a backup or even partial supplier for the Redwood Cove based chips. This could tell us why Intel is indicating multiple manufacturing processes for the processor family.

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Meteor Lake processors could be the first generation of Intel processors to say goodbye to the ring bus interconnect architecture. There are also rumors that Meteor Lake could be a fully stacked 3D design and could use an I / O matrix from an external factory (TSMC saw it again). It is pointed out that Intel will officially use its Foveros packaging technology on the processor to interconnect the different on-chip dies (XPUs). This also aligns with Intel referring to each tile on the 14th gen chips individually (Compute Tile = processor cores).

The Meteor Lake Desktop processor family is expected to retain support for the LGA 1700 socket, which is the same socket used by the Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors. We can expect support for DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0. The platform will support both DDR5 and DDR4 memory with consumer and budget level options for DDR4 memory DIMMs, while premium and high-end offerings go for DDR5 DIMMs. The site also lists the Meteor Lake P and Meteor Lake M processors that will be intended for mobility platforms.

Comparison of Intel Desktop Processor Generations:

Intel processor family	Processor process	Processor cores (maximum)	TDP	Platform chipset	Platform	Memory support	PCIe support	Launch
Sand bridge (2nd generation)	32 nm	4/8	35-95W	Series 6	LGA 1155	DDR3	PCIe Gen 2.0	2011
Ivy bridge (3rd generation)	22 nm	4/8	35-77W	Series 7	LGA 1155	DDR3	PCIe Gen 3.0	2012
Haswell (4th generation)	22 nm	4/8	35-84W	8 series	LGA 1150	DDR3	PCIe Gen 3.0	2013-2014
Broadwell (5th generation)	14 nm	4/8	65-65W	Series 9	LGA 1150	DDR3	PCIe Gen 3.0	2015
Skylake (6th generation)	14 nm	4/8	35-91W	100-Series	LGA 1151	DDR4	PCIe Gen 3.0	2015
Kaby Lake (7th generation)	14 nm	4/8	35-91W	200-Series	LGA 1151	DDR4	PCIe Gen 3.0	2017
Coffee Lake (8th generation)	14 nm	6/12	35-95W	300-Series	LGA 1151	DDR4	PCIe Gen 3.0	2017
Coffee Lake (9th generation)	14 nm	8/16	35-95W	300-Series	LGA 1151	DDR4	PCIe Gen 3.0	2018
Comet Lake (10th generation)	14 nm	10/20	35-125W	400 series	LGA 1200	DDR4	PCIe Gen 3.0	2020
Rocket Lake (11th generation)	14 nm	8/16	35-125W	500 series	LGA 1200	DDR4	PCIe generation 4.0	2021
Alder Lake (12th generation)	Intel 7	16/24	To be determined	600 series	LGA 1700	DDR5	PCIe Gen 5.0	2021
Raptor Lake (13th generation)	Intel 7	16/30?	To be determined	700-Series	LGA 1700	DDR5	PCIe Gen 5.0	2022
Lake Meteor (14th generation)	Intel 4	To be determined	To be determined	800 series?	LGA 1700	DDR5	PCIe generation 5.0?	2023
Lunar Lake (15th generation)	Intel 3?	To be determined	To be determined	900 series?	To be determined	DDR5	PCIe generation 5.0?	2023+

Intel also showcased its next-generation Granite Rapids data center Xeon processor, which appears to feature multiple dies packaged through Forveros and EMIB. We can see HBM packages with high bandwidth Rambo Cache packages. The compute tile appears to be made up of 60 cores per die, which equates to 120 cores in total, but we should expect a few of those cores to be disabled for better performance on the new Intel process node. 4.

Intel Xeon SP families:

Family brand image	Skylake-SP	Cascade Lake-SP / AP	Cooper Lake-SP	Ice Lake-SP	Sapphire Rapids	Rapids Emerald	Granite Rapids	Diamond Rapids
Process node	14 nm +	14 nm ++	14 nm ++	10 nm +	Intel 7	Intel 7	Intel 4	Intel 3?
Platform name	Intel purley	Intel purley	Intel Cedar Island	Intel Whitley	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream
MCP SKU (Multi-Chip Package)	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	To be determined	To be determined (maybe yes)	To be determined (maybe yes)
Socket	LGA 3647	LGA 3647	LGA 4189	LGA 4189	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	To be determined
Maximum number of cores	Up to 28	Up to 28	Up to 28	Up to 40	Up to 56?	To be determined	Up to 120?	To be determined
Maximum number of threads	Up to 56	Up to 56	Up to 56	Up to 80	Up to 112?	To be determined	Up to 240?	To be determined
Max L3 Cache	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	60 MB L3	To be determined	To be determined	To be determined	To be determined
Memory support	6-channel DDR4-2666	6-channel DDR4-2933	Up to 6 DDR4-3200 channels	Up to 8 DDR4-3200 channels	Up to 8 DDR5-4800 channels	Up to 8 DDR5-5200 channels?	To be determined	To be determined
PCIe generation support	PCIe 3.0 (48 lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 lanes)	PCIe 4.0 (64 lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 lanes)	PCIe 5.0	PCIe 6.0?	PCIe 6.0?
TDP range	140W-205W	165W-205W	150W-250W	105-270W	Up to 350W?	To be determined	To be determined	To be determined
Xpoint Optane 3D DIMM	N / A	Apache Pass	Barlow Pass	Barlow Pass	Raven pass	Raven pass?	Donahue Pass?	Donahue Pass?
Competetion	AMD EPYC Naples 14 nm	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Rome 7 nm	AMD EPYC Milan 7nm +	AMD EPYC Genoa ~ 5nm	AMD Next-Gen EPYC (after Genoa)	AMD Next-Gen EPYC (after Genoa)	AMD Next-Gen EPYC (after Genoa)
Launch	2017	2018	2020	2021	2022	2023?	2023?	2024?