Intel has said that its next-gen Arrow Lake gaming CPUs will be coming later this fall while the Lunar Lake CPUs will mark a major IPC & NPU uplift.
Intel Promises To Bring Arrow Lake "AI" Gaming CPUs This Fall Followed By Next-Gen Lunar With Significant IPC & NPU Uplifts
Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs will be the follow-up to the Meteor Lake family and fall under the Core Ultra Series 2 lineup. These next-gen CPUs will be coming to both desktops and laptops and will focus mainly on the gaming segment, offering what Intel is referring to as the "First Gaming CPU with an AI Accelerator". These CPUs are expected to enter the market later this year in fall 2024.
Intel Arrow Lake Gaming CPUs Coming This Fall With AI Accelerators
Meanwhile, Intel also teased the capabilities of its next-gen Lunar Lake CPUs which are scheduled for a 2024 release too. These chips will get a brand-new CPU core architecture and offer significant IPC improvements. In addition to that, Intel also said that the Lunar Lake CPUs will offer over 3X faster NPU performance which is similar to AMD's claim who have mentioned a 3x improvement in NPU AI acceleration with its next-gen Strix Point APUs.
Based on what we know so far, the Intel Arrow Lake CPUs will come to both desktops (Arrow Lake-S / LGA 1851) and laptops (Arrow Lake-H/HX/U) series. These chips will cater to the high-end segment, finally replacing the existing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs while also dropping in for the mainstream platforms which are currently powered by Intel's Meteor Lake "Core Ultra Series 1" CPUs. These chips will feature the Lion Cove P-Core and a mix of Skymont/Crestmont E-Cores while the GPU side will come packed with a slightly tuned Alchemist+ "Xe-LPG+" graphics architecture.
The AI Accelerators will be interesting to see as they are in addition to the NPU. Furthermore, the Arrow Lake CPUs will be deployed on desktops and notebooks around the same time as Granite Ridge (AM5 Desktop) and Strix Point (Notebook) CPUs based on the Zen 5 core architecture from AMD.
Intel Next-Gen Lunar Lake CPUs Deliver Huge IPC Uplifts, Over 3X NPU Performance
Meanwhile, Intel's Lunar Lake CPUs will be based on an upgraded core architecture with Skymont serving as the E-Core design. These chips will get a faster NPU and also a brand new iGPU in the form of the Battlemage "Xe2-LPG" architecture.
Our execution on this product has been excellent and we are pleased to say that we are already shipping systems to partners. It's up and running, it's doing very well and Lunar Lake is truly the next level of AI performance for thin and light PCs.
Intel
The chip shown by Intel is very similar to the Meteor Lake on-die memory package we got to see last year with two DRAM modules next to the main chip die which is composed of several tiles in a chiplet fashion. Lunar Lake CPUs have already been said to deliver huge performance/watt increases and will mainly be targeted at thin and light notebooks when they arrive in late 2024.
Intel Mobility CPU Lineup:
| CPU Family | Panther Lake | Lunar Lake | Arrow Lake | Meteor Lake | Raptor Lake | Alder Lake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Node (CPU Tile) | Intel 18A | TSMC N3B | Intel 20A TSMC N3B | Intel 4 | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| Process Node (GPU Tile) | TSMC 3/2nm? | TSMC N3B? | TSMC N4? | TSMC 5nm | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| CPU Architecture | Hybrid | Hybrid | Hybrid (Four-Core) | Hybrid (Triple-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) |
| P-Core Architecture | Cougar Cove | Lion Cove | Lion Cove | Redwood Cove | Raptor Cove | Golden Cove |
| E-Core Architecture | Skymont? | N/A | Skymont | Crestmont | Gracemont | Gracemont |
| LP E-Core Architecture (SOC) | Skymont? | Skymont | Crestmont | Crestmont | N/A | N/A |
| Top Configuration | TBD | 4+4 (MX Series) | TBD | 6+8 (H-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+16 (HX-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+8 (HX-Series) |
| Max Cores / Threads | TBD | 8/8? | TBD | 14/20 | 14/20 | 14/20 |
| Planned Lineup | H/P/U Series | V-Series | H/P/U Series | H/P/U Series | H/P/U Series | H/P/U Series |
| GPU Architecture | Xe3-LPG (Celestial) | Xe2-LPG (Battlemage) | Xe-LPG (Alchemist) | Xe-LPG (Alchemist) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) |
| GPU Execution Units | TBD | 64 EUs | 192 EUs | 128 EUs (1024 Cores) | 96 EUs (768 Cores) | 96 EUs (768 Cores) |
| Memory Support | TBD | LPDDR5X-8533 | TBD | DDR5-5600 LPDDR5-7400 LPDDR5X - 7400+ | DDR5-5200 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5-6400 | DDR5-4800 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5X-4267 |
| Memory Capacity (Max) | TBD | 32 GB | TBD | 96 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Thunderbolt Ports | TBD | TBD | TBD | 4 (TB4) | 4 (TB4) | 4 (TB4) |
| WiFi Capability | TBD | WiFi 7 | TBD | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E |
| TDP | TBD | 17-30W | TBD | 7W-45W | 15-55W | 15-55W |
| Launch | 2H 2025 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2023 | 1H 2023 | 1H 2022 |
