A fresh leak reveals the Intel Meteor Lake chips’ potentially high turbo frequencies.
Leaks always come with a lot of baggage; this information is no exception. We cannot know if it is genuine, and the website Bilibili in China isn’t exactly the most trustworthy of sources.
However, ‘Golden Pig Upgrade’ is a dependable leaker who has proven spot-on.
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Meteor Lake Core Ultra 7 (not Core i7 — Intel is allegedly changing the naming scheme, as you may recall) with a boost to 5GHz (on one core) is rumored to be coming, according to a tweet from HXL that Tom’s Hardware shared.
We’re told that the Core Ultra 9 will clock in above 5GHz. Doesn’t that sound a bit tame compared to the boost speeds we see with Intel’s current laptop processors? Remember that Meteor Lake is for mobile CPUs, while Intel is going after the desktop market with Raptor Lake Refresh and hopes to make a splash in our best processors list.
You’re right; mobile devices using Raptor Lake have reached speeds of 5.4GHz. So, let’s investigate why this is remarkable and why Golden Pig Upgrade claims its faith in Meteor Lake has been restored.
Analysis: An engineering feat by all accounts
The trouble with 5.4GHz on Raptor Lake is that it’s an entirely different silicon pot than Meteor Lake.
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The Intel 4 process and a 3D-stacked computation tile are used to create the Meteor Lake chips used in laptops. This may sound gibberish, but the upshot is that this architecture makes it more challenging to increase clock speeds without triggering thermal concerns and overheating. Therefore, boost levels should be kept in check.
The rumor mill had predicted speeds of less than 5GHz, and now we hear that the Core i7 and i9 equivalents will be over 5GHz, which is a significant deal. Given the design as mentioned above limits, the top chip may even reach 5.2GHz or so, which is close to what we have with Raptor Lake. The Best gaming laptops will benefit from these CPUs if the rumor is true.
Refrain from letting the difference in clock speeds fool you; architectural improvements ensure that Meteor Lake processors will be inherently quicker than Raptor Lake chips.
Since then, Intel’s CEO has added to the growing excitement surrounding Meteor Lake. As Pat Gelsinger pointed out, the 14th generation of CPUs will have AI acceleration, and “we see this AI PC as ushering in a new class of applications, major application upgrades, and ISV excitements.” It will be “like [Intel’s] Centrino moment for bringing Wi-Fi into the PC two decades ago,” Gelsinger said.
The Meteor Lake chips are expected to be released later this year, with October or November being the most likely months. Expect Raptor Lake Refresh desktop CPUs in October.
