Intel’s Core i3, i5, and i7 branding has been round for properly over a decade now, beginning with the discharge of Nehalem chips again in 2009. It has been by just a few iterations since then, particularly the introduction of a better Core i9 tier again in 2017, however its greatest shake-up is perhaps on the best way with next-gen Meteor Lake (opens in new tab) chips.
Intel is perhaps ditching the ‘i’ from Core i3, Core i5, and so forth., and in some circumstances changing it with the phrase “Extremely”.
The rumours first began when an Ashes of the Singularity benchmark confirmed up with a Meteor Lake chip in testing referred to as the Core Extremely 5 1003H (by way of Videocardz (opens in new tab)). That is a little bit of a bizarre title even with out the Extremely stuffed in there, however this is not a desktop chip. It is probably a cellular processor from the specs listed in a SiSoft benchmark database entry noticed by BenchLeaks (opens in new tab).
The chip is working at 45W with 18 cores and 18 threads listed, which might be an oddity for a chip constructed round Intel’s new hybrid structure. Now AotS might be throwing out a pink herring right here, however it might be fairly bizarre to have a CPU with six Efficiency-cores (P-Cores) and 6 Environment friendly-cores (E-Cores) as Intel at the moment teams E-Cores into four-core clusters. It has been supposed that it is simply 4 E-Cores and the additional two threads come from two tiled SoC cores. That is potential as a result of Meteor Lake would be the first Intel design to make use of disaggregated designs, i.e. chiplets (or tiles) reasonably than a single chip, nevertheless it’s additionally potential that the best way Intel is divvying up E-Cores has modified with the approaching technology.
However as to the brand new naming, I had first thought this to be simply inside Intel parlance. However that does not appear to be the case.
Considered one of Intel’s personal, Bernard Fernandes, director of world comms at Intel, has confirmed that there will probably be some adjustments to CPU naming conventions with the approaching Meteor Lake technology. They only have not stated what they’re but.
Sure, we’re making model adjustments as we’re at an inflection level in our consumer roadmap in preparation for the upcoming launch of our #MeteorLake processors. We are going to present extra particulars relating to these thrilling adjustments within the coming weeks! #IntelMay 1, 2023
It is very probably then that what we have seen in these early benchmarks will find yourself being the brand new naming conference for Intel’s coming Meteor Lake CPUs. That ought to imply we’ll see the ‘i’ dropped when Meteor Lake lands.
Notably, the ‘Core’ bit and the numbering system seems to be remaining the identical.
With AMD additionally utilizing the identical numbering system for its Ryzen CPUs, it might be odd for Intel to thoroughly rip up the rulebook and begin once more. With this new nomenclature, it is wanting extra like Intel’s naming will instantly align with that of AMD’s Ryzen CPUs, with a Core 7 a simple level of comparability for a Ryzen 7.
Meteor Lake is ready for launch within the second-half of this yr, and Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger has confirmed that these chips are already in manufacturing (opens in new tab). However do not get your hopes up for these chips powering your gaming PC this yr, or ever. Meteor Lake is predicted to launch mobile-first with probably a small variety of low-end desktop chips to spherical off the technology. For avid gamers, it is the rumoured Raptor Lake Refresh that is set to land that is of most curiosity.
