New details about Intel’s upcoming 13th-generation Raptor Lake-S processors have just surfaced, giving us even more insight into the specs and performance of these CPUs. The information was leaked as part of an Intel NAS Workshop presentation that took place in Shenzhen, China.
At first glance, everything looks great, with higher clock speeds and core counts. However, one important detail seems to have been overlooked: there is no mention of PCIe Gen 5.0 support for M.2 modules.
Is it still a leak if the information comes from Intel itself? That’s debatable, but it’s worth noting that Intel didn’t seem to choose to share it with the internet in general just yet. The leaked slide was posted on the Chinese social media platform Baidu, but it comes from a presentation from Intel, giving it a whole new level of gravity compared to the previous leaks we’ve received so far.
Intel Raptor Lake S, which is rumored to be out around October of this year, is receiving a few bits of exciting news from this slide alone. It has now been confirmed to support DDR5-5600 memory, a step up from the current Alder Lake with its native DDR5-5200. It also retains support for DDR4-3200 RAM, as it uses the same LGA1700 socket as Alder Lake, meaning current motherboards support both 12th and 13th generation. Intel processors† While you can use your current motherboard with Raptor Lake, manufacturers are still expected to release 700-series boards made specifically for 13th-generation processors.
Compatibility aside, Raptor Lake-S marks an upgrade over Alder Lake. The maximum core count jumps to 24 cores and 32 threads, and the new Raptor Cove P cores offer better instructions per clock (IPC) than the Golden Cove cores in Intel Alder Lake. Boost clock speeds will also go up, with some reports stating that Intel Raptor Lake is a up to 30% performance improvement compared to its predecessor and that it may even be so able to hit 6GHz†
The new platform also gains support for additional PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes while retaining PCIe Gen 5.0 support. However, there is no mention of Intel adding new PCIe 5.0 lanes, meaning Raptor Lake may still be limited to 16 lanes of the CPU. This is the same as Alder Lake, but it is interesting that this detail has been omitted from the slide.
Assuming Intel doesn’t add additional PCIe 5.0 lanes, users will have to split the lanes between a discrete graphics card and a new Gen 5.0 M.2 SSD. although PCIe Gen 5.0 M.2 SSDs Still hard to come by, they will no doubt become widespread during Intel Raptor Lake’s tenure, which may mean some users will have to make a tough choice.
Besides being powerful, Intel’s new flagship will also consume a lot of energy. The maximum power goes up to 260 watts, which, like Wccftech notes, is the highest number seen on the mainstream Intel platform. If you plan to pair a Raptor Lake CPU with one of the next-gen best graphics cards from Nvidia you need a monstrous power supply to make sure everything is stable.
For now, it looks like AMD can beat Intel in the race – next-gen Ryzen 7000 CPUs are said to be launched in September. However, with the two platforms getting so close together, the electronics market is definitely about to enter an interesting phase.
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