Intel Core 15th Gen (Arrow Lake): Everything You Need To Know

Intel 15th gen Arrow Lake is the code-name for a proposed 15th generation of Intel CPUs that will succeed the 14th-generation Meteor Lake, which is expected to launch in December 2023. Arrow Lake will be built on a new, advanced process node, and may drop one of the most iconic features of Intel processors: hyper-threading. Here is everything we need to know about Intel 15th gen Arrow Lake so far.

Release Date

Intel has not officially confirmed the release date of Arrow Lake, but according to its CPU roadmap, it is projected to launch in the second half of 2024. However, some sources suggest that Arrow Lake may be delayed until late 2024, due to the lukewarm response to Meteor Lake and the recent departure of Raja Koduri, the head of Intel’s GPU division. It is also possible that Intel may release some low-end Arrow Lake SKUs earlier in 2024, similar to how it released the Arc A380 in early 2023.

Socket

Arrow Lake will reportedly use a new socket design, called LGA 1851, which will have more pins than the previous LGA 1700 socket used by the 12th- and 13th-generation designs. This means that Arrow Lake will require a new motherboard and will not be compatible with the existing platforms. The new socket could potentially bring improvements in various areas such as power delivery, thermal management, and overall performance.

Specs

The specs of Arrow Lake are largely unknown, as Intel has not disclosed any details about the core counts, clock speeds, or cache sizes. However, some leaks and rumors have provided some possible numbers for the Arrow Lake CPUs. According to a report by GPU Mag, Arrow Lake will have three main SKUs: B750, B770, and B790. The B750 will be the entry-level model, with 128 execution units (EUs), 8GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 128-bit memory bus. The B770 will be the mid-range model, with 256 EUs, 12GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 192-bit memory bus. The B790 will be the high-end model, with 512 EUs, 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 256-bit memory bus.

According to a patch submitted to the Linux kernel by Intel, Arrow Lake will also support a new feature called CMRR, which stands for Coordinated Multiple Refresh Rate. CMRR is a variation of variable refresh rate (VRR) technology that allows the GPU to dynamically adjust the refresh rate of the display to match the frame rate of the game, reducing stuttering and tearing. CMRR is expected to be compatible with existing VRR standards, such as FreeSync and G-Sync.

Features

Arrow Lake will not only offer better performance and specs than Meteor Lake, but also more features and software support. One of the main features that Arrow Lake will introduce is the elimination of hyper-threading, which is a technique that allows each core to handle two threads simultaneously, increasing the multi-threaded performance. However, hyper-threading was reportedly hard to implement on the new architecture and was no longer necessary due to the improved core counts and IPC of Arrow Lake processors.

Another feature that Arrow Lake will support is 4096-QAM (4K-QAM), which is a modulation technique that increases the amount of data that can be transmitted in each signal from 10 bits to 12 bits, resulting in 20% higher theoretical transmission rates than Wi-Fi 6’s 1024-QAM.

Arrow Lake will also come with improved drivers and software support, as Intel has been working hard to optimize and update its graphics drivers for Arc GPUs. Intel has also partnered with Microsoft to leverage its DirectML and DirectStorage APIs, which can enhance the AI and storage capabilities of Arrow Lake GPUs. For example, Intel recently demonstrated a 2.7X performance boost in an AI image generator called Stable Diffusion, thanks to the use of Microsoft’s Olive, a DirectML-based library that enables efficient and scalable training and inference of deep neural networks on GPUs.

Conclusion

Intel 15th gen Arrow Lake is the next generation of Intel CPUs that will launch in 2024. Arrow Lake will be built on a new, advanced process node, and will drop hyper-threading. Arrow Lake will also support the 6 GHz band, 4K-QAM, and CMRR, as well as improved drivers and software support. Arrow Lake will compete with AMD and Nvidia in the gaming and creative markets, and will likely offer better value and availability than its rivals. Arrow Lake is an exciting product that will bring more competition and innovation to the CPU industry, and we can’t wait to see what it can do.