Intel's next-gen Core Ultra Series 2 'Arrow Lake' desktop CPUs: NPU, but no Hyper-Threading

Intel will launch its next-gen Arrow Lake-S desktop processor family later this year, which will fall into the Core Ultra Series 2 family of processors that began its life with the just-launched Core Ultra 100 series "Meteor Lake" CPUs for laptops.

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We have some fresh news from Chinese leaker Golden Pig Upgrade, who has posted on the Bilibili forums giving us an update on Arrow Lake CPUs. Golden Pig Upgrade says that there have been so many outrageously wrong revelations about the CPU, the biggest one is that it will not be the 15th Gen Core branding, but rather Core Ultra Series 2.

Secondly, the leaker says that Intel will not be using Hyper-Threading and will not have an LP E-Core, but the NPU is still there for AI workloads. There are less than 7 GPU cores on Arrow Lake-S desktop processors, so the integrated graphics are called Intel Graphics in the Task Manager, not Arc Graphics. We can expect GPU performance similar to the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H "Meteor Lake" processor.

There is no DDR4 support, period.

On the mobile side of things, the Tiles using advanced technology are all made by TSMC. We should expect the non-K series Ultra 5 series processors and lower desktop models to be made on Intel 20A (6+8-core configuration of Arrow Lake-S processors). Lastly, Golden Pig Upgrade says that the Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX processors can't use a PCH-free solution like AMD platforms.

• Read more: Intel Arrow Lake-S with Xe-LPG GPU, Arrow Lake-H receives Xe-LPG+ GPU
• Read more: Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake-S CPU teased: no Hyper-Threading support
• Read more: Intel Bartlett Lake-S desktop CPUs: budget LGA 1700, Arrow Lake for high-end
• Read more: Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake is first gaming CPU with AI

It might not sound like much here, but Intel has quite the journey ahead with Arrow Lake. The next generation Arrow Lake CPU family marks a big architectural shift, the process node used, and more. The new Intel 20A process node uses 2nd Gen EUV, Gate-All-Round, and even backside power delivery... impressive stuff.

Intel Arrow Lake will represent the first top-to-bottom client CPU architecture featuring a completely new CPU and GPU architecture, the first time this has happened for an Intel chip in many, many years.

Intel Arrow Lake features, and support:

• LGA 1851 Socket Longevity Planned Uptill 2026
• DDR5 Only Compatibility, No DDR4 Support
• Kicks off With 800-Series Motherboards
• Support For Up To DDR5-6400 Memory (Native JEDEC)
• Increased PCIe Gen 5.0 Lanes Through CPU & PCH
• Arrow Lake-S First Desktop Family Supported "Core Ultra Series 2"
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature 3 MB L2 Cache Per P-Core
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature Alchemist iGPUs (4 Xe-Cores)
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature integrated LLC "Adamantine" for GPU Tile
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature 8+16, 8+0, 6+8 CPU SKUs
• Launching In 2H 2024