Intel could be releasing its highly anticipated 14th Gen Raptor Lake refresh processors in October according to Chinese media outlet with history of correct claims.
The new processors, which are likely to feature higher frequencies and potentially increased core counts for some models, have been mentioned by Enthusiast Citizen (ECSM) as launching in the 42nd week of 2023, which would be between October 17th and 23rd, as reported via Videocardz.
The post puts a high probability on the Core i7-14700K having an increased core count compared to the current Core i7-13700K and that K-series CPUs will be the first to launch, presumably the Core i5-14600K, Core i7-14700K and Core i9-14900K – followed by non-K models.
The move from Intel comes a matter of months after AMD launched its Ryzen 7000 series with 3D V-Cache that are widely regarded to offer the best gaming performance. It’s likely that Intel will close or remove the gap in gaming performance and extend the lead it enjoys in many multi-threaded workloads too, courtesy of increased frequencies and in the case of the Core i7-14700K, a possible core count increase too.
The new CPUs will be the third generation to be supported by Intel’s LGA1700 socket, which was originally only meant to have two generations of CPUs. As a result, its 13th Gen CPUs and current 700-series chipset motherboards such as Z790 were initially seen as a dead end, but now the socket will support yet another generation of CPUs and 13th Gen CPU owners will have an upgrade path.
Owners of both 600 and 700-series chipset motherboards will likely need a BIOS update to support the new CPUs, though, so if you’re planning on buying a used motherboard between now and October, it’s worth checking it has some sort of BIOS FlashBack to enable you to update it if you have no other compatible CPUs to hand as its existing BIOS version may not support the new CPUs. New motherboards bought at the time of launch should include compatible BIOS versions.
However, other rumors point at similar power consumption to 13th Gen CPUs, which is welcome news given many were expecting to see even higher power draw than the already power-hungry 13th Gen CPUs.
The launch comes as Intel seems to have cancelled or pushed back the launch of its next generation Meteor Lake range of CPUs for desktop PCs, which are still pencilled in for mobile devices such as laptops later this year and promise significant performance and efficiency increases and rumored maximum of 14 cores.
AMD meanwhile is continuing to launch processors for its aging Socket AM4, with a Ryzen 5 5600X3D recently picking up rave reviews in the US, although it’s limited to sales through Micro Centre in the US only.
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