A few days ago Intel announced the architectural details of the 12th-generation Core Alder Lake processor. This generation has many upgrades. In addition to the Intel 7 process, there is also the first large and small core architecture. The desktop version supports 8 large and 16 small and also supports DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0.
At the same time, the 12th-generation Core motherboard will also be upgraded. The current LGA1200 will be replaced by the LGA1700 slot. It will definitely not be compatible, and a new 600 series chipset will be needed. Previously, we knew that there would be Z690, B660, etc. in the 600 series chipset. Now Intel’s chipset driver has exposed all models at once. The details are as follows:
X699 (HEDT Model)
- Z690 (High-end consumer model)
- W685 (High-end workstation model)
- W680 (mid-range workstation model)
- Q670 (company/enterprise model)
- Q670E (company/enterprise notebook model)
- R680E (embedded equipment enterprise model)
- H670 (mid-range consumer model)
- B660 (mid-range consumer model)
- H610 (entry consumer model)
- H610E (entry model for embedded devices)
It can be seen that the coverage of the 600 series chipset is very wide, from W series workstations to Q enterprise/notebooks to Z/H consumer desktop platforms. The most exciting one should be X699 because the X suffix represents the Core X series, which is Intel’s highest-end consumer HEDT platform, which replaces the Core i9-10980XE series.
Since the launch of the 14nm Cascade-X series in 2019, Intel’s HEDT platform has not been upgraded for more than 2 years. The main reason is that the 18-core architecture can no longer keep up with the 64-core Ryzen TR platform of a friend, so Intel’s two In fact, it gave up the high-end CPU market of more than $1,000.
The emergence of X699 means that the new Core X platform is also coming, but it should not be based on Alder Lake, but the server-level Sapphire Rapids, but the CPU core architecture is the same as the 12th-generation Core Golden Cove, but the process is still 10nm SuperFin, instead of Alder Lake’s 10nm Enhanced SuperFin (now renamed Intel 7).
The Sapphire Rapids series also has many highlights, up to 80 cores, DDR5 support, up to 8 channels, and PCIe 5.0. The TDP limit has been increased from 270W to 350W, and it is said that it can unlock 400W. Of course, Sapphire Rapids for the desktop HEDT platform will definitely castrate a lot. The CPU core is estimated to be more likely to be around 60 cores, and it supports 4-channel or 6-channel DDR5 at the same time.
