Intel Sapphire Rapids-X HEDT & Raptor Lake Mainstream Desktop CPU Platforms Rumored To Launch In Q3 2022

Intel To Launch Its Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids-X HEDT & Raptor Lake Mainstream Desktop CPU Platforms In Q3 2022

Intel is rumored to launch its next-generation Sapphire Rapids-X HEDT & Raptor Lake mainstream desktop CPU platforms in Q3 2022.

The latest information on Intel's next-gen HEDT and Mainstream Desktop CPU families comes from Momomo_US. The leaker has tweeted a picture of a fish, representing the Fishhawk Falls HEDT and dinosaur, representing the Raptor Lake mainstream CPU platforms, and both are mentioned as Q3. This means that Intel's next desktop upgrade is expected within 10-12 months of their Alder Lake lineup.

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But moving to the main story, Intel's Sapphire Rapids HEDT lineup is said to launch on the W790 platform. There was a recent driver listing of the X699 chipset but that seems to be a placeholder as the leaker claims it is fake. The W790 chipset makes it seem like the Sapphire Rapids HEDT CPU family will be aimed at the Prosumer market, similar to AMD's Threadripper Pro positioning. The important thing is that the lineup is expected to make a debut in Q3 2022, the same time as 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs.

Intel's Xeon-based Sapphire Rapids-SP chips are expected to feature up to 56 cores and LGA 4677 socket compatibility. The Sapphire Rapids workstation 'W' and HEDT 'X' chips might get a different socket and also a reduced number of cores unless Intel wants to plug in the same socket and SKU range for its HEDT/Workstation platform. It definitely looks like Intel would go the latter route since they have been beaten up pretty badly in the HEDT and workstation segment by AMD Threadripper for several years now.

We can expect new technologies such as a 10nm Enhanced SuperFin architecture for the Sapphire Rapids CPUs, 64 PCIe 5.0 lanes support, 8-Channel DDR5 memory, and many new enhancements aimed at prosumers and enthusiasts.

Replacing the Intel Alder Lake-S 12th Gen Core family, the Intel Raptor Lake-S lineup will be part of the 13th Gen Core family and feature two brand new core architectures. These architectures will be featuring Raptor Cove as performance cores & an enhanced Gracemont core which will be serving as efficiency cores.

Intel Raptor Lake-S Desktop CPU Lineup & Configurations

According to previously leaked data, the lineup will consist of three segments that were leaked out in the recent power recommendations. These include the 'K' series enthusiast SKUs rated at 125W, 65W mainstream SKUs, and 35W low-power SKUs. Coming to the top-end variants, we will be getting up to 24 cores followed by 16 core, 10 core, 4 core, and 2 core variants. The SKUs are detailed below:

Intel Core i9 K-Series (8 Golden + 16 Grace) = 24 Cores / 32 Threads / 36 MB

Intel Core i7 K-Series (8 Golden + 8 Grace) = 16 Cores / 24 Threads / 30 MB

Intel Core i5 K-Series (6 Golden + 8 Grace) = 14 Cores / 20 Threads / 24 MB

Intel Core i5 S-Series (6 Golden + 4 Grace) = 14 Cores / 16 Threads / 21 MB

Intel Core i3 S-Series (4 Golden + 0 Grace) = 4 Cores / 8 Threads / 12 MB

Intel Pentium S-Series (2 Golden + 0 Grace) = 4 Cores / 4 Threads / 6 MB

The enthusiast 125W Intel Raptor Lake-S Desktop SKUs will feature Core i9 models featuring up to 8 Raptor Cove cores and 16 Gracemont cores for a total of 24 cores and 32 threads. Intel's Core i7 lineup will consist of 16 core (8+8), Core i5 models will consist of 14 core (6+8) and 10 core (6+4) & finally, we have the Core i3 models which will feature 4 cores but without any efficiency cores. The lineup will also include Pentium SKUs which will feature just 2 Raptor Cove cores. All Core variants will feature a 32 EU (256 core) enhanced Xe integrated GPU. Certain Core i5 and Pentium variants will also come configured with 24 EU and 16 EU iGPUs.

Intel Raptor Lake-S Desktop CPU Platform Details

Other details include a larger L2 cache which will be branded as Intel's own 'Game Cache' for Core CPUs and clock speeds will feature a boost clock bump of 200 MHz so we can expect up to 5.5 GHz boost clocks considering Alder Lake-S Desktop CPUs will top out at 5.3 GHz.

The Intel Raptor Lake-S chips will also support faster DDR5 memory speeds of up to 5600 Mbps (6500 Mbps LPDDR5(X)) along with retaining support for DDR4 memory as reports suggest. It looks like there will be three main dies which will be configured into these SKUs starting with a top 'Large' die consist of 8 Cove and 16 Atom cores, a 'Mid' die with 8 Core and 8 Atom cores, and lastly, a 'Small' die with 6 Cove cores and no Atom cores.