Intel deploys first patches for “Lunar Lake”, possibly the 15th Gen Core series

Published: Mar 8th 2021, 12:00 GMT   Comments

Intel beginning the groundwork for Lunar Lake

Intel Rocket Lake-S is just around the corner, while we are already looking 4 generations ahead.

Intel Ethernet driver “e1000e” has received initial support from Lunar Lake. This is exactly the same patch that was added to the driver for Meteor Lake, back in August. The e1000e is a wired network driver for Intel Gigabit NIC for Linux or virtual systems. It has been frequently updated for each release. Interestingly enough, no patches for Rocket Lake were ever submitted. There were however patches for Comet Lake and Tiger Lake, which have already been released last April and September respectively.

Intel publishes e1000e driver patches for the new generation every few months. Unfortunately, we cannot use this to pinpoint the launch schedule for new generations, as the patches were added in uneven time spans.

Not much is known about Meteor Lake, let alone Lunar Lake. There were some rumors that Intel is planning to keep the LGA1700 platform for at least three generations, so theoretically it would have been the last LGA1700 CPU series. There were also leaks on integrated graphics. The series would allegedly feature Xe Gen13, the same architecture as Ponte Vecchio and Intel DG3 discrete GPUs.

Intel e1000e driver support
ArchitectureDate AddedRelease DateDifference
Comet LakeOctober 2019April 20206 months
Tiger LakeOctober 2019September 202011 months
Alder LakeJanuary 2020~ December 2021~ 23 months
Meteor LakeAugust 2020TBCTBC
Lunar LakeMarch 2021TBCTBC

Intel Lunar Lake, Source: Osuosl.org

Intel Meteor Lake vs Raptor Lake

What may be important to note is that there are reports that Intel might launch a new series called “Raptor Lake”. So far Raptor Lake has not appeared in any leak such as the one above, but some leakers that we spoke to still believe that it will indeed launch after Alder Lake. It is being described as Alder Lake Refresh, which may explain why it is not treated as a separate architecture. A refresh would also mean it is manufactured in 10nm process technology, while Meteor Lake is now expected to be the first 7nm EUV series and to feature “Redwood Cove” big core architecture. Intel Raptor Lake on 10nm could serve as an interim product refresh till Intel finally starts the mass production of its 7nm products.

At this point in time, anything now expected after Alder Lake is still in speculative space. It is important to remember the launch schedule may shift and some products may be canceled – nothing is set in stone till Intel officially confirms it. However, it does seem that Lunar Lake is indeed being worked on already and it is described as the ‘next Intel Client platform’.

Unreleased Intel Mainstream CPU Series Specs
VideoCardz.comRocket Lake-SAlder Lake-SRaptor Lake-SMeteor Lake-SLunar Lake-S
Launch YearMarch 30, 2021Q4 20212022 (?)2022-2023 (?)2023-2024 (?)
Fabrication Node14nm10nm Enhanced SuperFin10nm Enhanced SuperFin (?)7nm Enhanced SuperFin (?)TBC
Core µArchCypress CoveGolden Cove + GracemontGolden Cove + Gracemont (?)Redwood Cove + Gracemont (?)TBC
Graphics µArchGen12.1Gen12.2Gen12.2Gen 12.7Gen 13
Max Core Countup to 8 coresup to 16 (8+8)up to 16 (8+8)TBCTBC
SocketLGA1200LGA1700LGA1700LGA1700TBC
Memory SupportDDR4DDR4/DDR5TBCDDR5DDR5
PCIe GenPCIe 4.0PCIe 5.0PCIe 5.0PCIe 5.0PCIe 5.0
Intel Core Series11th Gen Core-S12th Gen Core-S13th Gen Core-S14th Gen Core-S15th Gen Core-S
Motherboard ChipsetsIntel 500 (Z590)Intel 600 (eg. Z690)TBCTBCTBC

Source: osuosl via Coelacanth’s Dream




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