CPUs

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPUs Based on 10nm Process to use LGA 1700 Socket

According to tipster @KOMACHI_ENSAKA, Intel’s next-to-next 12th Gen Alder Lake desktop processors will make use of the new LGA 1700 socket. This is in line with Intel’s policy of supporting the same socket for just two generations.

Alder Lake is expected to be Intel’s first (real) desktop CPU to leverage the 10nm process. 11th-generation Rocket Lake S parts will continue to use the very same 14nm process we’ve seen now for literal ages, since the fifth-generation Intel Broadwell lineup.

This would mean a record six generations of processors on the 14nm process. Meanwhile, AMD is expected to leverage the 5nm process for Ryzen 5000 processors in 2022: If release dates don’t quite align, we might see a situation where AMD processors have three times the transistor density of their Intel counterparts.

In the here and now, we expect Rocket Lake S parts to arrive either late this year or early 2021. With Rocket Lake-S, Intel will finally deliver a new processor architecture (everything up to Comet Lake has effectively been rehashes of Skylake). With Alder Lake likely to be a die shrink of that, this is our real takeaway: If you’re in the market for an Intel processor for some reason, don’t even both with Alder Lake. Get hold of a Comet Lake-S part and upgrade to Rocket Lake for a decent uptick in IPC.

Arjun

Penguin-published author, and journalist. Loves PC hardware but has terrible hand-eye coordination. Most likely to be found playing Total War or watching weird Russian sitcoms.
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