For several days now, there have been a lot of rumors and articles (often revolving around the same source) about large disruptions in the schedule of the next cpu at AMD and INTEL. But we have to admit that it is the latter that could reshuffle its roadmap the most. First of all, let’s note that this brief will only summarize these rumors and bring our point of view in the absence of reliable information from Intel in particular.
AMD Zen 4 X3D: only two processors in 2023?
If the reviews about the new Ryzen 7000 are generally good, the general tendency is to leave the advantage to Intel. So some people say they are waiting for the eventual release of the Ryzen 7000 X3D processors, which could take over the gaming market. It is known that these processors cost more to AMD but to force the decision against Intel, a range of 4 X3D CPUs was considered. However, it seems that AMD plans to offer only one Ryzen 5 7600X3D and one Ryzen 7 7700X3D. A limitation to two CPUs 6 and 8 cores which could disappoint some but which is however relatively logical with regard to the gaming target in sight. Another rumor on the subject, if these X3D versions should be presented at the beginning of the year (at CES 2023?), the commercialization could take place only around March or April 2023.
Intel: a greatly disrupted roadmap?
Contrary to many other leaks and rumors about Intel’s advance on its roadmap, we learn that Intel should postpone to 2024 Meteor Lake and its upgrade to socket LGA 1851. This rumor relayed by the same leaker who talked about Zen 4 X3D is particularly disturbing and goes against the trend that seemed to be emerging. Worse, to make its customers “wait”, the blue could occupy the field with Raptor Lake Refresh, that is to say similar processors taking advantage of an optimization of the engraving process to offer small increases in clock speed from 100 to 200 MHz. So it’s only in 2024 that Intel would put its new products on the table, but again with a very surprising approach. So Meteor Lake would arrive in 2024, but we could also see Arrow Lake land a few months away. How to explain this situation? Still according to the leaker, Intel would like the two ranges to overlap. Meteor Lake could therefore focus its range on CPUs capped at six performance cores and 16 efficient cores and be particularly aggressive for laptops, while Arrow Lake will be more suitable for desktops with up to eight performance cores while keeping the same 16 efficient cores.
What to think about these rumors and what to expect for 2023
So here is a rather disturbing “revision” of the calendar. We have voluntarily discarded some other rumors mentioning a change of engraving process for Meteor Lake because this story does not seem reliable as it is. Concerning this delay affecting AMD and more strongly Intel, here again we must remain cautious because if the news on the subject are multiplying, they are only repeating the same source for several days. However, if we take a step back, this story could make sense.
After all, with major inflation including on PC components, a “break” could be good for everyone. In addition to the economic situation, the PC fans has just been through a socket change for AMD, a switch to DDR5, a power supply change (which will become more and more necessary in terms of power and standard)… All of this topped off by an explosion in graphics card and motherboard prices (to a lesser extent).
So considering 2023 as a transition year would not be so crazy. Note however that this point of view and a simple global reflection with regard to the market and considering the end customer as a priority… Considerations that cannot necessarily be aligned with those of the manufacturers.
