The existence of socket LGA1851 has been rumored since June 2022, but this time the confirmation comes from Intel’s official website. The discovered information, if it balances the life of the socket LGA 1700 from the 14th generation, actually brings more questions than answers. Indeed, we discover that the LGA1851 is in fact the same size as the LGA1700 currently used for the Alder/Raptor Lake series. In fact, measurements show that the size is absolutely the same as the LGA1700: 37.5 mm x 45 mm. Thus, the current cooling systems would be compatible with Meteor Lake.
The LGA1851 at least for 2 generations?
So of course, we have to wonder why this change of socket is necessary when a similar size seems to mean that the number of contact points will be very close. The answer could come from the height of the future Meteor Lake CPU and especially its IHS. The arrival of the multi-tile packaging technology could thus result in a higher CPU with a different IHS. Finally, the Chinese site BenchLife thinks it knows from its sources that the LGA1851 will be adopted not only for Meteor Lake desktop processors but also for Arrow Lake. Meteor Lake should be available in three versions: S for desktop, M and P for mobile. Recently, there have been rumors of a somewhat unusual launch that would result in parts of the Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake lines overlapping. So Meteor Lake would be launched first in laptops and Arrow Lake in desktops. For the moment this schedule is still subject to a lot of questions.
