Intel 15th Gen Arrow Lake: Everything we know

❘ Published: 2024-04-18T15:56:15

Firefly AI/Intel

PC gaming enthusiasts are keen to see what Intel’s 15th Gen CPUs can do. Known as Arrow Lake, they will be the successors of the 14th-generation Raptor Lake refresh chips. We’ve gathered all the leaks and rumors, including specs, price, and performance of Intel’s Arrow Lake CPUs right here.

The rivalry between Intel and AMD has been intense through the current generation of CPUs. AMD has seen some significant gains, particularly since its integrated GPU technology has been powerful enough to see extensive use in newly popular gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck. Intel is therefore very keen to gain back the ground it has lost with its 15th Generation ‘Arrow Lake’ CPU line.

We’ve collected all the currently available information on Intel’s 15th Gen CPUs. Much of this information comes via rumors and leaks from industry insiders, so until Team Blue makes an official statement, it is best to take it with a pinch of salt.

Intel 15th Gen (Arrow Lake) specs speculation

Very little confirmed information is available on the specifications for Intel’s 15th Gen chips, but Intel’s Arrow Lake lineup is expected to be the first to use what Intel calls a “20A” process node, which is the equivalent of a 2nm node.

This is a big step for Team Blue, as they currently use a 7nm process, while AMD is using a more efficient 5nm process. A smaller process node allows more transistors to be crammed into the processor, which means better performance.

Intel’s Arrow Lake chips are expected to have 24 cores, featuring eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores. Leaker Moore’s Law is Dead suggests that Intel is not planning on utilizing Hyperthreading for the 15th Gen chips.

But, he’s gone on to claim that Intel has a roadmap that includes a mid-generation refresh which will increase the number of efficiency cores up to 32.

Regarding Arrow Lake’s integrated graphics capabilities, it’s anticipated that Intel will base this on their Arc Alchemist GPUs. AMD has been dominating the APU market thanks to the performance of its Ryzen Z1 processor and RDNA 3 integrated graphics.

While the MSI Claw is the first handheld to use Arc within it, Arrow Lake’s improvements may make their way to future mobile processors, which could end up in future gaming handhelds.

Intel is also reported to be working on improving memory support, which may include support for DDR5-6400.

Intel 15th Gen (Arrow Lake) performance speculation

Leaked benchmarks from Geekbench have shown that the flagship Arrow Lake CPU is capable of up to 20% improved performance in multicore tests compared to a 13th-gen 13900K. In single-core workloads, Arrow Lake reached an impressive 16% performance uplift in some tests.

This is backed up by information from renowned leaker and YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, who claimed that Arrow Lake will have a performance boost of between 25% and 35% compared to current Meteor Lake chips.

However, earlier information based on a leaked presentation claims that Arrow Lake will see a 15% increase in multi-core performance, and a 5% improvement in single-core performance compared to its immediate predecessor.

The integrated GPU performance of Arrow Lake is also impressive in leaked benchmarks. In 3DMark’s Time Spy, the 15th Gen chip saw a massive 220% to 240% increase in performance when compared to an Intel i9-13900K, likely due to Arc GPU integration.

Intel 15th Gen (Arrow Lake) release speculation

We’re expecting Intel’s 15th Generation of CPUs to launch towards the end of 2024. Though some leaks have specified early 2025 for the release, our analysis suggests that the 2025 date will be limited to mobile and laptop chips.

Intel’s Meteor Lake CPUs have not produced impressive figures in terms of either performance or sales, which might be enough to accelerate Intel’s planned schedule.

Intel 15th Gen (Arrow Lake) price speculation

There is currently no information available on what the price structure will be for Intel’s 15th Generation of CPUs. But, the Flagship i9-14900K from the 14th Generation Raptor Lake series was priced at $599 at launch. To contrast, the next generation of AMD chips, the Zen 5 is expected to have its flagship Ryzen 9 processor to be priced at around $699 when it launches.

Should you wait for Intel 15th Gen (Arrow Lake) to launch?

There are plenty of powerful and capable CPUs on the market capable of handling anything that modern gaming has to offer. The really impressive figures that have appeared for Arrow Lake so far have been in integrated graphics, so there is potential for some Intel-powered handhelds and other portable devices in the future. It is probably best to keep an eye out for those.

But, regarding desktop performance specifically, we’re not looking at any mindblowing jumps in performance, if initial leaks and benchmarks are to be believed.