Intel announced it's finally bringing LGA1851 socket-compatible Core Ultra processors based on the Meteor Lake architecture to the market. But before you get your hopes up, these chips are targeted at edge computing rather than consumer desktops. Intel's new edge-focused CPUs will be the first-ever Meteor Lake CPUs to come in an LGA socket format.
The chips are optimized for on-premise edge computing. Intel reports that its Core Ultra processors for edge will offer up to 5X better image classification inference performance compared to its outgoing 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh desktop processors. The new chips incorporate all of Intel's bleeding-edge Meteor Lake architecture, including an Arc-based iGPU and an NPU for graphics and AI-based workloads.
The chips target customers in retail, education, industrial, kiosk, and smart point-of-sale-systems for brick-and-mortar stores, to name a few. Edge computing is a large business for Intel and encompasses more than 90,000 deployments alone. These new Meteor Lake parts, announced at the company's Vision 2024 event, will likely sell like hotcakes as the industry continues to shift computing strategies from mainstream cloud solutions to edge-focused applications.
Edge computing is nothing new, but its capabilities have become extremely popular over the past few years. Edge computing is a strategy that localizes most of the computing power that is usually provided by cloud services. In a practical application, devices within a theoretical business will connect directly to a small mainframe located inside the building for data processing. This is different from traditional cloud computing where business devices (like kiosks) connect directly to a cloud service provider.
Edge computing has massively grown in popularity over the past few years as data consumption has ballooned beyond what the internet can handle. According to TechTarget, 75% of enterprise-generated data is expected to be created outside centralized data centers, including through edge-based solutions.
So far Intel has unveiled five Meteor Lake PS 15W SKUs and four Meteor Lake PS 45W models. The 15W parts include Core Ultra 3, Core Ultra 5, and Core Ultra 7 SKUs with core counts ranging from 8 to 12. All of these chips have just two P-cores while the rest of the cores are E-cores and LPE-cores. Boost clocks range from 4.2 GHz to 4.9 GHz on the P-cores, depending on the model.
The Meteor Lake PS 45W chips have far more cores, ranging from 14 to 16 total. The Core Ultra 5 models come with four P-cores, eight E-cores, and two LPE-cores, while the higher end Core Ultra 7 models have six P-cores, eight E-cores, and two LPE-cores. Clocks range from 4.5 GHz to 5 GHz, depending on the model.
While these are edge-focused CPUs, the fact that they use socket LGA1851 means they could be compatible with future LGA1851 desktop boards. LGA1851 is the successor to LGA1700 and is expected to arrive on the consumer side with Intel Arrow Lake CPUs. Compatibility will come down to the firmware availability and whether or not Intel wants to include support for the processors on all platforms and chipsets, or if support will be restricted to specific boards.
Regardless, if you're an enthusiast or a desktop user, Intel's edge-focused chips shouldn't be on your radar. Intel is already preparing to launch an enhanced desktop version of Meteor Lake (codenamed Arrow Lake) later this year, sporting a more advanced Intel processing node and 5x the AI performance, and likely with more CPU cores. Arrow Lake will be optimized for gaming and desktop computing and will be the first Intel desktop CPU lineup to incorporate an NPU.
