TechPowerUp has learned that Intel is planning to bring 16 cores onto the mainstream desktop platform by Spring 2021 by implementing a similar chip-design philosophy as AMD: MCMs. The new "Ozark Lake" processor will pack up to 16 cores and 32 threads by decoupling the "core" and "uncore" components of a typical Intel mainstream processor.

Intel will leverage the additional fiberglass substrate floor-space yielded from the new LGA1700 package to create a multi-chip module that has two [kinds of] dies, the "core complex" and the "uncore complex." The core complex is a 14 nm die purely composed of CPU cores and an EMIB interconnect. There will be as many as 16 "Skylake" cores in a conventional ringbus layout, and conventional cache hierarchy (256 KB L2$ and up to 2 MB/core L3$). The lack of uncore components and exclusive clock and voltage domains will allow the CPU cores to attain Thermal Velocity Boost Pro speeds of up to 6.00 GHz, if not more.The core complex connects to another, smaller die on the package called the "uncore complex," using EMIB. This die packs all of the chip's I/O. Among its key components include a dual-channel DDR4 memory controller, a PCI-Express gen 4.0 root complex with 28 lanes (16 toward PEG, 8 toward the DMI 4.0 chipset bus, and 4 toward an "accelerated M.2 slot" (working title), or perhaps even an Optane persistent memory slot). Also featured will be an Intel Xe-architecture based iGPU with roughly 1 TFLOP/s raw compute power. The modularity of the MCM will allow Intel to build lower-core count SKUs by simply placing smaller 10-core, 8-core, or 6-core dies next to the uncore complex.

Intel has, in the past, built an MCM with the exact same floor-plan and division of labor, "Clarkdale," circa 2010. Our well placed sources in the motherboard industry pin a soft-launch date on April 1, 2021, unless delayed by COVID-19.

Update 07:07 UTC: We reached out to Intel for comments and received an unexpected response: "We do not comment on unreleased products, but we're committed to saving the world by keeping college kids away from irresponsible spring break parties during a pandemic."