Intel is giving its "Raptor Lake" client processor architecture an update in the second half of 2023, called simply "Raptor Lake Refresh." When we first heard about this development back in December 2022, there were two theories on how Intel could name these processors. The first one suggested that it would take the same path as "Coffee Lake Refresh" (9th Gen Core), and give "Raptor Lake Refresh" a whole new generational number scheme (14th Gen Core); while the other held that it would try to carve out new processor model numbers within the 13th Gen, like it did with "Haswell Refresh" (4th Gen Core).

Channel vendors in Taiwan are being communicated that the desktop "Raptor Lake Refresh-S" and mainstream notebook "Raptor Lake Refresh-H" will be the final generation of Core i processors (to retain the current nomenclature), and will be slotted as 14th Gen Core. The top desktop SKU could be named "Core i9-14900K," for example. The ultraportable "Raptor Lake Refresh-U" will be the first generation with the new nomenclature Core branding, while "Meteor Lake" will receive the Core Ultra branding, as it has next-generation CPU cores, iGPU, and an on-package AI accelerator.As for what separates "Raptor Lake" apart from "Raptor Lake Refresh," we have a theory. Intel could implement the final refinements of its Intel 7 foundry node for the series; and generationally improve CPU core counts and cache sizes. The non-K 13th Gen Core i5 processors, for example, use the older generation die with 1.25 MB L2 cache per P-core, and 2 MB shared L2 cache per E-core cluster. Perhaps the 14th Gen Core i5 could be based on the newer silicon with 2 MB L2 cache per P-core, and 4 MB shared L2 cache per E-core cluster. We're not quite sure how Intel will segment the Core i7 and Core i9 SKUs. For 9th Gen "Coffee Lake Refresh," Intel had bumped up CPU core counts with the introduction of a new 8-core monolithic die, which allowed it to dial up CPU core counts for its Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs. The 10th Gen "Comet Lake" saw it introduce a 10-core die and the final refinements of the 14 nm process, to dial up CPU core/thread counts across the board.