VideoCardz has shared a photo of the first desktop processor built on Intel’s 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin technology, Alder Lake-S. While the move from 14 nm is celebratory in itself, what really makes this family of chips special is a unique shift in engineering.
Instead of a single type of core, Alder Lake-S will blend larger, higher-performance cores (Golden Cove) with smaller, more efficient ones (Gracemont). (Intel gave us a taste of its hybrid technology with this summer’s Lakefield release, but those have been relegated to notebooks such as Samsung’s Galaxy Book S.)
You can see how Alder Lake-S compares with 10th Gen Core (Comet Lake-S) processors below. While the width of the CPU is identical (37.5 mm), Alder Lake-S is 7.5 mm taller (45 mm), which calls for a new type of socket (LGA 1700). The lineup is also expected to include support for DDR5 memory and the PCIe 5.0 interface.
VideoCardz’s sources suggest that Alder Lake-S will hit the market by the end of 2021. The time frame makes sense, as Intel is also releasing its Rocket Lake-S processors next year (around March 2021).
