Intel and AMD are scheduled to launch their next-gen processors in the coming month. Team Red announced its Ryzen 9000 “Zen 5” CPUs at Computex earlier this month and plans to launch them on the 31st of June. Intel, however, is yet to unveil its 15th Gen Arrow Lake (Core Ultra 300) processors, but the consensus is that they’ll be launched in Q4 2024. Let’s have a closer look at the specifications, pricing, and release dates of these processors in detail.
AMD Ryzen 9000 vs Intel 15th Gen/Core Ultra 300 Specs
Core Counts and Threads
Intel’s 15th Gen Arrow Lake-S processors, now renamed to the Core Ultra 300 chips will launch with similar specifications as the 14th Gen Raptor Lake-S Refresh. The Core i9/Core Ultra 9 will pack 24 cores, (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores), the Core i7/Core Ultra 7 will incorporate 20 cores (8 P-cores + 12 E-cores), and the Core i5/Core Ultra 5 will offer 14 cores (6 P-cores + 8 E-cores). On AMD’s side, the Ryzen 9000 CPUs start with 6 cores and 12 threads and top out at 16 cores and 32 threads.
| Ryzen 5 9600X | i5-15600K Core Ultra 5 245K | Ryzen 7 9700X | i7-15700K Core Ultra 7 265K | Ryzen 9 9900X | Ryzen 9 9950X | i9-15900K Core Ultra 9 285K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores/Threads | 6/12 | 6P+8E | 8/16 | 8P+12E | 12/24 | 16/32 | 8P+16E |
| L2 Cache (per core) | 1 MB | 3 MB (P-core) | 1 MB | 3 MB (P-core) | 1 MB | 1 MB | 3 MB (P-core) |
| L3 Cache (shared) | 32 MB | 24 MB | 32 MB | 33 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB | 36 MB |
| Boost Clock | 5.4 GHz | 5.3 GHz? | 5.5 GHz | 5.4 GHz? | 5.6 GHz | 5.7 GHz | 5.5 GHz? |
| PCIe Lanes (Gen 5) | 24 | 20 | 24 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 20 |
| Memory Support | DDR5-8000 | DDR5-8000? | DDR5-8000 | DDR5-8000? | DDR5-8000 | DDR5-8000 | DDR5-8000? |
| TDP | 65W | 125W | 65W | 125W | 120W | 170W | 125W |
| Socket | AM5 | LGA1851 | AM5 | LGA1851 | AM5 | AM5 | LGA1851 |
| Process | TSMC 4nm | TSMC 3nm “N3B” | TSMC 4nm | TSMC 3nm “N3B” | TSMC 4nm “N4P” | TSMC 4nm “N4P” | TSMC 3nm “N3B” |
| Price | $299? | $329? | $399? | $419? | $499? | $649? | $599? |
| Launch | July 2024 | Q4 2024 | July 2024 | Q4 2024 | 31st July 2024 | 31st July 2024 | Q4 2024 |
One major difference between the two lineups is that the Ryzen desktop lineup consists of high-performance cores, while the Intel platform features a hybrid design with P and E-cores, without hyper-threading.
Cache: L2 and L3
Intel’s Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature more L2 cache (3 MB per P-core) than AMD’s Zen 5 cores (1 MB per core), but lesser L3 cache (36 MB vs 64 MB). The boost clocks should be similar on the two lineups. The Ryzen 9 9950X will max out at 5.7 GHz, and 5.6 GHz for the 9900X. The Core Ultra 9 285K should also clock between 5.5 GHz and 6 GHz on the P-cores.
Memory and I/O
AMD will likely hold an I/O advantage with 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes on Granite Ridge versus 20 on Intel’s Arrow Lake-S family. The Ryzen 9000 CPUs will feature an upgraded memory controller optimized for DDR5-8000 in EXPO. The Core Ultra 300 should come with similar or higher memory clocks.
TDP and Power Efficiency
Power efficiency has been AMD’s forte for quite some time now. That will continue in the coming generations as the Ryzen 9000 chips get lower TDP/PPT envelopes. While the Ryzen 9 9950X has a TDP of 170W, the 9900X is specced at 120W, and the remaining SKUs run at a base power of just 65W. Meanwhile, Intel’s Arrow Lake-S lineup will run at a base “PL1” power limit of 125W and a boost “PL2” power limit of 253W.
Process Nodes and Platforms
Intel and AMD are both set to leverage TSMC’s EUV lithography, with a whole node advantage for the former. Team Red will utilize the 4nm “N4P” process, while its Blue rival will use the 3nm “N3B” node. AMD will retain the AM5 socket and its 600-series chipsets, while Intel will upgrade to the newer LGA1851 socket, ditching the LGA1700 platform after just 2 “real” generations.
AMD Ryzen 9000 vs Intel 15th Gen/Core Ultra 300 Pricing and Release Dates
According to Moore’s Law is Dead, the Ryzen 9000 processors will be more affordable than their predecessors. The YouTuber claims:
- The Ryzen 9 9950X will be priced up to $649, $50 less than the launch price of the Ryzen 9 7950X.
- The Ryzen 9 9900X will cost up to $499, or at least $50 less than the Ryzen 9 7900X’s launch MSRP.
- The Ryzen 7 9700X is said to cost between $329-$379, making it $20 to $70 cheaper than the Ryzen 7 7700X at launch.
- The Ryzen 5 9600X will cost between $249-$299, making it up to $50 more affordable than the Ryzen 5 7600X.
On the Intel side, there aren’t any new leaks, and the Arrow Lake-S desktop CPUs will likely cost the same as their Raptor Lake predecessors:
| Cores (P+E/T) | P-Core Turbo | E-Core Turbo | L3 Cache (MB) | iGPU | TDP (W) | PL2 (W) | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i9-14900K | 8+16/32 | 6000 | 4400 | 36 | 770 | 125 | 253 | $589 |
| i9-14900KF | 8+16/32 | 6000 | 4400 | 36 | – | 125 | 253 | $564 |
| i7-14700K | 8+12/28 | 5600 | 4300 | 33 | 770 | 125 | 253 | $409 |
| i7-14700KF | 8+12/28 | 5600 | 4300 | 33 | – | 125 | 253 | $384 |
| i5-14600K | 6+8/20 | 5300 | 4000 | 24 | 770 | 125 | 181 | $319 |
| i5-14600KF | 6+8/20 | 5300 | 4000 | 24 | – | 125 | 181 | $294 |
As already mentioned, AMD’s Ryzen 9000 processors will launch on the 31st of July, while the Intel 15th Gen/Core Ultra 300 CPUs will launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, likely in November or December. The first wave will only include the unlocked “K” and “KF” series chips, while the non-K parts will launch at a later date.
AMD Zen 5 vs Intel Lion Cove Core Architectures
When it comes to the core architecture, we don’t know much about Zen 5. Intel shared the basic details of the Lion Cove “P-core” at Computex, and they made it a wide core. Team Blue has doubled down on the fundamentals. A massive branch predictor, expanded decoder, op-cache, and dispatch.
| Front-end | Raptor Cove | Zen 4 | Redwood Cove | Zen 5 (not confirmed) | Lion Cove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-Cache | 32 KB | 32 KB | 64 KB | 32 KB | 64 KB |
| ITLB | 256 | 64/512 | 256? | 64/512 | 256? |
| Branch Target Buffer | 128/6K/12K | 1.5K/7K | ? | ? | ? |
| Instruction Fetch B/w | 32 Bytes | 32 Bytes | 32 Bytes | 32 Bytes? | 128 Bytes |
| Instruction Queue | 50 | ? | 50? | ? | ? |
| Decoder | 6-way | 4-way | 6-way | dual-decoder? | 8-way |
| Micro-op Cache | 4K | 6.75K | 4K | ? | 5.25K |
| Micro-op Cache B/w | 8 | 9 | 8 | ? | 12 |
| Micro-op Queue Width | 144 | ? | 192 | ? | 192 |
| Rename/Dispatch | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
On the backend, Lion Cove features a consolidated ROB feeding parallel/independent FP and INT execution ports (a first for Intel). The backend cache hierarchy has been revamped for higher bandwidth and lower latency. You can read more about Lion Cove and how it differs from Raptor and Redwood Cove here.
| Back-end | Raptor Cove | Zen 4 | Redwood Cove | Zen 5 | Lion Cove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reorder Buffer | 512 | 320 | 512 | ? | 576 |
| Branch Order Buffer | 128 | – | 128 | – | ? |
| Retire B/w | 8 | 8 | 8 | ? | 12 |
| Int Reg/FP Reg | 280/332 | 224/192 | 280/332 | ? | ? |
| EU Scheduler | 97 | 24 x4/32 x2 | 97 | ? | ? |
| Load Scheduler | 70 | with EU | 70 | ? | ? |
| Store Scheduler | 38 | with EU | 38 | ? | ? |
| Execution Ports | 5 | 9 | 5 | 12? | 10 |
| Store Data Ports | 2 | ? | 2 | ? | 2 |
| Load AGU | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Store AGU | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Load Queue | 192 | 136 | 192 | ? | ? |
| Store Queue | 114 | 64 | 114 | ? | ? |
| Load B/w | 96 Bytes | 64 Bytes | 128 Bytes | ? | 128 Bytes |
| Store B/w | 64 Bytes | 32 Bytes | 64 Bytes | ? | 64 Bytes? |
| L1D Cache | 48 KB | 32 KB | 48 KB | 48 KB | 48 KB/192 KB |
| DTLB | 96 | 72 | 96 | 96? | 128 |
| L2 Cache | 2048 KB | 1024 KB | 2 MB | 1 MB | 2.5 MB/3 MB |
| L2 TLB | 2048 | 3072 | ? | ? | ? |
