Leaked Meteor Lake Mobile Chips Reportedly Have Lower Clock Speeds Than Raptor Lake | Tom’s Hardware

Hardware leaker Golden Pig, who has a strong track record with leaked hardware information, has leaked three new Meteor Lake mobile SKUs on the Chinese social networking site Bilibili. The SKUs feature Intel’s new Core Ultra branding and are listed as the Core Ultra 7 155H, Core Ultra 7 165H, and Core Ultra 9 185H. According to the leak, the latter two will have maximum boost clocks of 5 GHz and 5.1 GHz, while the 155H will sport a peak clock speed of 4.8 GHz.

Golden Pig’s clock speed data is a little difficult to understand, but it appears that each number (beyond the model name) refers to the base and boost frequencies each CPU will have. So for the Core Ultra 7 155H, the first two P cores will apparently have a maximum boost clock of 4.8 GHz, a few more will have a maximum boost clock of 4.5 GHz, and the rest will have a maximum boost clock of 4.3 GHz, while the base clock for the chip will rest at 2.8GHz. The E cores look like they will max out at 3.8 GHz.

Following this interpretation, the Core Ultra 7 165H will have two P cores with a maximum boost clock of 5 GHz, a few more that max out at 4.7 GHz, and the rest will max out at 4.4 GHz. The E cores will max out at 3.8 GHz, and the base clock speed will sit at 2.8 GHz. 

The Core Ultra 9 185H — the most powerful chip of the trio — will have two P cores with a maximum boost clock of 5.1 GHz, a few more that max out at 4.8 GHz, and the rest will peak at 4.5 GHz. Like the other two chips, the E cores will max out at 3.8 GHz, and the base clock will sit at 2.8 GHz.

The leak did not cover core counts, but Intel’s Meteor Lake lineup is expected to have a maximum core capacity of 14.

If the data is correct, these new Meteor Lake mobile chips will be clocked noticeably worse than previous generations of Intel mobile hybrid CPUs — which hit 5 GHz or higher on most i7 and i9 models. The downgrade will be disappointing for enthusiasts who love to see bigger numbers, but the clock speed reduction is understandable given that Intel’s Meteor Lake architecture utilizes a brand-new process node, which is more advanced than previous designs. So, even with reduced clock speeds, these new Meteor Lake chips should still be faster than their Raptor Lake predecessors. 

Reducing clock speeds on a newer architecture isn’t anything new: Intel has been doing this for years, especially on brand-new CPU architectures. Higher clock speeds aren’t the only contributing factor to better performance.

Meteor Lake is Intel’s next-generation CPU lineup and is slated to replace non-desktop variants of Raptor Lake next year. The new architecture represents a huge leap in complexity for Intel’s hybrid CPUs, as it features a new tile-based system that sees the introduction of different chipsets being integrated into a single CPU. The chipsets add additional functionality to Meteor Lake chips, and Intel has highlighted the inclusion of a new AI-chipset and a new iGPU powered by TSMC silicon.

Meteor Lake’s cores should also see a noteworthy improvement in efficiency with the inclusion of Intel’s more advanced ‘Intel 4’ node, which has twice the transistor density of Alder Lake designs and features 21.5% higher frequencies at the same power level.

We’ll probably see more leaked SKUs as the Meteor Lake launch debut grows nearer.

Aaron Klotz is a freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering news topics related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.