Intel"s 12th-gen desktop processors, codenamed Alder Lake-S, will reportedly bring support for DDR5 memory. The company could supposedly move to support the next-generation platform in the same timeframe as AMD, which is expected to happen sometime in late 2021 or early 2022.
The report, courtesy of information sent to Videocardz by an unnamed source, suggests that the Alder Lake-S desktop line up will support dual-channel DDR5 memory that is expected to double bandwidth while consuming less power. The publication also corroborates earlier reporting that with the 12th-gen chips, Intel will also debut a new LGA1700 socket, adding that it will probably be accompanied by new 600 series chipset sporting motherboards.
LGA1700 is reportedly going to be around for three years before Intel moves to a different socket. Similarly, AMD will also adopt a new AM5 socket for its Zen 4 architecture-based processors, which is rumored to be coming in early 2022.
While not much is present in the leak, earlier reports hint that with the 12th-generation chips, team blue could be bringing support for up to 4800Mhz speeds for one DIMM per channel, while speeds for two DIMMs per channel could drop to 4000Mhz. Regardless, if the rumors are true, both AMD and Intel are set to deliver major memory upgrades with their late-2021 or 2022 offerings.
Alder Lake-S will most likely be based on the 10nm++ node, with the first desktop generation to support the 10nm processes being the 11th-gen processors, codenamed Rocket Lake-S. Though AMD has moved to TSMC’s 7nm fabrication, Intel recently announced that it is delaying its 7nm chips. However, Alder Lake generation CPUs are rumored to sport big and little cores – like ARM processors – so it will be interesting to see what benefits that architecture brings.