Intel has officially announced a renaming of its chip family, beginning with the upcoming 14th-Gen CPUs. Here’s a look at everything we’ve learned so far regarding Intel’s 14th-Gen Meteor Lake CPU family, which includes both leaked and officially confirmed information. Meteor Lake is being lauded as a watershed event in Intel’s manufacturing, architecture, and design processes, with the new-generation CPUs promising a slew of advantages. Even AMD, a direct competitor, changed the name format for its Ryzen mobile CPUs early this year. This post will go through Intel’s new Ultra and Core designations.
Intel’s Most Significant Brand Refresh in More Than a Decade
Intel’s brand is undergoing its most drastic transformation in 15 years. What is the goal? To simplify the brand’s naming practices across its desktop and laptop CPU lines. What is the most significant change? The iconic “i” in processor names is gradually being phased out. As a result, product names will now be classified into three categories: Core 3, Core 5, Core 7, and Core 9.
This new moniker will also appear on the processor’s badge, similar to how Intel stickers decorate laptops and desktop CPU packages. The generation and model number of the CPU will remain at the end of the title. Here’s a comparison of current branding vs new branding for a basic Core i7 processor:
Old Branding
Revised Branding
Intel Core i7 Processor ##### H/HX/U/P
Intel Core 7 Processor ##xx*
This name change will apply to other CPUs (such as the Core i3/i5/i7), with the “i” removed from their titles. Intel, too, is taking a two-pronged approach to product categorization. This allows businesses to differentiate their premium and mainstream product offerings.
The premium class will be known as Core Ultra, while the ordinary lineup will be known as Core. As a result, CPU names like “Intel Core Ultra 7 processor ##xx*” are likely. Along with these upgrades, Intel is refreshing its branding across the board (including the Evo and vPro Enterprise badges). The new aesthetic will look like this:
The Core Ultra variants of Intel’s 14th Generation CPUs will have badges in a deeper shade of blue, indicating an improvement from the base variant. This redesign marks a significant shift in Intel’s branding strategy. They intend to abandon the old practice of inserting the generation number before the ‘Intel Core’ brand name and will remove the “i” to emphasize the substantial transition to a new architecture to their consumers. Furthermore, Intel Arc graphics will work with both Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra processors.
With F1 2020 and F1 2021, successful and very popular racing hits have recently been delivered, both of which were convincing in the test with colleagues from the PC games. But after being taken over by Electronic Arts and the widely criticized F1 22, Codemasters first has to win back the trust of the fans. Instead of virtual Rolex watches and other in-game gadgets, this time the focus is on elements that are intended to enhance the heart of the racing series. In focus: tough racing. Developer Codemasters and publisher Electronic Arts are bringing back F1 2021’s popular “Braking Point” story mode.
What else F1 23 has to offer is explained in the PCGH Performance Brief. This is a “light” technology test that clarifies all important questions without escalating with hundreds of benchmarks and thousands of text characters. In the future, this format will always be used when there are a particularly large number of projects in a week – we’d rather give you a crisp impression than none at all. How do you like the idea? We’re happy about every Feedback!
F1 23: content and requirements
For those who don’t remember: In F1 2021, an almost six-hour racing story was staged that picks up on the hype of the Netflix show “Drive to Survive”. The fictional story revolves around the British youngster Aiden Jackson, who, as a Formula 2 driver, makes the big leap into the premier class. Once there, he not only has to deal with the competitors from the other teams, but also with teammate Casper Akkerman. With F1 23 the story should now be continued. Here you are once again relying on Aiden Jackson, who together with Devon Butler (“Antagonist” in F1 2019 and 2021) forms the driver pairing of the fictional racing team Konnersports Racing Team. The still quite young group definitely wants to compete with the current sizes of Formula 1. According to Codemasters, we can expect “a multitude of new characters”, including the newly established driver Callie Mayer, but also fresh rivalries and many racing challenges.
Probably the biggest criticism of the Codemasters F1 series is the atypical behavior of the cars in slow corners and the lack of traction at low speeds. Here, too, promises of improvement. In this way, three key areas are to be addressed: the basic acceleration, the braking process and cornering. The underbodies of the F1 cars have also been modified, which is intended to enhance the often unrealistic driving behavior. For more information on F1 23 gameplay, check out our colleagues at PC Games.
Graphic comparison F1 20 to F1 23 – Circuit: Spain
The system requirements for F1 23 are moderate – at least in the case of “normal” graphics without ray tracing. Modern ray tracing places higher demands on both the processor and the graphics card. Similarly if you want to play F1 23 in VR. We will immediately clarify in the CPU and GPU benchmarks to what extent the information corresponds to reality.
Minimal hardware
Recommended hardware
hard disk
80GB, SSD recommended
80GB, SSD recommended
random access memory
8GB of RAM
16GB of RAM
graphic card
GTX 1050 Ti or RX 470 | Ray tracing: RTX 2060 or RX 6700 XT | VR: GTX 1660 Ti or RX 590
GTX 1660 Ti or RX 590 | Ray tracing: RTX 3070 or RX 6800 | VR: RTX 2070 or RX 6700 XT
processor
Intel Core i3-2130 or AMD FX 4300 | VR: Intel Core i5-9600k or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Intel Core i5 9600K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Internet
Broadband needed
Broadband needed
Windows
Windows 10 64-bit (Version 21H1 or higher)
Windows 10 64-bit (Version 21H1 or higher)
F1 23: Benchmark of all routes
It’s a cherished PCGH tradition to use the built-in benchmark function to run through all tracks in Codemasters games. 26 locations around the world are waiting to be explored in F1 23. The following benchmark reveals which of the PCs demands the most. The weather conditions are set to “dry” because some effects (such as shadows) are not displayed when it rains. Consequently, our graphics card benchmarks will once again take place in Azerbaijan.
F1 23: All 26 routes tested (Geforce RTX 4090, UHD, TAA) Source: PC Games Hardware
Technically, F1 23 offers plenty of goodies for PC gamers. Above all, ray tracing should be mentioned, which can be switched on individually in the form of several effects – shadows, reflections, shading and lighting. Of course, this upgrade comes at a cost in performance, but it brings F1 23 a tiny bit closer to photorealism. So that it doesn’t jerk excessively, you can activate a variety of upsampling processes. In addition to the game’s own method, which can be upgraded using Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS), you can choose between AMD FSR 2, Intel XeSS and Nvidia DLSS.
Owners of a Geforce RTX 4000 can also use Frame Generation (part of DLSS 3) – theoretically, because this switch is permanently grayed out in the previously available version 1.4 of F1 23. The new integration of the raytracing efficiency feature SER (Shader Execution Reordering) is also still functional. We have informed EA about these teething problems and hope for a patch soon that will fix both problems. Incidentally, you can also enjoy the entire game in VR mode, but then you have to provide more powerful hardware than in “normal” mode. This mode is PC exclusive.
With the Alder Lake generation, Intel has changed its processors in a fundamental way, introducing the concept of asymmetric cores. Well known in the ARM world, its principle is to have more efficient cores and others more economical, to offer good performance without consuming too much.
This change implies numerous adaptations on the software side and in particular at the level of the operating system. Intel has worked with Microsoft to improve this in Windows 11, but nothing should be expected from Apple for macOS as Macs have ditched Intel-designed processors. Here is what could worry the amateurs of hackintosh, these PC on which one installs macOS, but good news: OpenCore1 started its support for Alder Lake CPUs.
It’s a start and there are still a few limitations and bugs to be taken into account. In addition, the developers of OpenCore have tested only one ASUS motherboard and there could be incompatibilities with other models. Either way, macOS can run without major issues, although you shouldn’t expect performance as good as on Windows at this time. The problem stems from the management of cores at different speeds, there are obviously optimizations to be done.
Although it is now possible to install macOS on a PC with Alder Lake, it is safer for now to stick to previous generations to achieve a more stable hackintosh.
An essential brick for hackintosh, it is he who simulates a Mac to allow macOS to start normally. ↩︎
CES 2022 – Intel Evo: What does the new Intel Evo 3.0 standard provide for Ultrabooks and gaming laptops?
With its new Alder Lake processors, Intel introduced Intel Evo 3.0 unveiled at CES 2022.
This certification is granted to laptops respecting a Specifications, a pledge especially for nomads.
To be Intel Evo 3rd Edition certified, a laptop computer must have a processor Alder Lake, in other words Intel Core 12th generation, associated with at least 8 GB of RAM, storage SSD M.2 NVMe PCIe of at least 256 GB, and offer a biometric authentication functionality like a Infrared webcam and / or a fingerprint reader.
In addition, it must offer a connection Wi-Fi 6E ax, Thunderbolt 4 and USB-C for the load as well as a minimum 720p webcam but Intel is pushing to offer a webcam Full HD, in any case with the functionality of ambient noise suppression.
An Intel Evo 3.0 Ultrabook must be able to run multiple software, including collaboration, in the foreground and background, without impacting responsiveness and autonomy.
In this regard, to obtain the Intel Evo 3.0 certification, a laptop must be able to provide battery life of at least 9 hours on battery in current use, and offer a screen adopting a Full HD definition at minimum.
In addition in 30 minutes, he must be able to charge at least 4 hours, but also power wake up instantly (in less than 1 second).
The finesse must of course be appropriate, with less than 15mm thick, and the format is established between 12 inches and 16 inches, with thin screen edges but also Backlit Keyboard. Of course, it could be classic models or 2-in-1 hybrids convertible into Tablet or even dual screen.
Unlike previous Intel Evo standards, Intel Evo 3.0 can also certify non-Ultrabook computers, including Gaming laptops and more generally powerful.
These PCs must integrate an Intel processor Alder Lake-H, a graphics card Intel Arc with Deep Link and a 15 or 16 inch “designer-oriented” screen.
If Intel is not more outspoken on the subject, we can bet that this implies at least one above-average color reproduction.
We should also remember that the Chromebooks, these laptops running on Google’s free Chrome OS system can be eligible for Intel Evo 3.0 certification.
Alder Lake: Intel DRM issues on some games have all been fixed
First announced as a mere possibility, the incompatibility between video games and Intel’s Alder Lake hybrid architecture was quickly confirmed, with nearly a hundred titles affected.
Windows Game Patches and Updates
The concern was obviously linked to a problem of recognition of the two types of cores present in the Alder Lake processors: the DRM of these games identified the thing as two separate machines.
“Was related”, because after having mentioned the nearly one hundred games concerned, Intel reduced the concern to three games a month after the official release of Alder Lake. The American founder is even now able to say that no game has any problems.
The last three games still involved, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Fernbus Simulator and Madden 22, have obviously benefited from life-saving updates. In its last official intervention to evoke the concern, the company explains:
“Intel has addressed the DRM issue on 12th Generation Intel Core processors causing games to crash or freeze when loading on Windows 11 and / or Windows 10 by working with game publishers and Microsoft. Currently, all games originally identified as having this DRM issue have been fixed through game patches or operating system updates. “
The founder adds, “If you are having problems on an older Windows operating system, run the latest version of Windows Update to resolve the problem. Besides gaming fixes, the most recent updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10 fixed the majority of DRM issues. “
All games impacted by Alder Lake / DRM issues have now been fixed
Bottom Line: If you’re put off by upgrading to the 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake series by the prospect of not being able to play some of your favorite games, here’s the good news: Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues. ) which caused some of the titles to not run on the latest processors without some form of workaround have now been completely resolved.
In November, Intel released a list of games that wouldn’t work with its new Alder Lake chips. The issues arose out of conflicts with digital rights management software (Denuvo). It appears that the DRM software incorrectly recognized Alder Lake’s E-cores as another system. This would prevent games from launching, cause crashes during the game, or stop them unexpectedly.
Intel has placed 90 titles on the affected games list, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. There were ways around the problem, including enabling legacy gaming compatibility mode (if available) in a PC’s BIOS, putting electronic cores into sleep mode while playing games. And some motherboard manufacturers have released tools that allow users to easily turn electronic cores on and off through a utility’s user interface.
In December, Intel announced that the list of games impacted by the Alder Lake / DRM combo was reduced to just three – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Fernbus Simulator, and Madden 22 – although this writer has never encountered any issues while playing Valhalla. on an Alder Lake PC. even without the workarounds.
However, Intel has confirmed that it has now resolved all DRM issues on its Alder Lake processors by working with game publishers and Microsoft; every title in the list has been fixed via patches or updates to the operating system. Intel is asking people who identify games that are still having problems operating on Alder Lake to contact the company.
