nomenclature – SamaGamer

06/15/2023 at 3:01 p.m. Intel is reorganizing the complete nomenclature for the core processors from the “Meteor Lake” generation and is removing the “i” that has been established for years from their product designation. Instead, the manufacturer gives selected models the addition “Ultra”, which is intended to distinguish premium CPUs from mainstream CPUs. But that’s not all.

As Intel announced today, the company is completely changing the nomenclature of its core processors with the release of the “Meteor Lake” generation and is removing the “i” that has been established for years from their well-known product names. Instead, Intel will give selected processors the suffix “Ultra” in the future, which should better distinguish “premium CPUs” from “mainstream CPUs” and make them recognizable to users.

“Our client roadmap demonstrates how Intel is prioritizing innovation and technology leadership with products like Meteor Lake, focused on power efficiency and AI at scale.”

“To better align with our product strategies, we are introducing a branding structure that will help PC buyers better differentiate the best of our latest technology and our mainstream offerings.”

– Caitlin AndersonIntel vice president and general manager of Client Computing Group Sales

Intel Core 3, Core 5 and Core 7 without the familiar “i”

In the future, the mainstream CPUs will no longer be known as Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7, but will be listed as Core 3, Core 5 and Core 7 in the manufacturer’s portfolio. This is also reflected on the corresponding stickers, the so-called “batches” and “labels”, which are attached to the clients, desktop PCs and notebooks that are equipped with core processors. The entire transition begins with the release of the “Meteor Lake” generation.

Source: Intel Source: Intel

But that’s not all. After the new nomenclature does not include the well-known “i” in its product designation in the future, selected processors, so-called premium CPUs, are given a new, eye-catching addition.

Intel Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 9

In the future, Intel will distinguish its premium processors from mainstream processors with the suffix “Ultra”. In the future, the Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 9 will be positioned above the Core 3, Core 5 and Core 7.

Source: Intel Source: Intel

But that’s not all of the conversion work on the well-known naming scheme. Intel has now also decided on a clear cut for the model numbers and is heralding a new era for its entire CPU portfolio with the core processors of the next generation “Meteor Lake”.

Model numbers get a reset

While Intel hasn’t announced exactly which models will be introduced with the release of Meteor Lake, the company has confirmed that the numbering of model numbers will be reset and will start again with a shorter four-digit numbering. A Core i9-13900K would become a Core Ultra 9 1900K. The manufacturer will continue to stick to its prefixes “F”, “K”, “KF”, “KS” and “T” and thus make properties such as overclocking with a free multiplier visible, as Intel announced.

That’s what the core CPUs will be called

The complete product designations, which also have the suffix processor (“Processor”) in the official name, will look like this after the introduction of the new “Meteor Lake” generation core processors*:

Intel Core 3 processor ___X
Intel Core 5 processor ___X
Intel Core 7 processor ___X
Intel Core Ultra 5 processor ___X
Intel Core Ultra 7 processor ___X
Intel Core Ultra 9 processor ___X

*) all product designations can be supplemented with a prefix.

Minor changes to vPro and Evo

The labels for devices with Intel vPro and Intel Evo certification will also be revised slightly and will replace the stickers and batches labeled Core and Core Ultra for such systems. Notebooks that have a vPro or Evo certificate will in future come to customers with the following stickers.

Source: Intel Source: Intel

Intel also points out that integrated graphics solutions based on the Alchemist architecture (“Arc”) can be combined with processors from the Intel Core series as well as with Intel Core Ultra.

Abandonment of the “i” and the generational suffix, creation of the Ultra range, more general public version of its vPro range, etc. In addition to its business and its production technologies, Intel is also moving in its processor nomenclatures for the upcoming arrival of its 14th generation of “Core”.

The world giant of PC processors Intel has decided to clean up the future nomenclature of its consumer computer processors. Heckled on the stock markets, the American giant looks back on 15 years of “Core” processor history and has worked not only a little on its graphics, but also on the naming and segmentation of its chips.

This “rebranding” work that leaked a few weeks ago does not seem to be a classic fad of marketers in need of projects. Faced with many challenges and delays, in a much more competitive market than just 5 years ago, Intel is rolling up its sleeves and racking its brains to get back on top. And since Albert Camus said that ” to misname things is to add to the misfortune of the world », it is very legitimate that the company tries, once again, to name its products well.

The reason for the change: Meteor Lake and the need for a revival

Officially, the reason for this “rebranding” is the arrival by the end of the year of the 14ᵉ generation of Core processors, whose code name is “Meteor Lake”. A generation of chips that is innovative in many respects: it will introduce the first disaggregated architecture (disaggregated in English, AMD speaks of chiplets), which breaks with Intel’s historical monolithic approach. To improve the yields and the cost of its chips, Intel will (finally!) use its technologies for stacking and “gluing” chips (Foveros in particular) to be more competitive. But Meteor Lake is also the first use by Intel of its “Intel 4” burning technology for one of the “pieces” of its chip. It’s also an all-new GPU, whose architecture will be the basis of its next-generation “Battlemage”. And it’s also the introduction of its first dedicated AI chip – which we’ve already told you about.

In addition to this technological consideration which makes our interlocutors at Intel say that Meteor Lake will be a “major” generation, there is also the need for the company to shake up all its branches to put itself in combat order. With market shares that have fallen in several areas (data centers, mobile PC processors in particular) and the drop in its stock market quotation, “chipzilla” is shaken up. And his boss, who has stirred up both the factories (business transformation and manufacturing for others) and r&d (challenging several products) must undoubtedly also urge the marketing and communication teams to get moving.

Two segments, exit the “i”, generation number suffix

The most visible novelty is the disappearance of the “i” in front of the chip class numbers. No more “Core i3” or “Core i9”, but Core 3, Core 5, Core 7 and Core 9. In addition to the “i”, Intel announces the segmentation of the “Core” into two families: to the aforementioned “classics”, a class of “Ultra” chips is added which will represent high-power chips.

While the generation and processor typology codes will no longer be highlighted as much, geeks and informed consumers can however be informed by the second part of the processor name. Thus, a Core 9 processor from the ultra range of 15e generation will be presented as a Core Ultra 9 15xx, where xx will be its code name in the range.

According to the slides transmitted by Intel, “ Intel Arc graphics chips can be paired with both Core and Core Ultra processors “. It remains to be seen how Intel will operate its graphics marketing segmentation between these two families…

EVO and vPro remain and evolve (a little)

On the platform side, two changes are coming: one that affects the name EVO and the other, the lesser known vPRO. For EVO, the change is subtle and you won’t see any written mention of it. This is a strengthening of the validation platform. From “Project Athena”, EVO is a bit like the “Centrino” of the 2020s for Intel, a statement that guarantees the consumer a minimum level of equipment, performance, endurance, etc.

The EVO mention evolves in the laboratories with each generation. What this means for us is that a 14th generation machine cannot be a simple change of processor on a 13 generation chassis.e generation validated in the past: any mention of EVO will now imply compliance with updated specifications for each new generation of chip.

Less known by the general public, we must also mention vPRO. If you have a laptop provided by your (rather large) company, you have probably spotted this logo on your machine. A sticker that means that your entire platform has, both from a hardware and software point of view, additional protections (security, authentication) and tools (fleet management, maintenance) that facilitate the work of IT departments.

vPRO is also an essential brand in certain groups – which explains why Intel still has a monopoly in certain companies, AMD not having as advanced a level of certification and security for its “client” chips as Intel. With the rise of remote working and employee chosen and purchased devices, Intel is once again splitting its lineup into vPro Enterprise (enterprise) and vPro Essentials. Both certifications will respect the same common core, but the enterprise version will offer more “corp” functions such as remote network control, remote hard disk erasure, etc.

Intel Processor remains (and it’s a shame!)

If Intel does not talk about it in its original press release, we have heard of a change that (unfortunately) did not take place: the eradication of the “Intel Processor” range. After dropping its “Pentium” and “Atom” brands, Intel has rebadged its entry-level “Intel Processor”. A stupid name because, in English, a Core 9 Ultra is indeed a processor manufactured by Intel. So he too is an “Intel processor” (with a lowercase p) which is not part of the “Intel Processor” range (with a capital P, therefore).

If it remains to be seen how the new nomenclature will be received, not only in advertising communication, but also in intergenerational comparison, one thing is certain: at least one task remains for Intel’s marketing departments. Kill those pesky Intel Processors!