Intel recently held a global Tech Tour at its facilities in Israel, where they showcased several exciting advancements for their next 13th-gen Core platform and CPU, code-named “Raptor Lake.”
Raptor Lake was developed at the business’ Israel Development Center, like many CPUs of the most recent generation. In addition to various sites across the world, the chip is also produced at the company’s Fab 28 in Israel. At the end of September, at the Intel Innovation event in San Francisco, the 13th-generation Core processor’s final specs are anticipated to be revealed, but for now, the firm was excited to announce that it will handle speeds of up to 6 GHz.
But much of the more intriguing news from the Israel Tech Tour focused on components other than the CPU. This is a continuation of the recent trend of stressing performance and overall experience (as opposed to raw data).
Intel declared that 13th-generation Core PCs will include the Intel Connectivity Suite version 2.0.
Version 2.0 now adds support for cellular connections in addition to the ability to combine wired Ethernet and wireless Wi-Fi connections into a single, bigger data pipe.
For PCs with the proper 5G modems, this will allow you to combine the throughput of two Wi-Fi connections (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency possibilities). As a result, a single PC has the fastest wireless connection conceivable. To improve the overall networking experience, you can place different apps on different connections rather than using the aggregated connection for a single application.
You may choose and optimize various workloads, such as Teams, Zoom, Webex video conferences, streaming, and others, using the Intel software, and have them routed to the optimal connection. To prevent your video stream from disconnecting during a call, the application will immediately switch to the other one if one connection drops, such as a Wi-Fi connection in a congested area.
Unfortunately, the new application will only work with brand-new PCs equipped with Intel Wi-Fi and 13th-generation Core processors. The ability to use various combinations of parts from additional sources would be incredibly helpful. However, it serves as a useful proof-of-concept for the possibility of combining various wireless connectivity methods on a single device.
On the AI front, Intel talked about a special neural processing unit (NPU) for mobile 13th-gen Core CPUs, codenamed “Keem Bay,” which will be released after the desktop components.
Keem Bay represents the first time that Intel has integrated an AI accelerator directly into its PC-focused silicon, and is based on the Movidius VPU technology that Intel purchased several years ago.
This is a significant development for a PC SoC architecture that, when combined with conceptually related improvements AMD is making to its Ryzen CPUs, should result in a wide variety of AI-accelerated PC software.
We should begin to see intriguing new applications coming to PCs with the incorporation of dedicated neural processing and AI acceleration engines into next-generation CPUs. The majority of the initial effort will probably focus on things like audio and video upgrades.
Currently, the CPU or, in some cases, GPUs do most of these activities, but NPUs will be able to perform them more effectively and to a higher standard. The battery life of laptop PCs with NPUs should be much better for frequent users of videoconferencing software.
Most consumers tend to focus on performance enhancements in new CPUs when they consider future PCs. To be clear, the next-generation CPUs from AMD and Intel will both provide pleasing increases in raw performance. But in the coming years, consumer and business PC users will mostly profit from these system-level improvements brought on by new platforms.
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