When will Intel 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh launch? Specs, performance improvements, and more

More Intel 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh leaks are surfacing on the internet as we inch closer to the launch window. While Team Blue generally launches CPUs in Fall, we now have a shorter release window, which helps narrow down the launch date of the upcoming LGA1700-based chips.

The Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs will be iterative improvements over the existing 13th gen Raptor Lake lineup, as per reports. The upcoming lineup will act as a filler between the current generation and the Meteor Lake chips, which will introduce a new chiplet-based architecture,

Do note that the leaks mentioned in this article haven't been confirmed, so the information is subject to change.

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When will Intel 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs launch?

Intel launches its CPUs in a few batches every year. The costlier and overclockable 'K' series chips are the first to hit the market, with the low-power and budget offerings launching sometime around CES. This year will not be an exception to the tried and tested formula.

According to a reputable tipster, the upcoming lineup will launch in the 42nd week of this year, which is the third week of October. The launch window should be somewhere between October 16 to October 22, 2023.

Another report has suggested that the budget non-K chips are slated for a launch in the first week of 2024, right around CES.

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What are the specs and performance improvements of the 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh lineup?

Reliable leaker ECSM_Official has given us an early look at the different SKUs Team Blue will launch this year as part of the 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh lineup. This fall, the company will introduce the Core i5 14600K, the i7 14700K, and the i9 14900K. Detailed specs of the 14700K have already been leaked. They are as follows:

	Intel Core i7 14700K
Performance cores	8
Efficient cores	12
Thread count	28
Base clock	3.4 GHz
L1 cache	1.8 MB
L2 cache	28 MB
L3 cache	33 MB

Performance specs of the 14700K have been revealed as well. The chip is a considerable upgrade over the last gen.

	i7 13700K	i7 14700K
AIDA64 read (GB/s)	94	113.7
Cinebench single-core	2107	2192
Cinebench multi-core	30,880	36,296
CPU-Z single-core	864	908
CPU-Z multi-core	12,430	14,988

The new chips outperform the 13th gen by a small margin. However, the difference is not particularly significant. If these results reflect in the final product, we believe it will be best for gamers who own the Alder Lake and Raptor Lake chips to wait for the upcoming Meteor Lake lineup, which is expected to bring higher performance gains.