Intel Allegedly Making Dual-Core 'Intel 300' Alder/Raptor Lake CPU

Celeron, Atom and Pentium logos
(Image credit: Intel)

Update - Aug. 9, 2023 - 4:54 p.m. ET - An earlier version of this article stated that the  chip's reported specs included a 3.6GHz base frequency; this has been updated to reflect the alleged specs actually mentioned a 3.9GHz base frequency.

Just when we thought dual-cores were dead, Intel is rumored to be bringing back the "obsolete" core configuration for another generation. A Tweet by leaker chi11eddog alleges Intel is developing a new 14th Gen entry-level dual-core chip that will feature one of Intel's three hybrid CPU architectures found in its Best CPUs, Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, or Raptor Lake Refresh.

According to chi11eddog, this new chip will be the spiritual successor of the Pentium Gold G7400. Thanks to Intel's removal of the Celeron and Pentium sub-brands altogether, the new chip will be dubbed the "Intel 300," similar to other entry-level chips (like the "Intel Processor N200").

The chip's reported specifications include a 3.9GHz base frequency (no turbo clock), a 6MB L3 cache capacity, and a core configuration consisting of two P-cores with four threads. Power consumption is rated at 46W. The Twitter leaker did not reveal any specifications for the iGPU, but for obvious reasons, we expect this CPU to sport one of Intel's lower-end configurations — like its UHD 730 Graphics unit.

Compared to Intel's other entry-level CPUs like the Core i3 series, this "Intel 300" will be the cheapest and least powerful entry in Intel's desktop lineup. The chip features two fewer cores than the Core i3-13100 (Intel's lowest-end i3 right now), and a much slower clock speed thanks to the lack of Turbo Boost technology. As previously stated the Intel 300 will also effectively be the replacement of Intel's previous-generation desktop Celeron and Pentium processors which also sported dual-core configurations.

Because of its dual-core design, we don't expect this chip to be great for anything beyond casual web browsing, office work, and video streaming. Even with the addition of Hyper-Threading, the physical limits of dual-core designs make them sub-optimal for gaming tasks, especially in modern game engines which can take advantage of 6 six CPU cores.

Chi11eddog believes the CPU will be arriving as soon as this quarter, so we shouldn't have to wait long for this new entry-level chip to arrive on store shelves — assuming it exists. With its 14th Gen moniker, the new dual-core will allegedly arrive in conjunction with Intel's 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh lineup which is also expected to launch very soon.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • gondor
    Twitter post you cited literally says "base frequency 3.9GHz", not 3.6 GHz.

    Aaron Klutz does it again ... :rolleyes:
    Reply
  • usertests
    The Twitter leaker did not reveal any specifications for the iGPU, but for obvious reasons, we expect this CPU to sport one of Intel's lower-end configurations — like its UHD 730 Graphics unit.
    It will probably include UHD Graphics 710 (16 EUs), like the Pentium Gold G7400 does.

    https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/pentium-gold-g7400.c2574
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    Well, chips and dies haven't been the same for a long time, but this really sounds like one of those selective destruction thingies that Intel is infamous for: take a U-die with two P-cores and kill some E's (or not) to create something 'new'.

    But where you imply that such chips are pretty near useless, judging from an i3-7350K (a dual core Kaby Lake) and even a dual core Sky Lake notebook I still use, the importance of cores for snappyness is still sometimes overrated (while most of my machines have 8 cores or more).

    I wonder if this is really to address one of the last niches Intel hasn't covered yet or about selling of a couple of dies that actually do have defective E-cores, as improbable as that sounds.
    Reply
  • punkncat
    I am not sure that a two core processor has a place in the consumer market aside from very targeted applications. I would not wish to run 2C in Windows at this point, 4C struggle enough.

    Got to sell off anything they can though, so there is that....
    Reply
  • Eximo
    I could use another tiny PC based on newer silicon, though I have had my eye on some AMD solutions of late. At least ASUS is going to absorb the Intel NUC division.

    But, yeah, dual cores usually not good enough for general purpose these days.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    abufrejoval said:
    Well, chips and dies haven't been the same for a long time, but this really sounds like one of those selective destruction thingies that Intel is infamous for: take a U-die with two P-cores and kill some E's (or not) to create something 'new'.
    I don't see any evidence Intel made U-series (i.e. 2P + 8E) dies with Raptor Cove. Plus, with their 96 EU iGPU, the U-series dies aren't exactly tiny.

    What I think they're doing is probably using half of 4 P-core die, or something like that. Maybe a further cut-down i3-13100, except I think that's using Golden Cove cores, rather than Raptor Cove (i.e. it's just a rebadged Gen 12 die).

    Key things to look for will be the iGPU size and the PCIe revision.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Eximo said:
    But, yeah, dual cores usually not good enough for general purpose these days.
    Then most of their N-series is non-viable for general purpose? The smallest one has 2 E-cores. Most have 4 E-cores (which should run a bit faster than 2 P-cores / 4 threads, depending on clock speed).
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    I was going to say it would be great for POS machines and other such very low demand computers, but at 46w power consumption this thing is destined for the dumpster.
    Reply
  • usertests
    bit_user said:
    What I think they're doing is probably using half of 4 P-core die, or something like that. Maybe a further cut-down i3-13100, except I think that's using Golden Cove cores, rather than Raptor Cove (i.e. it's just a rebadged Gen 12 die).
    Pretty sure this is based on the ol' 6P + 0E Alder Lake die. With 2/3 of the cores disabled.
    Reply
  • rluker5
    I picked up a G6900 to get an ITX setup before Raptor lake came out and played around with it a bit. The 2 threads weren't enough but 4 threads even on older CPUs is fine for light use. 2 threads hitched on the desktop and web. Pausing things to catch up.
    But I also plugged it in to my Asus Prime Z690-p and everything worked. The ram even could take the same timings. But SSD performance was garbage. Better than SATA, but totally bottlenecked Optane and NVME.
    Eventually I sold it for what I bought it for: $40.
    If this 2c4t were $60 it would be worth it for entry level. Otherwise better to go for 4c8t.

    12100f selling for $88.40 at Newegg right now. That seems like a reasonable price.
    Reply