Intel's desktop Raptor Lake processors aren't the only parts receiving a refresh. The mobile variants will get the same treatment, according to a new Core i7-14700HX benchmark leak.
Intel launched the mobile Raptor Lake lineup, consisting of the HX, H, P, and U series, in January, so it sounds a bit hasty to give it a refresh so soon. Since the chipmaker is rewarding its desktop Raptor Lake parts, it's evident that it would rope in the mobile parts, too. Surprisingly, we haven't seen many mobile Raptor Lake Refresh leaks, so it's unknown when Intel will launch the new chips.
The Core i7-14700HX belongs to the Raptor Lake-HX family, consisting of high-performance 55W parts that cater to gaming laptops and mobile workstations. The model name alone confirms that the Core i7-14700HX is the direct successor to the current Core i7-13700HX. The Core i7-14700HX PugetBench submission, uncovered by hardware leaker momomo_us, doesn't expose the unannounced Raptor Lake-HX chip's specifications.
Raptor Lake Refresh brought 50% extra E-cores to the Core i7 SKUs. As a result, models such as the Core i7-14700K have an 8P + 12E configuration as opposed to the Core i7-13700K's 8P + 8E design. Assuming that Intel keeps the same scheme on the mobile parts, we could be looking at a similar upgrade on the Core i7-14700HX. A 50% upgrade on the E-cores would bring the Core i7-14700HX's layout up to 8P + 12E instead of the Core i7-13700HX's 8P+ 8E configuration. That's all we can speculate for now since we haven't seen any leaks of the clock speed bump to predict the performance boost.
The Core i7-14700HX sample resided on a Raptor Lake test platform along with the Arc A570M. Unfortunately, the score is useless for comparison since it's significantly lower than the Core i7-13700HX submission. The Core i7-14700HX scored 847 points, whereas the Core i7-13700HX scored 1,291 points. At any rate, the recent Core i7-14700HX sighting is a sign that Intel is working on or potentially finalizing the Raptor Lake-HX refresh. These won't be performance-breaking chips, but they'll keep Intel in the race, especially now that AMD is preparing new Dragon Range HX chips, too.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.