Intel Razer Lake, Nova Lake, and Wildcat Lake CPU PCI IDs added to Linux

Intel Raptor Lake
(Image credit: Intel)

Seven new PCI IDs have been added to the Linux kernel, depicting upcoming processors from Intel (via Tomasz Gawroński). The image suggests preliminary enablement for Panther Lake, Wildcat Lake, Nova Lake, and Razer Lake CPUs is underway. This leak does not necessarily indicate that all these processors will be released. However, the consistency of family codenames with previous leaks suggests they could see the light of day.

The shared snippet details code allows the Linux kernel to recognize and work with these new CPUs. PCI IDs or Peripheral Component Interconnect IDs are unique codes used to identify devices connected to a system. The listed processors include several shorthands: LNL: Lunar Lake, PTL: Panther Lake, NVL: Nova Lake, WCL: Wildcat Lake, and RZL: Razer Lake. Suffixes appended after the dash depict the market segment or specific features: P: Performance (Mobile), H: Highest performance (Mobile), S: Desktop, M: Thin and lightweight (Mobile).

We have Panther Lake in P and H variants, with varying TDPs, samples of which are reportedly already powered on at eight customers. Previous leaks suggest a low-power U-version as well. Similarly, PTL-H is rumored to offer up to 16 cores and a 12 Xe3-core-based iGPU (Integrated GPU). Next up is Nova Lake, said to be Intel's next major desktop release and expected to launch by 2026-27. Moving on, the suffix-less Wildcat Lake is rumored to succeed current-gen Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake CPUs for mini-PCs and low-power systems.

Intel PCI IDs

(Image credit: Kernel Patches via Tomasz Gawroński)

Last on the list is the rumored Razer Lake, following Nova Lake in Intel's product stack. RZL-M, likely the successor to Lunar Lake, has been identified, but interestingly, there's no mention of RZL-S for desktop. Since Intel rejected an on-package memory approach for future CPUs, Razer Lake-M might adopt a different strategy. Of course, this list is incomplete, and expect a barrage of changes as final specifications are hammered out.

The CPUs are years away, except for Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake. Panther Lake, fabricated on the bleeding-edge Intel 18A node, will launch this year and may be announced at Computex one year after Lunar Lake.

Hassam Nasir
Contributing Writer

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

  • usertests
    Put Wildcat Lake in our hands ASAP
    Reply
  • bit_user
    usertests said:
    Put Wildcat Lake in our hands ASAP
    Sadly, their E-core SoCs have be lagging everything else, the past few generations. They're low-margin parts, so they get lower priority and might not even be viable until the process is mature.

    I'm still happy with my Alder-N mini-server, for now. However, they're definitely underpowered for a laptop and Twin Lake doesn't really do anything to change that.
    Reply
  • usertests
    bit_user said:
    Sadly, their E-core SoCs have be lagging everything else, the past few generations. They're low-margin parts, so they get lower priority and might not even be viable until the process is mature.

    I'm still happy with my Alder-N mini-server, for now. However, they're definitely underpowered for a laptop and Twin Lake doesn't really do anything to change that.
    It's almost too good to be true for the described Wildcat Lake to become a low margin product and true successor to the Atom line. Depends on 18A and the die size.

    Even if they typically disabled the chip down to 1+3, both the Cougar Cove and Darkmont cores would be delivering a huge single-thread uplift. That would be the payoff from moving to a heterogeneous design at the low-end. And it's what low-end systems need, not 8-16 little cores.

    Twin Lake might have some unexpectedly good out-of-the-box graphics performance, but that's about it.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    usertests said:
    It's almost too good to be true for the described Wildcat Lake to become a low margin product and true successor to the Atom line. Depends on 18A and the die size.

    Even if they typically disabled the chip down to 1+3, both the Cougar Cove and Darkmont cores would be delivering a huge single-thread uplift. That would be the payoff from moving to a heterogeneous design at the low-end. And it's what low-end systems need, not 8-16 little cores.
    All of this makes me suspicious it's truly a Alder-N successor. I think maybe they're subdividing that market, but still expect them to make E-only SoCs for the bottom tier.

    usertests said:
    Twin Lake might have some unexpectedly good out-of-the-box graphics performance, but that's about it.
    I wish (but don't think we've seen?) they'd double the L2 cache, like they did in Raptor Lake. I also wonder whether it's using Raptor Lake's process node, but then I'd expect more than the modest 100 MHz clock speed bump that's been reported.
    Reply
  • usertests
    bit_user said:
    I wish (but don't think we've seen?) they'd double the L2 cache, like they did in Raptor Lake. I also wonder whether it's using Raptor Lake's process node, but then I'd expect more than the modest 100 MHz clock speed bump that's been reported.
    It's definitely the same silicon. But the N150 gets +250 MHz and N250 gets +500 MHz to the iGPU turbo clock, which is nice. That puts the N250 iGPU a little above N95/N97 and matching N300/N305.

    Obviously, clock speed isn't everything for graphics, but +67% iGPU turbo is a lot more significant than +2.7% CPU turbo (for N250 vs. N200).

    https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-nx50-twin-lake-e-core-cpu-specs-have-been-leaked
    Reply
  • subspruce
    usertests said:
    It's almost too good to be true for the described Wildcat Lake to become a low margin product and true successor to the Atom line. Depends on 18A and the die size.

    Even if they typically disabled the chip down to 1+3, both the Cougar Cove and Darkmont cores would be delivering a huge single-thread uplift. That would be the payoff from moving to a heterogeneous design at the low-end. And it's what low-end systems need, not 8-16 little cores.

    Twin Lake might have some unexpectedly good out-of-the-box graphics performance, but that's about it.
    except E cores can only be in sets of 4 so it would be 1+4, so here's my nitpick
    Reply
  • subspruce
    bit_user said:
    All of this makes me suspicious it's truly a Alder-N successor. I think maybe they're subdividing that market, but still expect them to make E-only SoCs for the bottom tier.
    if Wildcat lake is an Alder-N successor:
    - 8 Skymont E cores
    - Xe2 graphics (still 2 Xe cores)
    - Intel 3 process
    Reply
  • bit_user
    subspruce said:
    except E cores can only be in sets of 4 so it would be 1+4, so here's my nitpick
    The N50 has all but 2 E-cores disabled. Intel can clearly disable as many as it wants, but I guess they've mostly stuck to having entire clusters enabled or disabled.

    I think an interesting possibility would've been for them to enable two E-cores in each cluster, so they'd each get double the effective L2 cache. For whatever reason, it seems Intel hasn't gone down this road.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    subspruce said:
    if Wildcat lake is an Alder-N successor:
    - 8 Skymont E cores
    - Xe2 graphics (still 2 Xe cores)
    - Intel 3 process
    That's not what's been leaked about it, though. Supposedly it pairs Cougar Cove P-cores and Darkmont LPE-cores in a 2P+4LPE configuration:
    https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-wildcat-lake-cpu-tooling-surfaces-in-shipping-manifests-reportedly-adopts-next-gen-cougar-cove-and-darkmont-cores-intel-18a-node
    If you're speaking hypothetically, then I'd agree. For me, the big question would be how well Skymont backports to Intel 3, because it might end up being too big and/or clocking too low. In that case, they'd have to stick with Crestmont (which isn't a lot better than Gracemont).
    Reply
  • usertests
    subspruce said:
    except E cores can only be in sets of 4 so it would be 1+4, so here's my nitpick
    As @bit_user said, the lowly N50 proves they can disable the E-cores in pairs at least. If they can't also disable 1 E-core in the cluster, then I don't know what they've bothered designing.

    My own nitpick: they are actually LP E-cores according to the leak. Wildcat Lake sounds a lot like a discount version of Lunar Lake, maybe monolithic, but with newer cores.
    Reply