"deemphasizing" the generation can only go down well in the enthusiast community. I guess it's at least immediately apparent with the SKU name, unlike e.g. 7520U
At least the new numbering system explicitly calls out processor generation, whereas before they'd just mix in some older-generation processors in with current-generation processors without any obvious distinguishing indication of which is which (5000U series).
The only thing Intel needed was a simpler product stack and less SKU’s. They have the absolute worst marketing department. Either they are totally incompetent, or are intentionally trying to confuse and hide the underlying products so customers are tricked into buying older or inferior products.
Intel isn't exactly alone in that regard right now. Nvidia walked back their (terrible) 4080 12GB vs 4080 16GB issues. AMD is selling a 7730u right next to a 7540u, which is better? You probably would be forgiven thinking a 7730u is better, but since the 7000 series has frankensteined the uarch generation in the second digit, it's easy to forget that 7730 is zen 3. Most would probably see bigger number and more cores, and assume that each core isn't wildly different.
Intel's naming scheme has never been simple, but at least they aren't selling a 13912k and a 13913k. As of late, it seems like Intel's the "least" responsible for tricking consumers into older products (again, looking at you, Ryzen 7 7730u).
True. The competitors have been worse, but this new-old branding shadowing the moves of notably the smartphone manufacturers aimed at stupidifying their customers(e.g. "Xiaomi 13 Ultra"--"Intel 9 Ultra") is unimaginative to say the least.
They are worst and totally incompetent. The only detail you have to look is into their Twitter profiles and their nonsensical ramblings and their political leanings. For this if you check the old April article you can see the person incharge of this move, a guy named Bernard.
The primary reason I can guess is Intel is transforming, because most of the fools at Intel are neck deep into Apple fanaticism so they are obsessed in creating the products or the PR like them. Proof is Intel's ARMesque garbage Biglittle approach, they want the dumbest consumers out there so that they can rip them off. E cores add that chaos to the mix.
Adding Ultra makes them sound cooler, also since LGA processors shipping volume is far far lower than that of the BGA processor lines Intel wants to make it appealing to the dumb audience, sorry it's a fact most of the modern consumers do not even care to own a PC, they are content with their disposable mobile. So an i series seen by those tunnel vision PR heads is too technical so they are abandoning it.
Intel's SKU count is because they are flagrantly transparent. Intel's Ark should be easily replicable from Nvidia and AMD as well, but instead I have to hope someone accurately updated wikichip if I want to figure out what garbage my relative bought from my phone.
Yeah this has been confusing me too, since clearly Core 5 and “Core 5 Ultra” will coexist so it’s not clear what the difference is; thought the Anand coverage would at least have speculated if it wasn’t explained in the release. Could it be different node/architecture even? The ultras are “current gen” and the non ultras are improvements on older tech?
Most dumbest move by Intel. Not that I'm surprised because I knew the moment when I saw this in April coming from their inept PR beancounter teams running the show, esp the April article which AT had mentioned the actual exec who is spearheading this move, psst - they use Twitter to spread their political ideologies that alone discredits their professionalism you are working for a Technological corporation not some BS show.
That said Intel has been addicted to BGA a lot, and with Intel getting the L from Apple they want to really lure everyone on the BGA land to their side, so they are going for the dumbest thing and dumbing down their own achievements at the Intel HQ. Like Intel Core i series is the literal signature of the Intel's growth in the x86 industry and the CPU sector entirely, every single person knows the Core i7, i9 they know they are buying top end of the stack. Intel diluted with U branding but it was expected that PR teams will fleece the consumers. I can smell the Ultra BS to even do a more ridiculous rip off.
However this thing is dropping the whole Intel brand to some generic rip off Ultra is a Real shame.
Also if you noticed Intel removed their easter eggs from the CPU stickers ever since they started to change their logos from 11th gen. The signature Intel with the swirl is gone and replaced by a dull lifeless typeface. Intel used to have the CPU holographics on the stickers PLUS on the backside of the actual CPU too a nice nod to the Engineers who built these processors. They killed it all since 10th gen onwards (this one still had swirl good ol logo but no easter egg) and from 11th it became worst.
All in all this not only signifies a lot has changed at Intel. Not just Intel everyone is obsessed with Apple, look at MS Windows 11 it looks like a cheap Mac clone and a simplified dumbed down UI and power user features too, same for Google Android OS too. The rot is too deep in the Silicon Valley sadly. Intel killed even Optane. They sacked the L4 eDRAM since Broadwell and only to bring it back now with MTL due to AMD's X3D. They have been bleeding talent left and right, now trying to crawl proves their Incompetence in passionate innovation and everything. To make things worse Gelsinger has investments in Cyberreason which is a division of former Unit 8200 who made the famous NSO Spyware, even Apple has ties to NSO. The Pegasus spyware. This company is on a downhill, latest was that x86 with 32Bit removal, another Apple inspiration to make things obsolete and compromised from the design. Sadly the CA state has become this sad state of affairs and it has ruined the tech.
Did surfer pay you to try and make himself look less wild?
Also, your claim is awful if you spent any time with any amount of hardware, but it's really egregious in the laptop space. No one is willing to haul a laptop the size of Sandy Bridge laptops, and the innovations did not come from AMD, who were busy yelling something or another about their amazing HSA architecture.
Ignoring the excellent power management work over that decade, Intel did more with bullying terrible component manufacturers and terrible driver teams over the decade you cited than Microsoft has ever done, via various ultrabook certifications. AMD laptop quality has demoed this was not trivial.
>latest was that x86 with 32Bit removal You are aware that it's only "raw" 32-bit mode that was removed, right? 32-bit usermode is still going to be available for the foreseeable future. I don't know of anyone who uses a latest-generation Intel CPU with a 32-bit operating system.
That was my thought as well. Branding CPUs with cores as "Core" was always confusing, even in the first gen. It leading to phrases like "dual core core 2 duo" should have indicated that it was a poor idea from the outset. Phrases like "quad core core i7" may perhaps not be quite as dumb, but it was never great either. Whereas on the other hand the "i" is consistent with prior branding like the i486, and there's nothing really wrong with it anyway, not to mention I think to most people the "i" was more iconic than the "Core".
Just dropping the "Core" and saying "Intel i7" would have worked perfectly well, and is what most people did in practice anyway. Weird decision.
IMO, Intel should've changed their branding to: Generation Value = [##] - Core ULTRA = Consumer DeskTop CPU's ONLY = [##]###<Letter> - Core Mobile = Consumer Mobile CPU's ONLY = [##]##<Letter> - Core Pentium = PROfessional (DeskTop or Mobile) CPU's ONLY with PROfessional feature sets - Core Celeron = Consumer NAS/Low Power Terminal Computers for simple computing.
Core Pentiums are for Professionals in a large company.
Other Core products are for Consumers.
Potential new Model Numbering Scheme: = DeskTop = 14###K = Mobile = 14##U
Yeah, I can't say that I care much either way about what a company uses to name its product stack. The specs like performance and power consumption versus the price are the only factors that make a difference so Intel can use whatever naming convention and it means exactly nothing whatsoever to me aside from taking a few minutes to learn a new product stack.
Even if I'm able to pick out which chips are superior to others relatively quickly with a bit of research, it still bothers me when the product naming is clearly trying to confuse less-savvy customers in order to pawn off older stock. One would think a Ryzen 5 7520U would be superior to a Ryzen 3 7440U based on the branding, but the latter has higher clocks, more cache, a better iGPU, and is two generations newer with the same number of cores/threads. At least the Intel branding seems to be more transparent.
That's an easy question to answer - Buy a non-ultra chip and do whatever you do with your computer without losing sleep over owning the best/fastest/overclocking-est widget from the assembly line.
You can enjoy your computer without that hassle and expense and the amount of time it provides you in terms of amusement is equally good. Presumably, you'll also be able to use cheaper and more modest cooling and power systems as well which will save you money on initial entry, money on a motherboard that doesn't require overclocking features, money on standards-beating RAM, and money on feeding it power (and possibly more power by reducing the need to remove waste heat from your home). Then you win pretty much everything across the board and none of this matters because you're no longer petty enough to fall prey to unsophisticated PC parts marketing efforts. Someday, you might even graduate out of desktop junk altogether and use a very low wattage and very affordable laptop with an iGPU in a 15W chip.
Here is a summary of the key points about Intel's branding changes and the Ultra processors: - Intel is dropping the "i" from its Core i3, i5, i7 branding for mainstream processors. They will become Core 3, Core 5, and Core 7. - Intel is introducing a new "Ultra" brand for its premium/high-end processors. This will likely replace the Core i9 branding. - Ultra processors will come in Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 9 models. - The Ultra branding signifies higher performance parts aimed at enthusiasts and demanding workloads. - Mainstream Core 3/5/7 branding is for more general consumer processors. - Intel is de-emphasizing generational branding like "10th Gen". The generation will still be denoted in model numbers but not as prominently. - These changes start with the upcoming Meteor Lake processors, which will be Intel's first consumer chips on their Intel 4 process and using a chiplet architecture. - Meteor Lake represents a major inflection point for Intel, prompting the branding changes to signify the new era of their processors. - Key Ultra processor features will likely be higher core counts, clock speeds, cache, and IPC compared to mainstream parts. More segmentation between premium and mainstream. In summary, Ultra is the new premium brand for high-end Intel chips, while they are simplifying the mainstream Core branding and dropping the iconic "i" naming. This coincides with major manufacturing and architectural shifts for their next-gen Meteor Lake processors.
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Unashamed_unoriginal_username_x86 - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
"deemphasizing" the generation can only go down well in the enthusiast community. I guess it's at least immediately apparent with the SKU name, unlike e.g. 7520Umeacupla - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
I hate that AMD numbering scheme so much, that I find the i5-1135G7 to be superior in immediately understanding what is being offered.satai - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Obviously it makes the offer more clean. You can see "i5" that says "it's Intel, don't touch it" ;-)goatfajitas - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Don't touch it, as in "don't buy it" or don't touch it because it runs ridiculously hot?Both ?
satai - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Both ;-)lmcd - Monday, June 19, 2023 - link
Whereas the R in R5 tells me I'll get 3 years of mainline iGP support tops?nandnandnand - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Intel: "Hold my beer".Tamdrik - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
At least the new numbering system explicitly calls out processor generation, whereas before they'd just mix in some older-generation processors in with current-generation processors without any obvious distinguishing indication of which is which (5000U series).meacupla - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
The generational name being duplicated in the SKU# was redundant, so I guess that's good?flgt - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
The only thing Intel needed was a simpler product stack and less SKU’s. They have the absolute worst marketing department. Either they are totally incompetent, or are intentionally trying to confuse and hide the underlying products so customers are tricked into buying older or inferior products.Drumsticks - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Intel isn't exactly alone in that regard right now. Nvidia walked back their (terrible) 4080 12GB vs 4080 16GB issues. AMD is selling a 7730u right next to a 7540u, which is better? You probably would be forgiven thinking a 7730u is better, but since the 7000 series has frankensteined the uarch generation in the second digit, it's easy to forget that 7730 is zen 3. Most would probably see bigger number and more cores, and assume that each core isn't wildly different.Intel's naming scheme has never been simple, but at least they aren't selling a 13912k and a 13913k. As of late, it seems like Intel's the "least" responsible for tricking consumers into older products (again, looking at you, Ryzen 7 7730u).
s.yu - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
True. The competitors have been worse, but this new-old branding shadowing the moves of notably the smartphone manufacturers aimed at stupidifying their customers(e.g. "Xiaomi 13 Ultra"--"Intel 9 Ultra") is unimaginative to say the least.nonoverclock - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Best thing to do is search for the product at ark.intel.com and see what it actually is. At least that's a clear enough way to figure out what it is.Silver5urfer - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
They are worst and totally incompetent. The only detail you have to look is into their Twitter profiles and their nonsensical ramblings and their political leanings. For this if you check the old April article you can see the person incharge of this move, a guy named Bernard.The primary reason I can guess is Intel is transforming, because most of the fools at Intel are neck deep into Apple fanaticism so they are obsessed in creating the products or the PR like them. Proof is Intel's ARMesque garbage Biglittle approach, they want the dumbest consumers out there so that they can rip them off. E cores add that chaos to the mix.
Adding Ultra makes them sound cooler, also since LGA processors shipping volume is far far lower than that of the BGA processor lines Intel wants to make it appealing to the dumb audience, sorry it's a fact most of the modern consumers do not even care to own a PC, they are content with their disposable mobile. So an i series seen by those tunnel vision PR heads is too technical so they are abandoning it.
lmcd - Monday, June 19, 2023 - link
Intel's SKU count is because they are flagrantly transparent. Intel's Ark should be easily replicable from Nvidia and AMD as well, but instead I have to hope someone accurately updated wikichip if I want to figure out what garbage my relative bought from my phone.nandnandnand - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Guess: "Ultra" will be used for processors with the "Adamantine" L4 cacheHresna - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
Yeah this has been confusing me too, since clearly Core 5 and “Core 5 Ultra” will coexist so it’s not clear what the difference is; thought the Anand coverage would at least have speculated if it wasn’t explained in the release. Could it be different node/architecture even? The ultras are “current gen” and the non ultras are improvements on older tech?iampivot - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
This one goes all the way to 11.Silver5urfer - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Most dumbest move by Intel. Not that I'm surprised because I knew the moment when I saw this in April coming from their inept PR beancounter teams running the show, esp the April article which AT had mentioned the actual exec who is spearheading this move, psst - they use Twitter to spread their political ideologies that alone discredits their professionalism you are working for a Technological corporation not some BS show.That said Intel has been addicted to BGA a lot, and with Intel getting the L from Apple they want to really lure everyone on the BGA land to their side, so they are going for the dumbest thing and dumbing down their own achievements at the Intel HQ. Like Intel Core i series is the literal signature of the Intel's growth in the x86 industry and the CPU sector entirely, every single person knows the Core i7, i9 they know they are buying top end of the stack. Intel diluted with U branding but it was expected that PR teams will fleece the consumers. I can smell the Ultra BS to even do a more ridiculous rip off.
However this thing is dropping the whole Intel brand to some generic rip off Ultra is a Real shame.
Also if you noticed Intel removed their easter eggs from the CPU stickers ever since they started to change their logos from 11th gen. The signature Intel with the swirl is gone and replaced by a dull lifeless typeface. Intel used to have the CPU holographics on the stickers PLUS on the backside of the actual CPU too a nice nod to the Engineers who built these processors. They killed it all since 10th gen onwards (this one still had swirl good ol logo but no easter egg) and from 11th it became worst.
All in all this not only signifies a lot has changed at Intel. Not just Intel everyone is obsessed with Apple, look at MS Windows 11 it looks like a cheap Mac clone and a simplified dumbed down UI and power user features too, same for Google Android OS too. The rot is too deep in the Silicon Valley sadly. Intel killed even Optane. They sacked the L4 eDRAM since Broadwell and only to bring it back now with MTL due to AMD's X3D. They have been bleeding talent left and right, now trying to crawl proves their Incompetence in passionate innovation and everything. To make things worse Gelsinger has investments in Cyberreason which is a division of former Unit 8200 who made the famous NSO Spyware, even Apple has ties to NSO. The Pegasus spyware. This company is on a downhill, latest was that x86 with 32Bit removal, another Apple inspiration to make things obsolete and compromised from the design. Sadly the CA state has become this sad state of affairs and it has ruined the tech.
End of an era.
goatfajitas - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Remember that one time when they didn't innovate at all from 2010 to 2020?- That was awesome
TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
No, I don't, because I can use my brain and as such I know that nehalem and rocket lake are not the same thing.But good job trying to adult. You almost had it.
lmcd - Monday, June 19, 2023 - link
Did surfer pay you to try and make himself look less wild?Also, your claim is awful if you spent any time with any amount of hardware, but it's really egregious in the laptop space. No one is willing to haul a laptop the size of Sandy Bridge laptops, and the innovations did not come from AMD, who were busy yelling something or another about their amazing HSA architecture.
Ignoring the excellent power management work over that decade, Intel did more with bullying terrible component manufacturers and terrible driver teams over the decade you cited than Microsoft has ever done, via various ultrabook certifications. AMD laptop quality has demoed this was not trivial.
Dolda2000 - Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - link
>latest was that x86 with 32Bit removalYou are aware that it's only "raw" 32-bit mode that was removed, right? 32-bit usermode is still going to be available for the foreseeable future. I don't know of anyone who uses a latest-generation Intel CPU with a 32-bit operating system.
ABR - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
The 'i' could have stayed but they should have gotten rid of 'core'. That was tired a year after launch, let alone 15.Silver5urfer - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
Intel's CORE is basically their fundamental design since Nehalem. It won't go away until they redesign their x86 completely.Hresna - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
I’m with you on this. Core is so passé. At least the i was unobtrusive and could have been short for intel. Maybe it was too apple even for them…Dolda2000 - Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - link
That was my thought as well. Branding CPUs with cores as "Core" was always confusing, even in the first gen. It leading to phrases like "dual core core 2 duo" should have indicated that it was a poor idea from the outset. Phrases like "quad core core i7" may perhaps not be quite as dumb, but it was never great either.Whereas on the other hand the "i" is consistent with prior branding like the i486, and there's nothing really wrong with it anyway, not to mention I think to most people the "i" was more iconic than the "Core".
Just dropping the "Core" and saying "Intel i7" would have worked perfectly well, and is what most people did in practice anyway. Weird decision.
Samus - Thursday, June 15, 2023 - link
You can't help but take note this is eerily similar to AMD's marketing.DigitalFreak - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Yeah, like anyone is going to say Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 1575.DigitalFreak - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Remember how much better Intel was when an engineer was running things? Oh, nevermind.Kamen Rider Blade - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
IMO, Intel should've changed their branding to:Generation Value = [##]
- Core ULTRA = Consumer DeskTop CPU's ONLY = [##]###<Letter>
- Core Mobile = Consumer Mobile CPU's ONLY = [##]##<Letter>
- Core Pentium = PROfessional (DeskTop or Mobile) CPU's ONLY with PROfessional feature sets
- Core Celeron = Consumer NAS/Low Power Terminal Computers for simple computing.
Core Pentiums are for Professionals in a large company.
Other Core products are for Consumers.
Potential new Model Numbering Scheme:
= DeskTop = 14###K
= Mobile = 14##U
seamonkey79 - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
= Server = 14###I= Enthusiast = 14###F
= Mobile = 14##U
= DeskTop = 14###K
mganai - Thursday, June 22, 2023 - link
F = graphics chip fused offK = unlocked processors (desktop or mobile)
U = 15 W mobile
Xeon Max/Platinum/Gold/Silver/etc.= Server
Xeon w# = Workstation
PeachNCream - Friday, June 16, 2023 - link
Yeah, I can't say that I care much either way about what a company uses to name its product stack. The specs like performance and power consumption versus the price are the only factors that make a difference so Intel can use whatever naming convention and it means exactly nothing whatsoever to me aside from taking a few minutes to learn a new product stack.Tamdrik - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
Even if I'm able to pick out which chips are superior to others relatively quickly with a bit of research, it still bothers me when the product naming is clearly trying to confuse less-savvy customers in order to pawn off older stock. One would think a Ryzen 5 7520U would be superior to a Ryzen 3 7440U based on the branding, but the latter has higher clocks, more cache, a better iGPU, and is two generations newer with the same number of cores/threads. At least the Intel branding seems to be more transparent.TEAMSWITCHER - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
It's still terrible. The only company branding their CPU products well right now is Apple. M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra are perfectly clear.meacupla - Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - link
Yeah. I'm still confused as to which is supposed to be the fastest in that product stack.Is it the ultra or the max?
uuu - Thursday, July 13, 2023 - link
I'd prefer M2 Max, Maxer, and Maxest.olde94 - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
so what is better, core 7 or ultra 5?this doesn't help consumers at all....
Hresna - Saturday, June 17, 2023 - link
Dr Cutress used to have good stories about intel eng vs marketing…This is almost like marketing’s real goal here wasn’t to make it easier for consumers but something else entirely… what could it be…
PeachNCream - Monday, June 19, 2023 - link
That's an easy question to answer - Buy a non-ultra chip and do whatever you do with your computer without losing sleep over owning the best/fastest/overclocking-est widget from the assembly line.You can enjoy your computer without that hassle and expense and the amount of time it provides you in terms of amusement is equally good. Presumably, you'll also be able to use cheaper and more modest cooling and power systems as well which will save you money on initial entry, money on a motherboard that doesn't require overclocking features, money on standards-beating RAM, and money on feeding it power (and possibly more power by reducing the need to remove waste heat from your home). Then you win pretty much everything across the board and none of this matters because you're no longer petty enough to fall prey to unsophisticated PC parts marketing efforts. Someday, you might even graduate out of desktop junk altogether and use a very low wattage and very affordable laptop with an iGPU in a 15W chip.
[email protected] - Tuesday, June 20, 2023 - link
Do we even care about naming convention?evilpaul666 - Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - link
I wish we still got those extremely weird overclocker friendly mobile on desktop with overclocking turned on/power limits turned off.Uncle Raja - Thursday, June 22, 2023 - link
Way to major loss royalty customers. Many people may choose AMD rather.naoesquece - Saturday, July 22, 2023 - link
Here is a summary of the key points about Intel's branding changes and the Ultra processors:- Intel is dropping the "i" from its Core i3, i5, i7 branding for mainstream processors. They will become Core 3, Core 5, and Core 7.
- Intel is introducing a new "Ultra" brand for its premium/high-end processors. This will likely replace the Core i9 branding.
- Ultra processors will come in Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 9 models.
- The Ultra branding signifies higher performance parts aimed at enthusiasts and demanding workloads.
- Mainstream Core 3/5/7 branding is for more general consumer processors.
- Intel is de-emphasizing generational branding like "10th Gen". The generation will still be denoted in model numbers but not as prominently.
- These changes start with the upcoming Meteor Lake processors, which will be Intel's first consumer chips on their Intel 4 process and using a chiplet architecture.
- Meteor Lake represents a major inflection point for Intel, prompting the branding changes to signify the new era of their processors.
- Key Ultra processor features will likely be higher core counts, clock speeds, cache, and IPC compared to mainstream parts. More segmentation between premium and mainstream.
In summary, Ultra is the new premium brand for high-end Intel chips, while they are simplifying the mainstream Core branding and dropping the iconic "i" naming. This coincides with major manufacturing and architectural shifts for their next-gen Meteor Lake processors.