Intel's dream of hybrid desktop computing has yet to be realized with Alder Lake, but the next big project from the Santa Clara chipmaker is already drawing attention: Intel Raptor Lake, coming in 2022. It will follow Alder, and rumor has it that these chips will pack serious core counts upon arrival.

Let's get right into the exciting rumors: according to YouTuber and leaker Moore's Law is Dead, Intel is planning a major core overhaul with its second-generation hybrid processor, codenamed Raptor Lake. Following Alder Lake, which is scheduled for release later this year, Raptor Lake could feature as many as 16 "little" cores along with eight new and improved "big" cores.

That would give Raptor Lake the same number of big cores as Alder Lake, but with twice as many little cores, for a total of 24 per chip.

Raptor Lake may share the same little core architecture, Gracemont, as Alder Lake, but its big core will be the new Raptor Cove architecture, which can be described as "enhanced Golden Cove." In effect, it is an improved version of Alder Lake's big core.

Numerous little cores will support highly threaded applications, while the big core will pass the baton to more monotonous workloads such as gaming.

However, the performance of hybrid chips is still a question mark. It is not only the hardware that needs to shift to make this possible, but the software as well. To that end, Intel is rumored to be working with Microsoft on a new and improved Windows scheduler. It is one that can make better use of mixed core configurations. It is said to arrive in time for the launch of Alder Lake.

This would not be a coincidence.

Intel Raptor Lake is said to arrive in late 2022, roughly a year after the rumored Intel Alder Lake release date this October. both Alder Lake and Raptor Lake will share the LGA 1700 socket and are expected to be much more than that. At least DDR5 memory, Gen 12 (Intel Xe) graphics, and PCIe 5.0 are certain.

Intel is praying that Raptor Lake will battle AMD's Zen 4 architecture; Meteor Lake will then continue the fight, with Intel's first 7nm CPU architecture scheduled for release in 2023.

From Intel's Tile to AMD's V-Cache, it's a great time to write about CPU development; it's a great time to write about CPU development; and it's a great time to write about the newest and most exciting CPU architecture, the AMD Zen 4 architecture.