Detailed Intel Razer Lake, Titan Lake, and Hammer Lake leak alleges big IPC gains, Unified Core design, and more
2026 is expected to be the year of major desktop CPU refreshes. Both AMD and Intel are reportedly readying the next-gen Zen 6 and Nova Lake desktop CPUs, respectively, for release in late 2026. However, leakers are now looking even further ahead, as we’ve started to get some indications of future Intel and AMD CPU architectures beyond Zen 6 and Nova Lake.
After Moore’s Law Is Dead’s recent leak of Zen 8 and Zen 9 core architectures, RedGamingTech has now put out a detailed report covering the Intel Razer Lake, Titan Lake, and Hammer Lake desktop/mobile CPU architectures. RGT has also alleged some interesting details about the Intel Serpent Lake, which Team Blue is reportedly co-developing with Nvidia. We’ve covered the Intel Serpent Lake architecture in a separate article.
Intel Razer Lake desktop CPU architecture
We’ve previously reported that Intel Razer Lake desktop CPUs will follow Intel Nova Lake-S chips in 2027. Razer Lake chips are expected to keep the same core configuration as the Nova Lake processors, with a max of 16 P-cores, 32 E-cores, and potentially 4x LP E-cores. However, the P and E-core architectures will be new with the big Griffin Cove P-cores and Golden Eagle E-cores.
RGT alleges that the Griffin Cove P-cores could boast a “healthy double-digit IPC increase” over their Nova Lake predecessors. Interestingly, Intel seems to be paying more attention to the Golden Eagle E-cores. These E-cores are expected to bring an even larger IPC gain than the Griffin Cove P-cores.
So, why is Intel focusing more on E-cores with the Razer Lake architecture? Per RGT, the reason is the "Unified Core" design that could come with Intel Hammer Lake in mid-2029 or later.
Intel Hammer Lake
RGT suggests that, with Hammer Lake, Intel is moving away from distinct P and E-core architectures. This new “Unified Core" design would mimic the way AMD currently segments its big and small cores, for instance, Zen 5 and Zen 5c. The Hammer Lake architecture is reportedly being led by teams that are working on E-cores. So, Intel's alleged focus on Golden Eagle E-cores of Razer Lake is directly linked to the future Unified Core design.
Sadly, RGT shares no hardware specifications or performance numbers regarding Hammer Lake CPUs. We’ve previously heard from Moore’s Law Is Dead that Hammer Lake could be the first fruit of Intel and Nvidia’s partnership and bring a big Nvidia iGPU.
Intel Titan Lake laptop CPU architecture
Reportedly releasing as a laptop-only architecture, Intel Titan Lake allegedly keeps the same general core design as Razer Lake. So, Titan Lake mobile CPUs are expected to also use Griffin Cove P-cores and Golden Eagle E-cores. However, the architecture is more refined vs Razer Lake, with “tweaks across the overall platform”.
RGT quotes the 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake CPUs as an analogy for the Titan Lake processors. The 11th-gen Intel Core processors were evolutions of the 10th-gen chips and weren’t radically different.
That said, Intel Titan Lake CPUs will allegedly bring a new XE3P Refresh iGPU with more than 12 Xe cores in high-end configs. So, the Titan Lake chips could potentially bring impressive graphics performance.
All in all, Intel’s future CPU architectures, as revealed by RGT, appear to be rather ambitious. If Team Blue can bring the heat with Nova Lake in late 2026, Intel may finally start to chip away at AMD’s lead in the consumer desktop market.
Source(s)
RedGamingTech, Teaser image source: Intel, geralt on Pixabay, edited
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