Upgrading from Intel’s Alder Lake or Raptor Lake processors to next year’s Meteor Lake CPUs might require new motherboards due to a critical change.
Those wanting to upgrade from Intel‘s Alder Lake or Raptor Lake processors to next year’s Meteor Lake CPUs might need to invest in a new motherboard. Intel is expected to launch its 13th-gen Core ‘Raptor Lake’ CPUs later this year, but the rumor mill is already churning out information about the 14th-gen ‘Meteor Lake’ processors that are expected to be launched in late 2023. Meteor Lake will be succeeded by Arrow Lake in 2024, followed by Lunar Lake and Nova Lake.
Recently, YouTuber and prolific tipster Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) claimed that both the Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake lineups will ditch the LGA 1700/1800 socket in favor of the new LGA 2551 socket. However, the latest rumors suggest that Intel might change the socket for its Meteor Lake lineup to something other than the LGA 2551. As for the LGA 1700/1800 socket, it supports the 12th-gen Core Alder Lake processors and will also be compatible with the upcoming 13th-gen Core Raptor Lake CPUs.
Intel’s Meteor lake processors will reportedly use a brand new LGA 1851 socket as opposed to the LGA 2551 that was expected earlier. The report comes from Chinese tech blog BenchLife, which claims that rumors about Intel ditching the LGA 1700/1800 socket are true, but it will be in favor of the Socket V1 with 1851 LGA contact pads. In fact, the report clearly states that no socket 2551 exists, although the number 2551 is likely a BGA packaged product for some other chip that the company might be working on.
Upgrading To Meteor Lake Will Be More Expensive
The BenchLife report, however, agrees with some of the other things claimed by MLID, including the rumor that the new socket won’t be very different from the current LGA 1700/1800 in size. However, it will be a lot denser with more pins, and will be slightly higher than the existing socket. Users will be able to use their existing cooler without any modification, which is some comfort for those planning to jump on the Meteor Lake bandwagon next year.
It is worth noting that Intel’s latest LGA 1700/1800 socket was introduced with Alder Lake last year and was expected to last at least three generations. That means both Raptor Lake and Meteor Lake CPUs were originally expected to support the current socket, but if the latest reports are anything to go by, that is unlikely to happen. So if the latest rumors turn out to be correct, users who want to upgrade from Intel‘s Alder Lake or Raptor Lake to a Meteor Lake CPU would need to invest in a new motherboard, increasing the overall cost significantly.
