Difference between the Arrow Lake, Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake and Raptor Lake architecture of Intel CPUs

Here are some key differences between the different Lake Architectures of Intels CPUs

Alder Lake

• Hybrid Architecture: Introduced the concept of Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficiency-cores (E-cores) working together for optimal performance and power efficiency.
• Manufacturing Process: Intel 7 (10nm Enhanced SuperFin)
• Key Features: Marked a significant shift in Intel's CPU design philosophy.

Raptor Lake

• Refined Architecture: Built upon Alder Lake, primarily focusing on increasing the number of P-cores for improved single-threaded performance, especially crucial for gaming.
• Core Architecture: P-Cores are Raptor Cove (refined from Alder Lake's Golden Cove) and the E-Cores are Gracemont.
• Manufacturing Process: Intel 7 (10nm Enhanced SuperFin) 
• Key Features: Enhanced P-core performance with higer single-threaded performance while still leveraging the benefits of the hybrid architecture. Refinded power efficiency and performance optimizations. Support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory.

Meteor Lake

• Chiplet Design: Introduced a revolutionary chiplet architecture, integrating different components (CPU cores, GPU, SoC, I/O) onto separate dies on a single package for improved performance, power efficiency, and scalability.
• Core Architecture: P-Cores are Redwood Cove (evolution of Raptor Cove) and E-Cores are Crestmont (evolution of Gracemont)
• Manufacturing Process: Intel 4 (7nm Enhanced SuperFin)
• Key Features: Significantly improved integrated graphics based on Xe-LPG (similar to Arc GPUs), advanced AI/ML capabilitie and perfromance anabled by the impreoved Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and a move to the smaller Intel 4 process. This design anly supports DDR5 memory

Arrow Lake

• Refined Architecture: Builds upon Meteor Lake's chiplet design with further optimizations to the core architectures (P-cores and E-cores).
• Core Architecture: P-Cores (refind from Redwood Cove) and E-Cores (refined from Crestmont)
• Manufacturing Process: Intel 4 (7nm Enhanced SuperFin)
• Key Features: Expected to deliver significant performance gains over Meteor Lake, with a focus on overall performance and efficiency.

Here's a table summarizing the key differences

Feature	Alder Lake	Raptor Lake	Meteor Lake	Arrow Lake
Manufacturing Process	Intel 7	Intel 7	Intel 4	Intel 4
Architecture	Hybrid (P-cores & E-cores)	Refined Hybrid	Chiplet Design	Refined Chiplet, Enhanced Cores
Key Focus	Hybrid Architecture	Increased P-core Count and refined performance	Chiplet Design, Improved iGPU, AI/ML	Performance Gains, Refined Cores
Integrated Graphics	Intel Iris Xe Graphics	Intel Iris Xe Graphics	Xe-LPG Architecture	Likely Further Improved
Memory Support	DDR4 & DDR5	DDR4 & DDR5	DDR5 Only	Likely DDR5 Only
P-Cores (Performance cores)	Golden Cove	Raptor Cove	Redwood Cove	Refined Redwood Cove
E-Cores (Efficiency cores)	Gracmont	Gracmont	Crestmont	Refined Crestmont

Summary

• Alder Lake pioneered the hybrid core architecture.
• Raptor Lake refined Alder Lake by prioritizing single-threaded performance.
• Meteor Lake introduced a revolutionary chiplet design and significantly improved integrated graphics.
• Arrow Lake is poised to build upon Meteor Lake's foundation with further performance enhancements and architectural refinements.

Source; Google Gemini