In 2023, there still seems to be a market for desktop processors with just two cores.
A decade or so ago, the power of a microprocessor was often associated - wrongly, of course - with its operating frequency alone. All you had to do was look at 2.6 GHz or 3.5 GHz and you knew you were looking at a "monster". Indeed, the general public was largely misled by manufacturers who preferred to emphasize hard-hitting, easy-to-remember numbers, rather than attempt to educate the masses by specifying more elements of the datasheet. Whether we're talking about AMD or Intel, frequencies are now progressing at a much slower pace - or even stagnating - and the number of cores has more or less replaced operating frequency as an indicator of power.
You don't have to go back to the dawn of time to remember processors that impressed the world with "just" four cores, whereas today's most powerful Core i9 models from Intel or AMD's beefiest Ryzen 9s boast a whopping 16 cores, and we're not talking about "logic" cores (which would have to go up to 32) or even "HEDT" processors (which would have to go up to 64 cores). However, astonishing as it may seem, Intel seems to have a new processor in its bag, with just two cores.
Videocardz
With the Alder Lake generation due out in 2021, Intel had two dual-core processors, the Pentium Gold G7400 ($64) and the Celeron G6900 ($42), which served as the most affordable entry-level models. The arrival of the Raptor Lake generation at the end of last year sounded the death knell for these low-cost dual-core processors. The least expensive model in this range was the Core i3-13100 ($134) and its version without integrated graphics, the Core i3-13100F ($109). It was obviously more expensive to build a half-decent machine.
Intel seems to have changed its tune, and while at the end of the year, the American firm is due to release its 14th generation - dubbed Raptor Lake Refresh - several rumors cited by Videocardz point to a tiny entry-level model. Like the Pentium Gold G7400 and Celeron G6900, the "new kid on the block" is expected to have a TDP of just 46 Watts, making it much less power-hungry than the Core i3-14100 and Core i3-14100F that Intel has already confirmed. The latter will feature 4 cores / 8 threads and a maximum operating frequency of 4.7 GHz, while the "new kid on the block" - which could be named "Intel 300" - will be limited to 2 cores / 4 threads, at what we imagine will be significantly lower cost.
