At SmallPC we often talk to customers about processors. It’s one of the main components that people look at when choosing their PC and for good reason: it’s the brains of the whole operation!
We have noticed, though, that it’s easy for people to focus on the CPU being Core i5 or i7 and not pay as much attention to just how many generations the Intel Core CPUs have spanned. You can get a Core i7 from 2008!
Because there are interesting differences between the various generations of Intel CPUs that we use in our industrial PCs, we thought we’d put together a cheat sheet for you so you never have to wonder again:
|
Year |
Generation name |
Common industrial CPUs used |
Fab / node |
Notable features & improvements |
|
2008 |
Nehalem (1st gen) |
Limited industrial uptake; most vendors waited for Westmere |
45 nm |
Integrated memory controller, Turbo Boost, Hyper‑Threading (i7). |
|
2010 |
Westmere |
Core i5‑520M, i7‑620M |
32 nm |
32 nm shrink; adds AES‑NI on many SKUs; CPU+GPU in package (mobile). |
|
2011 |
Sandy Bridge (2nd gen) |
i7‑2710QE, i5‑2510E (embedded) |
32 nm |
New core with on‑die GPU; Quick Sync video; AVX (1). |
|
2012 |
Ivy Bridge (3rd gen) |
i7‑3610QE, i5‑3610ME (embedded) |
22 nm (Tri‑Gate) |
First 22 nm Tri‑Gate; better perf/W; PCIe 3.0 on many SKUs. Last generation to support Windows XP! Also first generation used in NUCs |
|
2013 |
Haswell (4th gen) |
i5‑4570TE, i7‑4770TE |
22 nm |
Big efficiency gains; AVX2/FMA; platform idle‑power improvements. |
|
2014–2015 |
Broadwell (5th gen) |
Mobile U/Y and desktop “C” SKUs in compact PCs |
14 nm |
First 14 nm Core; better iGPU; lower TDPs. |
|
2015 |
Skylake (6th gen) |
i5‑6500TE, i7‑6700TE |
14 nm |
New core; DDR4 support; Speed Shift; long‑life embedded platform. Last generation to support Windows 7! |
|
2016–2017 |
Kaby Lake (7th gen) |
i5‑7300U / i7‑7600U in many fanless systems |
14 nm+ |
Higher clocks; improved 4K codec hardware decode; refinements to power. |
|
2017 |
Coffee Lake (8th gen) |
i7‑8700T, i5‑8500T (desktop T‑series) |
14 nm++ |
Core‑count jump on desktop (up to 6C); I/O/platform bumps. Oldest generation to fully support Windows 11! |
|
2018–2019 |
Coffee Lake Refresh (9th gen) |
i7‑9700T, i9‑9900T |
14 nm++ |
More cores/clocks; mature 300‑series ecosystem. |
|
2019 |
Ice Lake (10th gen, mobile) |
Ice Lake‑U designs (e.g., i7‑1065G7) |
10 nm |
New Sunny Cove core; Gen11 graphics; DL Boost; big iGPU uplift. |
|
2020 |
Comet Lake (10th gen, desktop) |
i9‑10900T, i5‑10500T |
14 nm |
Up to 10 cores on desktop; stable, widely available platforms. |
|
2020 |
Tiger Lake (11th gen, mobile) |
i7‑1185GRE, i5‑1145GRE (IoT/embedded) |
10 nm SuperFin |
Willow Cove; Xe‑LP graphics; PCIe 4.0/Thunderbolt 4; long‑life GRE/GE SKUs. |
|
2021 |
Rocket Lake (11th gen, desktop) |
i7‑11700T, i5‑11400T |
14 nm (backport) |
PCIe 4.0 on desktop; newer core backported to 14 nm. |
|
2021 |
Alder Lake (12th gen) |
i5‑12500T; i5‑1250PE (embedded) |
Intel 7 |
First hybrid (P+E) cores; Thread Director; DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 options. |
|
2022 |
Raptor Lake (13th gen) |
i7‑13700T; i7‑1365UE (embedded) |
Intel 7 (refined) |
More E‑cores, larger caches, higher boosts; drop‑in for 600/700‑series. |
|
2023 |
Raptor Lake Refresh (14th gen) |
i7‑14700T (desktop), updated U/UE lines |
Intel 7 |
Clock/sku refresh; minor IPC/power tuning. |
|
Dec 2023 |
Meteor Lake (Core Ultra Series 1) |
Core Ultra 7 155H / 125H |
Tiled: Intel 4; TSMC N5 and N6; Foveros base |
First ‘Core Ultra’; first tiled client CPU; on‑die NPU; Arc Xe‑LPG graphics; big idle/efficiency gains. |
|
Sep 2024 |
Lunar Lake (Core Ultra Series 2) |
Ultra 7 165U / Ultra 5 125U |
Compute tile TSMC N3B; platform tile N6 |
New Lion Cove (P) + Skymont (E); much higher NPU TOPS; Xe2‑LPG iGPU; strong perf/W focus. |
|
Oct 2024 |
Arrow Lake (Core Ultra 200S) |
Ultra 9 285K / Ultra 7 265K |
Disaggregated (tiled desktop SoC) |
First Core Ultra desktop family with NPU for Copilot+ PCs; better multithreading and efficiency vs. prior gen. |
So there you have it! If you ever wonder which generation does what and how old it is, use this handy little table for reference. This is also useful to see what year a particular generation is from – just look at the number after the dash (eg. i7-10700TE is part of the 10th generation from 2020).
And of course, as always, if you have a question, contact us – we’re always glad to help!