according to two (opens in new tab) new (opens in new tab) According to the Product Change Notice (PCN), Intel has discontinued its Gemini Lake Refresh (GLK-R) processors. Launched in 2019, the 14nm Pentium and Celeron branded chips were commonly used in entry-level ultra-low power desktops, laptops, mini PCs and AIO.
The original Gemini Lake (GLK) lineup came out in 2017 leveraging Intel’s Goldmont Plus microarchitecture. Spanning up to four cores without hyperthreading, the 14nm low-power chip was a direct replacement for the chipmaker’s Apollo Lake processors at the time. However, given the prevalence of Gemini Lake in budget-conscious devices, Intel has refreshed his 2019 lineup with modest clock speed improvements for its 10W and 6W processors.
Intel retired Gemini Lake in 2020, ending the low-power chip’s three-year run. So the Gemini Lake Refresh ran a little longer, but all good things must come to an end. Intel handles obsolescence in two different groups. The first group consists of Celeron N4120, Celeron 4020, and Pentium Silver N5030, while the latter group includes Celeron J4025, Pentium Silver J5040, Celeron N4020C, and Celeron J4125. Intel clients must place final orders for the first and second retirement groups by November 24, 2023 and August 25, 2023, respectively. The chipmaker plans to ship the former by May 24, 2024 and the latter by February 23, 2024.
Intel Gemini Lake Refresh CPU
| processor | core/thread | Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | Cache (MB) | TDP (width) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentium Silver J5040 | 4/4 | 2.2/3.2 | Four | Ten |
| Pentium Silver N5030 | 4/4 | 1.1/3.1 | Four | 6 |
| Celeron J4125 | 4/4 | 2.0/2.7 | Four | Ten |
| Celeron N4120 | 4/4 | 1.1/2.6 | Four | 6 |
| Celeron J4025 | twenty two | 2.0/2.9 | Four | Ten |
| Celeron N4020 | twenty two | 1.1/2.8 | Four | 6 |
| Celeron N4020C | twenty two | 1.1/2.8 | Four | 6 |
With Goldmont Plus eventually growing over the long term and having already been replaced by Tremont in 2020, it makes sense for Intel to scale back 14nm production and focus on Tremont instead. Tremont has stepped up its 10nm Elkhart Lake and Jasper Lake processors, with Jasper Lake being the successor to the Gemini Lake Refresh chips.
Jasper Lake features a Tremont core that offers significantly higher IPC than Goldmont Plus. According to Intel’s estimates, Tremont has up to 32% higher IPC than Jasper Lake while maintaining the same temperature conditions. This means 10W for the J-series SKUs targeting desktops and 6W for the N-series SKUs targeting mobile devices. Jasper Lake still maxes out at 4 cores with only a slight increase in clock speeds, so most of the performance boost is thanks to the Tremont cores.
The Gemini Lake Refresh is almost non-existent, so we’re likely to see very low-budget devices coming with Jasper Lake processors as the default. This is great news as the vendor has no choice but to go with his new 10nm chips that offer better performance to budget conscious consumers.
