How will Intel’s latest CPUs get up versus AMD’s challengers?
Intel has officially launched its 11th Generation Intel Core processors, better known by their codename: Rocket Lake-S.
The full Intel Rocket Lake-S roster includes CPUs covering each sort of Intel Core processor bar i3, including the mighty Intel Core i9-11900K at the highest of the pile. Intel’s new flagship processor will go head-to-head with AMD’s Ryzen 5000-series within the battle for supremacy, during which the balance of power frequently switches back and forth.
Intel’s 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs Ready for Launch
Let’s start from the highest.
The flagship Intel Core i9-11900K is an octa-core, 16 thread CPU with a base clock speed of three .5GHz, a single-core maximum boost speed of 5.2GHz, and an all-core top boost speed of 4.8GHz. It’ll support DDR4 RAM at 3,200MHz and features a moderately sized 16MB Intel Smart Cache.
Although the Intel Core i9-11900K is a powerful CPU, you would possibly note that it comes with slightly reduced performance compared to the Intel 10th Gen CPUs. The previous flagship model, the Intel i9-10900K, had ten cores and 20 threads, boasting very similar core clock speeds.
“What gives?” you would possibly think. But that leads us to the second piece of Intel news: the 11th Generation CPUs use Intel’s new Cypress Cove architecture.
Cypress Cove is Intel’s first significant architecture upgrade since Skylake was introduced back in 2015 and is predicted to supply considerable performance boosts to Intel’s 11th Generation processors and people that follow in its steps. Intel expects Cypress Cove to deliver “up to 19 percent” better performance than the previous generation.
However, although Rocket Lake-S uses the Cypress Cove architecture, Intel remains using an equivalent 14nm manufacturing process before you get overexcited. The 10nm process used for its Tiger Lake mobile processors still isn’t up and running for its desktop chips. Therefore the performance boost that comes thereupon manufacturing switch will arrive with a later Generation.
Back to the chips. The 11th Gen Intel processors will all use Intel’s Xe integrated graphics, which should also receive a new architecture lift. They’ll also support a complete of 20 PCIe 4 lanes for extra hardware, even as support for USB 3.2 Gen 2×2.
When Is Intel Rocket Lake-S Launching?
Right now—March 16, 2021.
Intel is launching eight new 11th Gen Rocket Lake-S processors:
- Intel i9-11900K: MSRP $539
- Intel i9-11900: $439
- Intel i7-11700K: $399
- Intel i7-11700: $323
- Intel i5-11600K: $262
- Intel i5-11600: $213
- Intel i5-11500: $192
- Intel i5-11400: $182
The above prices are Intel’s suggestion, and you’d expect these to stay accurate, a minimum of within the medium-term.
The big question now revolves around how the Intel Core i9-11900K stands up to the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. Intel released some slides detailing the i9-11900K’s gaming and media creation performance, showing it outstripping AMD’s flagship consumer chip.
However, it’s always better to attend until reviewers and hardware testers get their hands on the new hardware before making any grand declarations.
