Two weeks from now, Intel and its board partners will introduce their new Z590 (500 series) motherboards, which will offer full support for 11th generation Rocket Lake desktop CPUs. The main feature of these cards, in addition to next-generation CPU support, would be advanced I / O features and full support for the PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol.
Intel Z590 motherboards offer PCIe Gen 4.0 compatibility when running 11th generation Rocket Lake Core i9, Core i7 and Core i5 CPUs for desktops, are not compatible with Comet Lake Refresh Core i3 CPUs
The information is listed on several motherboards based on the Z590 chipset that we started to receive from motherboard partners before the January 11 announcement. Each motherboard has a sticker on the top PCIe slot that mentions that the Gen 4.0 protocol will be compatible with Intel’s Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs.
According to previously leaked information that covered all SKUs on Intel Rocket Lake, the line will consist of Core i9, Core i7 and Core i5 chips. The rest of the line, which includes the Core i3, Pentium and Celeron series, will not support PCIe Gen 4.0 and will maintain Gen 3.0 compliance, as they are part of the Comet Lake family. Only Intel’s Rocket Lake CPUs have the architecture updates necessary to support PCIe Gen 4.0.
The PCIe Gen 4.0 protocol has not been as much of a drag on GPUs as it has been for PCIe-based storage devices. Next generation SSDs with PCIe 4.0 have shown major performance improvements and with technologies like NVIDIA RTX IO and Microsoft DirectStorage for desktops will definitely use the interconnect protocol to allow for even faster performance and access times.
Here’s everything we know about 11th generation Rocket Lake desktop CPUs
Intel’s Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU platform will be supported on the LGA 1200 socket, which made its debut with 10th generation Comet Lake-S CPUs, albeit on 400 series motherboards. Intel Rocket Lake-S processors will be released primarily for 500 series motherboards, but it has been confirmed that LGA 1200 motherboards will support Rocket Lake-S CPUs, especially due to the fact that PCIe Gen 4.0 is an important feature of Z490 motherboards that they would only be enabled using Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs.
Motherboard manufacturers, especially ASUS, will be paying extra attention by incorporating the hardware-level integration of PCIe Gen 4 into their Z590 line of motherboards versus their Z490 line as noted here.
Key features of Intel’s Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs include:
- Higher performance with Cypress Cove’s new flagship architecture
- Up to 8 cores and 16 threads (double-digit IPC gains over Skylake)
- New Xe graphics architecture (up to 50% higher performance than Gen9)
- Increased 3200 MHz DDR4 memory support
- PCIe 4.0 CPU ranges (available on Z490 and Z590 motherboards)
- Enhanced display (integrated HDMI 2.0b, DP1.4a, HBR3)
- Added PCIe x4 lanes on the CPU = 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes on the total CPU
- Advanced media (12-bit AV1 / HVEC, E2E compression)
- CPU Attached Storage or Intel Optane Memory
- New features and overclocking capabilities
- USB audio download
- Integrated CNVi and Wireless-AX
- USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20G) integrated
- 2.5 Gb discrete Ethernet LAN
- Discreet Intel Thunderbolt 4 (USB4 compatible)
The following are the main Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs that we can expect in the 11th generation family:
- Core i9-11900K
- Core i9-11900
- Core i9-11900T
- Core i7-11700K
- Core i7-11700
- Core i7-11700T
- Core i5-11600K
- Core i5-11600
- Core i5-11600T
- Core i5-11500
- Core i5-11500T
- Core i5-11400
- Core i5-11400T
Specifications of the 11th generation Rocket Lake Desktop CPU line (preliminary):
| CPU name | Colors / Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock (1-Core) | Boost Clock (All-Core) | Cache | Graphics | TDP (PL1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-11900K | 8/16 | 3.50 GHz | 5.30 GHz | 4.80 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W |
| Core i9-11900 | 8/16 | 1.80 GHz | 4.50 GHz | 4.00 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W |
| Core i9-11900T | 8/16 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W |
| Core i7-11700K | 8/16 | 3.60 GHz | 5.00 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W |
| Core i7-11700 | 8/16 | 2.50 GHz | 4.90 GHz | TBC | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W |
| Core i7-11700T | 8/16 | TBC | TBC | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W | |
| Core i5-11600K | 6/12 | TBC | 4.90 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W |
| Core i5-11600 | 6/12 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W |
| Core i5-11600T | 6/12 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W |
| Core i5-11500 | 6/12 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W |
| Core i5-11500T | 6/12 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W |
| Core i5-11400 | 6/12 | 2.60 GHz | 4,400 GHz | 4.20 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 colors) | 65W |
| Core i5-11400T | 6/12 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 colors) | 35W |
Unlocked SKUs in the K series will feature a basic 125W TDP PL1, while non-K SKUs will feature a 65W based TDP. The ‘T’ series variants that are the lowest TDP SKUs will come with a 35W based TDP. Intel Core i9 and Core i7 CPUs based on the Rocket Lake CPU architecture will have 8 cores, 16 threads and 16 MB of L3 cache. Core i5 SKUs will have 6 cores and 12 threads, plus a 12 MB L3 cache. All CPUs will have the integrated Intel Xe GPU with 32 EUs or 256 cores.
Moving on to the Comet Lake Refresh line, Intel appears to be repositioning its enhanced Skylake architecture for the mainstream and budget line. The schedule will include the following SKUs:
- Core i3-11100
- Core i3-11100T
- Core i3-11300
- Core i3-11300T
- Core i3-11320
- Pentium G6420
- Pentium G6420T
- Pentium G6520
- Pentium G6250T
- Pentium G6220
- Celeron G5930
- Celeron G5930T
- Celeron G5950
11th generation Intel Comet Lake CPU line specifications (preliminaries):
| CPU name | Colors / Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock (1-Core) | Boost Clock (All-Core) | Cache | Graphics | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i3-11320 | 4/8 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 8 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 65W |
| Core i3-11300 | 4/8 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 8 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 65W |
| Core i3-11300T | 4/8 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 8 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 35W |
| Core i3-11100 | 4/8 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 6 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 65W |
| Core i3-11100T | 4/8 | TBC | TBC | TBC | 6 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 35W |
| Pentium G6420 | 2/4 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 58W |
| Pentium G6420T | 2/4 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 35W |
| Pentium G6520 | 2/4 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 58W |
| Pentium G6250T | 2/4 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 35W |
| Pentium G6220 | 2/4 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 630 24 EU (192 cores) | 58W |
| Celeron G5930 | 2/2 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 610 12 EU (96 cores) | 58W |
| Celeron G5930T | 2/2 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 610 12 EU (96 cores) | 35W |
| Celeron G5950 | 2/2 | TBC | N / D | N / D | 4 MB | UHD 610 12 EU (96 cores) | 58W |
The Core i3 models will have 4 cores and 8 threads, but all variants, except the Core i3-11100 series, will have 8 MB of L3 cache against 6 MB of L3 cache on the mentioned processors. Pentium line processors will feature 2 cores, 4 threads and 4 MB of L3 cache, while the Celeron line will only have 2 cores and no multi-threading support. However, these chips also carry 4 MB of L3 cache. Core i3 and Pentium models will feature UHD 630 graphics with 24 EUs, while Celeron SKUs will feature UHD 610 graphics with 12 EUs.
The architecture for Rocket Lake CPUs is Cypress Cove, which is a hybrid between the design of Sunny Cove and Willow Cove, but will feature the Xe Gen 12 GPU architecture. Intel’s Core i9-11900K will be the main CPU offering for Intel line and we expect more information soon. As for the launch, the motherboards will hit retail on January 11-12, while the 11th generation Intel processors are expected to arrive at the end of March.
Intel Desktop CPU Generation Comparison:
| Intel CPU family | Processor Process | Processor cores (max) | TDPs | Platform Chipset | Platform | Memory support | PCIe support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Bridge (2nd generation) | 32nm | 4/8 | 35-95W | 6 series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 2.0 | 2011 |
| Ivy Bridge (3rd generation) | 22 nm | 4/8 | 35-77W | 7-Series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2012 |
| Haswell (4th generation) | 22 nm | 4/8 | 35-84W | 8-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2013-2014 |
| Broadwell (5th generation) | 14nm | 4/8 | 65-65W | 9-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Skylake (6th generation) | 14nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 100-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Lake Kaby (7th generation) | 14nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 200 Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (8th generation) | 14nm | 6/12 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (9th generation) | 14nm | 8/16 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2018 |
| Comet Lake (10th generation) | 14nm | 10/20 | 35-125W | 400-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2020 |
| Rocket Lake (11th generation) | 14nm | 8/16 | TBA | 500-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 4.0 | 2021 |
| Lago Alder (12th generation) | 10nm? | 16/24? | TBA | 600 Series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2021 |
| Meteoro Lake (13th generation) | 7nm? | TBA | TBA | 700 series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2022? |
| Lunar Lake (14th generation) | TBA | TBA | TBA | 800 series? | TBA | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2023? |