Intel’s new Core i9-11900K processor will arrive in early 2021

Intel’s new Core i9-11900K processor will arrive in the first quarter of 2021. The chipmaker provided the last preview for its first 11th generation desktop chips (Rocket Lake-S) at CES today. Presented by the flagship Core i9-11900K, the new chips are supposed to bring up to 19% higher IPC (instructions per cycle), up to 50% better integrated graphics and better AI performance.

And while Intel isn’t quite ready to take the lid off the entire 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S line, it previewed the Core i9 model: an eight-core, 16-threaded chipset with increased clock speed for an incredible 5.3 GHz. The processor also includes support for 3,200 MHz DDR4 RAM, a total of 20 PCIe 4.0 tracks and even backward compatibility with Intel’s 400 series chipsets. Unfortunately, there is still no pricing or release date information for the new model.

Despite the nickname of 11th generation, the new Rocket Lake-S chips are still technically 14 nm chips – they don’t use the 10 nm process. However, they feature Intel’s Cypress Cove cores, which bring improvements from 10nm core designs to the 14nm production process, allowing for higher speeds along with Intel’s integrated Xe graphics.

According to Intel, the drop in core count compared to last year’s Core i9-10900K (which had 10 cores and 20 threads) is due to this change (10 nm chips are currently designed for up to eight cores at the moment), although it promises that the overall performance in the new 11th generation model will still be better.

There is no official release date for the next Rocket Lake-S chips, but Intel promises that they will be launched in the first quarter of 2021.

January 11 update, 4:47 pm ET: Additional details added for Intel’s Cypress Cove cores.