If you’re waiting for news about Intel’s upcoming Rocket Lake processors, I have something for you today. One of our sources provided us with the full technical specifications of Intel’s upcoming Core i9 and Core i7 Rocket Lake family. Intel’s Rocket Lake architecture is the first major architectural upgrade in over 6 years and includes PCIe 4.0. This will eventually enable Intel to equate with AMD’s PCIe 4.0-equipped Zen platform, as well as a major IPC boost over Skylake.
Intel Rocket Lake Core i7 and Core i9 CPU Series with Final Turbo Boost Frequencies
Before I get started, keep in mind that the B-0 step is essentially the QS sample and although this review is usually final, Intel may decide to polish it even more. In that case the final variant may be possible better than that – but not worse. The company’s flagship Rocket Lake processor, the Core i9 11900K, can be upgraded to an astonishing 5.3 GHz single core and 4.8 GHz overall core, thanks to Intel’s incredible mature 14 nm process.
Combined with the IPC increase we are seeing, this should put an incredible amount of competitive pressure on AMD’s Zen 3 series. Although we do not make any claims yet, I would not be surprised if Intel repeats the performance crown of AMD in 2021. Here is the Core i7 and Core i9 series:
Intel is preparing a total of 10 SKUs in the Core i7 and Core i9 families for launch (at least in the near future). TDPs range from a meager 25W to 125W. Depending on whether you prefer energy efficiency or raw performance, there is enough variety for everyone. Intel’s flagship processor, the Intel Core i9 11900K, has an incredible single-core boost of 5.3 GHz along with an overall core of 4.8 GHz. It will be chips with a very large entrance that are qualified to act at this speed and will be shipped en masse. As it is 14 pm, the availability of these SKUs should be very good. There are also Core i9 11900KF, Core i9 11900T, Core i9 11900 and Core i9 11900F flavors in this family. Intel even managed to offer an overall boost of 3.7 GHz in 35 W TDP with the Core i9 11900T. [caution: opinion] I personally expect the Core i9 series to be better than AMD’s Zen 3 based offerings. [/opinion].
For the Core i7 parts, all core enhancements will be around 4.6 GHz, while the single-core enhancement will be 5.0 GHz. These are lower interior variants that will be much cheaper than the Core i9 parts. They still offer the IPC increase of 18% compared to the previous generation (skylake-based uArch) and PCIe 4.0, with the one thing that probably matters most now: offering. With TSMC bottleneck, Intel has a real chance to gain market share if they can send Rocket Lake in volume. Since it is based on 14 nm, we see no reason why they would do it not be able to just do it. Based on leaked standards, we expect the Core i7 family to perform only slightly worse than AMD’s Zen 3-based offerings / in some cases parity.
Rocket Lake has been the most exciting offering from Intel in almost 6+ years. With the maturity of the 14nm and readily available volume, the business might just succeed in selling its ‘process-disconnected’ philosophy. Unlike GPUs, which rely on more than one supply constraint (memory / material, etc.), CPUs are primarily dependent on the foundry – and with Intel Foundries perfectly ready for 14nm – this is their chance to share of recovering the lost market share.