As promised back in October last year, Intel has finally unveiled its much-awaited 11th-Gen Core Rocket Lake-S desktop processors in Q1 2021. The new 11th-Gen Intel Core desktop CPUs bring substantial performance gains over its predecessor. They are also designed to deliver improved and immersive gaming experiences.
11th-Gen Intel Rocket Lake S Desktop Processors
The 11th-gen Intel Core S-series desktop processors use a brand new Cypress Cove architecture. But, you might be disappointed to know that they’re still based on an ageing 14nm process node. The Cypress Cove architecture, for those unaware, is essentially a 14nm back-port of the 10nm Sunny Cove architecture used in Intel’s Ice Lake mobile CPUs. AMD, on the other hand, has been shipping 7nm Ryzen CPUs for over a year now.
While the Comet Lake processor goes up to 10 cores and 20 threads, Rocket Lake S desktop processors only go up to 8 cores and 16 threads. The 11th-Gen Intel Core i9-11900K processor sits at the top of the ladder. The lineup starts at i5-11400T and i7-11700T processors in other price brackets.
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Intel Core i9-11900K Specs & Features
As for the specifications, the flagship Intel Core i9-11900K desktop CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads. You also have 16 MB of L3 cache and a 125W TDP (Thermal design power). The CPU has a base clock of 3.5GHz, all-core turbo clock of 4.7GHz, and a maximum single-core boost clock of 5.2 GHz. But, you can get an additional 100MHz boost in maximum clock frequency via Thermal Velocity Boost.
Intel claims that the 11th-Gen Rocket Lake S desktop CPUs deliver up to 19% gen-over-gen IPC performance improvement as compared to 10th-Gen variants. You get integrated Intel UHD Graphics based on the new Xe graphics architecture, offering 50% graphics performance gains. The processors also support better AI performance, thanks to the company’s Deep Learning Boost and Vector Neural Network Instructions technologies.
Moreover, the processor also has support for DDR4 RAM at 3,200MHz, 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and backwards compatibility with Intel’s 400 Series chipsets. The 11th-Gen desktop CPUs also offer new overclocking tools, with real-time memory overclocking, an all-new integrated memory controller with wider timings and Gear 2 support, and more. You also get support for enhanced display and media, Thunderbolt 4, WiFi 6E, and other technologies in tow.
In addition, Intel has also refreshed the existing 10th-Gen desktop CPUs. The latest 11th-Gen CPUs are available in global markets starting today.
