For the IT trade fair CES 2021 Intel has an outlook on the upcoming desktop processors of the 10. Core-i generation “Rocket Lake”, which has made the first major architectural changes since 2015 gives. You have to be patient for at least two more months until these come on the market. First matching mainboards with the chipsets Z 590, H 570, B 560 and H 510 should be in stores as early as the beginning of February.

The Core i still comes – 10000 “Comet Lake” known CPU version LGA 1200, but Intel has changed a lot on the platform. The Core-i 10000 processors can use PCI Express 4.0, which increases the transfer rate per lane and direction to 2 GByte / s doubled. In addition, Intel has increased the number of PCIe lanes. Instead of previously 16 Pieces that were reserved for the graphics card are now available 20 Lanes from the 14 – Nanometer CPU. This allows an M.2 SSD to be connected directly to the processor via four PCIe 4.0 lanes with up to 8 GByte / s, which eliminates the bottleneck of the DMI connection with around 3.5 GByte / s to the chipset for this SSD. Asrock delivers for all Z 590 – Mainboards a bracket for heavy graphics cards with.

(Image: Asrock)

Faster chipset connection But even at this point done something: Instead of four there are now eight lanes to the chipset (DMI x8). This is important because the high-end chipset Z 590 can hold up to three USB 3.2 Gen2x2 devices each with 20 Control GBit / s (net around 2 GByte / s). The cheaper H 570 and B 560 each have two USB ports with 20 – Gbit / s speed . The PCIe lanes of the chipsets continue to work with PCIe 3.0 speed, comparable to the B 550 – Chipset from AMD for the Ryzen processors.

The Core i – 11000 – CPUs finally have a graphics unit that supports HDMI 2.0 and thus 4K at 60 Hertz, which makes the previously necessary and rarely soldered Level Shifter / Protocol Converter (LSPCon) superfluous. With DisplayPort 1.4 the maximum resolution is 5120 × 2880 pixels (60 Hz).

Series-500 – Chipsets for Core i – 10000 “Comet Lake” and Core i – 11000 “Rocket Lake” Chipset Z 590 H570 B 560 H510 PCIe lanes up to 24 × PCIe 3.0 up to 20 × PCIe 3.0 up to 12 × PCIe 3.0 up to 6 × PCIe 3.0 USB -Ports up to 14 up to 14 up to 12 up to 10 of which USB 20 Gbit / s up to 3 up to 2 up to 2 – of which USB Gbit / s up to 10 up to 4 up to 4 – thereof USB 5 GBit / s up to 10 up to 8 up to 6 up to 4 SATA ports 6 × SATA 6G 6 × SATA 6G 6 × SATA 6G 4 × SATA 6G RAID 0,1,5, 10 0,1,5, 10 – – WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 max.displays 3 3 3 2 DIMMs per channel 2 2 2 1 Overclocking ✓ RAM only RAM only – TDP 6 W 6 W 6 W 6 W The cheapest chipset variant H 510 Intel cut back heavily. This not only applies to functions such as USB 3.2 Gen2x2 and Gen2 and the number of ports for USB and SATA 6G. On motherboards with this chipset, Intel only allows one memory module per channel and a maximum of two digital monitors.

Processors and motherboards are upwards and downwards compatible. Rocket Lake CPUs run in series – 60 – Mainboards and Comet Lake processors in boards with 500 he chipset. However, some functions are then idle that the other component does not support.

The Asus ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial with Z 590 – Chipset costs more than some gaming PCs.

(Image: Asus)

Expensive Z 590 – Mainboards At the beginning it will primarily be high-end boards with Z 590 – Chipset from Asrock, A sus, Gigabyte, MSI and Biostar to buy. Some of these are equipped with numerous extras such as Thunderbolt 4, USB 4, Wi-Fi 6E with 6 GHz technology and powerful voltage converters for overclocking. As a result, however, the price also climbs to exorbitant heights: For the ROG Maximus VIII Extreme Glacial equipped with water coolers, Asus requires 1516 Euro – mind you only for the mainboard without CPU, graphics card or other components.

The first series – 500 – Boards should appear in February. At the start of sales of the Core-i 10000 processors at the end of the first quarter, the range of mainboards should be available be complete with the new chipsets.

(chh)