To CES 2021 Intel announced arrival by the end of the quarter of the new 11th Generation Intel Core desktop processors , codenamed Rocket Lake . Almost everything has been known about these processors for some time: products at 10 nanometers, offer up to 8 core and 16 threads architecture based Cypress Cove , a Sunny Cove project re-adaptation of the Ice Lake mobile chips to 10 nanometers. Next to the CPU cores we find a welcome novelty, namely a integrated graphics chip based on Xe architecture , a net step forward compared to Gen 9.5 architecture.

Less core then , you go down from 10 of the current Core i9s to the 8 of the successors, but an improved architecture compared to frequencies for the flag bearer Core i9 – 11900 K quite similar to Core i9 – 10900 K: we are talking about a maximum of 5.3 GHz with one core active and 4.8 GHz with all units active . Regarding the TDP, Intel indicates a PL1 value of 125 W, while the PL2 with a Tau of 56 seconds is equal to 250 W.

The new proposals offer 20 PCI Express 4.0 lanes , four more than previous models, in enabling high-speed connection to storage and a dedicated GPU, as well as a host of other features to improve performance under loads of artificial intelligence. Memory controller improves further with native DDR4 support – 3200 .

In terms of compatibility , the new CPUs can be installed both on new motherboards based on chipset of the series 500 (Z 590, B 560, H 510 ) and on serious proposals 400 , although not all: green light for Z models 490, Q 470 and H 470, while nothing to do for B 460 and H 410 (at least according to Intel).

According to the Santa Clara, the new Rocket Lake CPUs guarantee an improvement in IPC performance (instructions per clock cycle) of 19% , comparing the new Core i9 – 11900 K with the current 10900 K. IPC performance is an important aspect that gives us the pulse of performance in areas where the processor uses few threads, such as video games.

To demonstrate the breakthrough in gaming, Intel showed a test of Metro Exodus in which it compared a new 8-core Rocket Lake CPU with a Ryzen 9 5900 X from AMD, both paired with a GeForce RTX 3080: the Intel system achieved the best performance , arriving at 156, 54 Average FPS in the test against i 147, 43 AMD PC FPS. The company has published a chart showing the results in other games as well, with Full HD performance 2% to 8% higher than the chip from AMD.