Intel Rocket Lake-S Desktop CPUs To Feature 8 Cores, Gen 12 Xe GPU

Intel's 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU details take started appearing in the online rumor mill. The latest details from the Chinese based PTT PC forums reveal that Rocket Lake-South volition characteristic a couple of changes compared to the 10th Generation Comet Lake-Due south processors which go far side by side twelvemonth.

Intel Rocket Lake-S 14nm CPUs Reportedly Feature Gen 12 Xe GPUs, Upwards To 8 Cores at 125W & DDR4-3733 MHz Support

Update: SharkBay has stated that the Rocket Lake-S series would feature AVX-512 and a revision of the Tiger Lake (Willow Cove) architecture ported back to 14nm. He says that AVX-256 was a typo & the terminal version of Rocket Lake-Due south and Rocket Lake-U series would indeed take AVX-512 onboard.

The details are very interesting because we didn't have a lot of information for Rocket Lake-South CPUs aside from the fact that they were going to be based on the 14nm process node and volition exist the last 14nm desktop mainstream family before Intel shifts to 7nm. The Intel Rocket Lake-S CPU family is expected to arrive on the mainstream desktop platform by 2022 and volition exist the 11th Gen family, replacing the tenth Gen Comet Lake-Due south lineup which is expected to launch in 2022. Nosotros have more details virtually the Comet Lake-S family here.

The Intel Rocket Lake-Due south processors, in one case again, will feature an enhanced 14nm node. This will be the last and most advanced 14nm process node which we have seen to date and with nearly of Intel's processors shifting to sub 14nm in 2022 (Xeon, Notebooks), at that place will be enough chapters to deliver a timely supply of mainstream desktop processors to consumers.

The 11th Gen family unit is expected to characteristic U and S series processors, but we will only be focusing on the South series which is aimed at the mainstream desktop platform. So, for starters, the rumor says that the Rocket Lake-S family will feature up to 8 cores and a TDP of 125W. This is two cores less than the Comet Lake-S family unit which volition offering 10 cores with a TDP of 125W. Rocket Lake-S is likewise featuring AVX-256 and non AVX-512 similar the 10nm Ice Lake or Tiger Lake family. There'south also DDR4 support for up to 3733 MHz (32 GB) and 2933 MHz (128 GB) native speeds.

The most significant detail, notwithstanding, is that the Rocket Lake-South family unit is expected to characteristic the Gen 12 GPU architecture onboard the chip. Intel'southward Gen 12 GPUs are based on the Xe GPU architecture which will likewise exist featured on Tiger Lake CPUs. At present Tiger Lake is a 2022 part besides aimed at mobility platforms merely is based on the 10nm Willow Cove cores while Rocket Lake-S processors are based on a 14nm process node. There are 32 EUs featured on the Rocket Lake-S processors compared to 48 EUs featured on Comet Lake-S processors. The difference is that Comet Lake-S CPUs still get the older Gen nine GPU architecture while Rocket Lake reportedly gets Gen 12 Xe GPU.

Here's where the rumor gets interesting. For a while now, in that location has been a rumor going circular that Intel would backport their new CPU architecture (say Sunny Cove or Willow Cove) to 14nm CPUs.

This would explicate why there are Gen 12 Xe graphics featured on the 14nm Tiger Lake CPUs. But the same chip likewise has AVX-256 which Intel has upgraded to AVX-512 on their new cores. So that actually raises two possibilities, either the Rocket Lake-Southward CPUs indeed feature a 14nm backport of a newer core compages that Intel has introduced on Ice Lake / Tiger Lake CPUs, merely with some features cutting-off, or the Rocket Lake CPUs are only based on an existing 14nm architecture, but have Gen 12 GPUs on the aforementioned die continued by EMIB which allows them to mix and match various IPs on a single chip rather than off-die.

Intel Desktop CPU Generations Comparison:

	Intel Sandy Span	Intel Ivy Bridge	Intel Haswell	Intel Broadwell	Intel Skylake	Intel Kaby Lake	Intel Java Lake	Intel Coffee Lake Refresh	Intel Comet Lake	Intel Rocket Lake
Processor Compages	Sandy Span	Ivy Span	Haswell	Broadwell	Skylake	Kaby Lake	Coffee Lake	Coffee Lake	Comet Lake	Rocket Lake
Processor Process	32nm	22nm	22nm	14nm	14nm	14nm+	14nm++	14nm++	14nm++	14nm++
Processors Cores (Max)	4/8	4/8	iv/8	4/8	four/eight	4/8	half-dozen/12	8/xvi	10/20	10/twenty?
Platform Chipset	6-Series	7-Series	8-Series	9-Series	100-Series	200-Series	300-Serial	300-Serial	400-Series	400-Series?
Platform Socket	LGA 1155	LGA 1155	LGA 1150	LGA 1150	LGA 1151	LGA 1151	LGA 1151	LGA 1151	LGA 1200	TBD
Memory Support	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3	DDR4/DDR3L	DDR4/DDR3L	DDR4	DDR4	DDR4	DDR4
TDPs	35-95W	35-77W	35-84W	65W	35-91W	35-91W	35-95W	35-95W	35-127W	TBD
Platform	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA
Launch	2011	2012	2013-2014	2015	2015	2017	2017	2018	2020	2021

Also, previous rumors have hinted that Rocket Lake-S CPUs would feature upwards to 10 cores while the notebook lineup indeed mentioned support for discrete 14nm/10nm graphics (Gen 12). It will be interesting to see what Rocket Lake-S turns out to be but all the same relying on 14nm in 2022 wouldn't exist a great thing for Intel when their competitor would be offering a highly enhanced Zen iv core based lineup based on an improved 7nm or fifty-fifty sub-7nm process node.