Intel's Rocket Lake-S expected in March 2021

News
By
published

Will Intel deliver on the promise of double-digit IPC gains?

Intel 11th Gen Rocket Lake
(Image credit: Intel)

Thanks to a recent press release from Gigabyte, we now know that Intel’s new Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs are coming in March 2021. Intel announced late last year that the new processors would be arriving sometime during the first quarter of the year. 

Gigabyte states in the release “[t]he latest 11th Gen. Intel Core processors will be launched on March 2021. The new processors keep the same architecture as the previous generation but they enable the PCIe 4.0 support.”

Benchmark scores  were leaked recently and Windows Central reported the following that Geekbench scores from the octa-core Core i7-11700K processor showed up on Twitter. The single-core result of 7,857 sailed past the Core i9-10900K CPU as well as the Ryzen 5950X, which netted 6,438 and 7,198 (courtesy of AnandTech). On the  multi-core test, the 11700K reached 42,011crushing  the Core i9-10900K's 41,663.  

Previously, Intel promised double-digit gains with the new Rocket Lake-S chips, obviously feeling massive pressure from AMD and definitely from Apple since the release of the new ARM-based, M1 processor a few months back in November. All eyes are on Intel as the CPU maker after it announced the upcoming 12th generation Alder Lake processors that should debut sometime in 2021. 

Intel was very coy about the new processor, but did mention that Alder Lake will use a 10nm SuperFin process. The company also stated it would utilize a technique similar to ARM's hybrid concept of combining the use of both high performance and high-efficiency cores to achieve a performance level similar to Apple’s M1. 

Of course, Intel didn't mention ARM or Apple by name but, the clock appears to be tickling loudly on the company’s days of being the mainstream CPU leader. AMD has  seen an uptick in manufacturers choosing its processors over Intel. It's sink or swim time for Intel as they've been slacking a bit in the innovation department for a while now. 

Mark Anthony Ramirez
Mark Anthony Ramirez

Mark has spent 20 years headlining comedy shows around the country and made appearances on ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, Food Network, and Sirius XM Radio. He has written about every topic imaginable, from dating, family, politics, social issues, and tech. He wrote his first tech articles for the now-defunct Dads On Tech 10 years ago, and his passion for combining humor and tech has grown under the tutelage of the Laptop Mag team. His penchant for tearing things down and rebuilding them did not make Mark popular at home, however, when he got his hands on the legendary Commodore 64, his passion for all things tech deepened. These days, when he is not filming, editing footage, tinkering with cameras and laptops, or on stage, he can be found at his desk snacking, writing about everything tech, new jokes, or scripts he dreams of filming.