Another Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPU has leaked over in the 3DMark database and this time, it's a 6 core and 12 thread part. The 11th Generation processor family is expected to be launch later this year and will feature a brand new CPU & GPU architecture embedded on the same die.
Intel's Next-Gen Rocket Lake-S 6 Core Desktop CPU Spotted - Up To 4.1 GHz Clock Speeds on Early Sample
The latest listing is spotted by TUM_APISAK & Rogame which reports a 6 core / 12 thread Rocket Lake-S CPU. We already saw an 8 core / 16 thread Rocket Lake-S CPU leak lout last month in the same benchmark but that chip was an even early sample running at clock speeds of just 1.8 GHz. In comparison, the 6 core / 12 thread Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.1 GHz. Other details are missing for now but it looks like we are finally getting some development on the next 14nm Desktop CPUs.
Once again, the clock speeds reported for the chip are nowhere near where you would expect the final retail chips to land. The Rocket Lake-S CPUs, despite being based on a new architecture, still rely on the 14nm process node which has seen years of progress and refinement. In terms of clock speeds, the 14nm node offers up to 5.30 GHz on a 10 core / 20 thread chip as seen on the flagship Comet Lake chip, the Core i9-10900K. Based on that, we can expect the final clock speeds for the 6 core chip to end up at least somewhere around 4.5 GHz (boost clocks).
3dmark 11 Performance
Genuine Intel(R) CPU 0000 @ 3.50GHz
6C/12T 3.5GHz base 4.2GHz boostIntel Corporation RocketLake S UDIMM 4L ERB
Physics test : 11887
Graphics test : 1900For context i5-10400 6C/12T 2.9GHz base 4.3GHz boost
Physics test : 12828
Graphics test : 1822 pic.twitter.com/u4rcjs5Wz2— _rogame 🇵🇸 (@_rogame) May 22, 2020
It looks like a lot of optimization work is yet to be done for Rocket Lake-S CPUs before they launch because Rogame additionally posted the performance result for the chip in 3DMark 11. The CPU scored 11887 points in the Physics benchmarks and 1900 points in the Graphics Tests. The graphics test was around 4% faster than the Core i5-10400 CPU which features an older Gen 9.5 graphics chip but in the CPU tests, the Core i5-10400 took the leak by 8%. The higher 4.3 GHz frequency on the Core i5-10400 definitely helped it out but once again, the CPU is in early ES state so final tests would yield much better performance numbers.
In a recent post, it was rumored that Intel's 6 core Rocket Lake-S unlocked desktop CPUs could feature PL2 power limits as high as 191W.
Here's Everything We Know About The 11th Generation Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs
Intel's Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU platform is expected to feature support on LGA 1200 socket which will make its debut with Comet Lake-S CPUs although on 400-series motherboards. The Intel Rocket Lake-S processors will be launching alongside the 500-series motherboards but it has since been confirmed that LGA 1200 motherboards will offer support for Rocket Lake-S CPUs, especially given the fact that PCIe Gen 4.0 is a prominent feature of Z490 motherboards which would only be enabled with the use of Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs.
Main features of Intel's Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs include:
- Increased Performance with new processor core architecture
- New Xe graphics architecture
- Increased DDR4 speeds
- CPU PCIe 4.0 Lanes
- Enhanced Display (Integrated HDMI 2.0, HBR3)
- Added x4 CPU PCIe Lanes = 20 Total CPU PCIe 4.0 Lanes
- Enhanced Media (12 bit AV1/HVEC, E2E compression)
- CPU Attached Storage or Intel Optane Memory
- New Overclocking Features and Capabilities
- USB Audio offload
- Integrated CNVi & Wireless-AX
- Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20G)
- 2.5Gb Ethernet Discrete LAN
- DIscrete Intel Thunderbolt 4 (USB4 Compliant)
Once again, the reason I think that Rocket Lake is using Willow Cove cores is that Tiger Lake with the same architecture features Xe Gen 12 graphics while Ice Lake with Sunny Cove cores is using the Gen 11 GPU. It is possible that the cache is different on desktop chips but once again, that remains to be confirmed and until we see more leaks, this is up for debate.
Intel Mainstream CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processor Architecture | Graphics Architecture | Processors Cores/Threads (Max) | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | Intel 7 | Golden Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 16/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh (14th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2023 |
| Meteor Lake | Intel 4 | Redwood Cove (P-Core) Crestmont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 22/28 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake Refresh | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2026 |
| Lunar Lake | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe2 (Battlemage) | 8/8 | Mobile Only | LPDDR5X | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Panther Lake | Intel 18A | Cougar Cove (P-Core) Darkmont (E-Core) | Xe3 (Battlemage) | 16/16 | Mobile Only | LPDDR5/LPDDR5X | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2025 |
| Raptor Lake Next | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 20/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2027 |
| Nova Lake | Intel 18A | Coyote Cove (P-Core) Arctic Wolf (E-Core) | Xe3 (Battlemage) Xe3P (Celestial) | 52/52 | LGA 1954 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2027 |
| Razor Lake | Intel 18A? | Griffin Cove (P-Core) Golden Eagle (E-Core) | TBA | TBA | LGA 1954 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2027 |
| Titan Lake | TBA | Copper Shark (Unified) Golden Eagle (E-Core) | TBA | TBA | Mobile Only | LPDDR6? | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2028 |
Overall, the Rocket Lake-S family is expected to launch later this year with Alder Lake-S targetting a late 2021 or early 2022 launch timeframe. That would be around the same time when AMD is expected to launch its own DDR5 platform based around the rumored AM5 socket with support for Zen 4 based Ryzen 5000 CPUs which will definitely be something to look forward to.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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