Intel Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake Flagship Scores Huge In Geekbench, Fastest Single-Threaded CPU Performance Ever Recorded & 13% Faster Than AMD’s Zen 3

Hassan Mujtaba
11th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (code-named "Rocket Lake-S") will deliver inceased performance and speeds. They will launch in the first quarter of 2021. (Credit: Intel Corporation)

The latest benchmarks of Intel's Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake flagship CPU have leaked over at Geekbench. The numbers show a record-breaking performance for the upcoming chip which is going to feature a brand new core architecture on an Intel Desktop platform for the first time in more than 6 years.

Intel Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Decimates All of Its Rivals in Single-Threaded Benchmark Performance, 13% Faster Than AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

The Intel Core i9-11900K with its multiple Cypress Cove core will bring the biggest CPU architectural upgrade in over 6 years. This is because ever since the 6th Generation Skylake CPUs, all Intel CPUs up till the 10th Generation Comet Lake CPUs have used the same identical chip architecture based on the 14nm process node.

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Intel Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Specifications:

The Intel Core i9-11900K will be the flagship 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU. The chip is going to feature 8 cores and 16 threads. This will result in 16 MB of L3 cache (2 MB per core) and 4 MB of L2 cache (512 KB per core). In terms of clocks, the CPU runs at base frequencies of 3.5 GHz but as for boost, the CPU will feature a maximum boost clock of 5.2 GHz (1-core) while the all-core boost frequency will be maintained at 4.8 GHz.

The chip will also feature Thermal Velocity Boost which should deliver a 100 MHz jump in the max clock frequency. This should lead to a single-core boost clock of 5.3 GHz making it the first CPU to ever hit such a high frequency out of the box. However, do remember that regardless of using the Cypress Cove cores, the Core i9-11900K will feature lower cores and threads than the Intel Core i9-10900K. This is partially due to the backporting of Cypress Cove on the refined 14nm process node. The CPU is said to feature a 1st stage power limit of 125W which is standard for a flagship Intel SKU and the 2nd stage power limit or PL2 is rated at 250W.

Intel 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Lineup Specs (Preliminary):

CPU NameCores / ThreadsBase ClockBoost Clock (1-Core)Boost Clock (All-Core)CacheGraphicsTDP (PL1)TDP (PL2)Price
Core i9-11900K(F)8 / 163.50 GHz5.30 GHz4.80 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)125W251W$539 US (K)
$513 US (KF)
Core i9-11900(F)8 / 162.50 GHz5.20 GHz4.70 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)65W224W$439 US
$422 US (F)
Core i9-11900T8 / 161.50 GHz4.90 GHz3.70 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)35W115W$439 US
Core i7-11700K(F)8 / 163.60 GHz5.00 GHz4.60 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)125W251W$399 US (K)
$374 US (F)
Core i7-11700(F)8 / 162.50 GHz4.90 GHz4.40 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)65W224W$323 US
$298 US (F)
Core i7-11700T8 / 161.40 GHz4.60 GHz3.60 GHz16 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)35W115W$323 US
Core i5-11600K(F)6 /123.90 GHz4.90 GHz4.60 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)125W224W?$262 US (K)
$237 US (KF)
Core i5-116006 /122.80 GHz4.80 GHz4.30 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)65W154W$213 US
Core i5-11600T6 /121.70 GHz4.10 GHz3.50 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)35W92W$213 US
Core i5-115006 /122.70 GHz4.60 GHz4.20 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)65W154W$192 US
Core i5-11500T6 /121.50 GHz3.90 GHz3.40 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores)35W92W$192 US
Core i5-11400(F)6 /122.60 GHz4.40 GHz4.20 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 24 EU (192 Cores)65W154W$182 US
$157 US (F)
Core i5-11400T6 /121.30 GHz3.70 GHz3.30 GHz12 MBIntel Xe 24 EU (192 Cores)35W92W$182 US

Coming to the benchmark, the CPU was tested at least three times on the same configuration that consists of a Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Master motherboard and 32 GB of DDR4-3600 MHz memory. A maximum single-threaded score of 1905 points & a multi-threaded score of 10994 points was seen during the tests. This puts the Intel Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake CPU as the fastest single-threaded chip ever created. Compared to AMD's fastest Zen 3 chip, the Ryzen 9 5950X, the Intel CPU is 13% faster.

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At the same time, it loses in multi-threaded tests due to a maximum of 8 cores and 16 threads whereas AMD's Ryzen 5000 family scales up to 16 cores and 32 threads which is twice as much as the Intel Rocket Lake flagship. The Intel Core i9-10900K scores an average of 1402 points in single-core and 10924 points in multi-core tests. Despite having more cores and threads, the 11900K, in fact, beats its predecessor with a slight performance advantage which is very impressive.

Intel Rocket Lake Core i9 / Core i5 CPU Geekbench 5 Benchmark Comparison (Single-Core)
Single-Core (1T)
0
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
0
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Intel Core i9-11900K (5.3 GHz OC)
1.9k
Intel Core i7-11700K (5.0 GHz OC)
1.8k
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
1.7k
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
1.7k
Intel Core i7-11700K (Stock)
1.6k
Intel Core i9-10900K
1.4k
Intel Core i7-10700K
1.3k
Intel Rocket Lake Core i9 / Core i5 CPU Geekbench 5 Benchmark Comparison (Multi-Core)
Multi-Core (nT)
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
24000
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
24000
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
14.1k
Intel Core i7-11700K (5.0 GHz OC)
11.3k
Intel Core i9-11900K (5.3 GHz OC)
11k
Intel Core i9-10900K
11k
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
10.4k
Intel Core i7-10700K
9k
Intel Core i7-11700K (Stock)
8.8k

However, we must remember that this is an overclocked result. Sure the Core i9-11900K can operate at 5.3 GHz at stock but that's only valid for a single-core. The chip here can be seen running at an all-core boost of 5.3 GHz which is 500 MHz higher than its standard all-core boost of 4.8 GHz. So the stock multi-core score would be lower but even then, not by a huge margin. But with that said, we have seen that the Rocket Lake CPU is very hard to chip to cool with the AIDA64 FPU stress test pushing it to 98C even while using a 360mm AIO liquid cooler.

While this is a nice showcase for Intel, do note that the Rocket Lake CPUs won't be hitting retail till late March 2021. This puts them close to AMD's next answer which should be either in the form of an enhanced Zen 3+ 'Warhol' or a Zen 4 based next-generation Ryzen lineup. Intel also plans to get its 12th Gen 'Alder Lake' Desktop CPU lineup out by 2H 2021 or Q3 2021 which means that Rocket Lake CPUs will be replaced within 1 or 2 quarters, giving them an even shorter lifespan than Kaby Lake which was also replaced by Coffee Lake CPUs a few quarters later.

News Source: Videocardz

Hassan Mujtaba Photo

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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