A new entry of Intel's Rocket Lake Desktop CPU has been spotted which shows an 8 core and 16 thread chip. The Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPU family will be branded under the 11th Generation Core banner and will feature a brand new core and graphics architecture for the desktop segment.
Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPU With 8 Cores and 16 Threads Spotted - Clocks of Up To 4.3 GHz & Xe Graphics
The Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPU spotted within the Geekbench 5 database (via TUM_APISAK) looks very similar to the previous entry we got to see in 3DMark a whole month back. There's no official name for this particular chip yet but we do get to see its specifications which are very interesting. For starters, the Rocket Lake CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads. The Rocket Lake CPUs are based on a brand new core architecture that is post-Skylake but there have been reports that it could be a hybrid between the Sunny Cove (Ice Lake) and Willow Cove (Tiger Lake) cores.
The whole CPU is a Frankenstein of a design since it will be making use of a 14nm process node while backporting 10nm architectures to 14nm. The CPU will also come equipped with an Xe GPU which we will talk about in a bit. As for the clock speeds, the CPU features a base frequency of 3.2 GHz and a maximum boost frequency of 4.3 GHz. Here we can see the similarities with the 3DMark entry.
As far as cache goes, the CPU retains 512 KB of cache per core and 16 MB of L3 cache. This points out to cache design similar to Sunny Cove since Willow Cove cores feature a heavily upgraded L2 cache with 1.25 MB per core. Coming to the GPU part, we see the Gen 12 graphics chip listed here which decodes to the Xe graphics architecture. The Xe GPU on the Rocket Lake CPU features a total of 32 Execution Units that are clocked at 1150 MHz. Other interesting features of the platform is that it made use of 16 GB DDR4 memory and that's about it.
The performance was measured in the OpenCL benchmark so its not the CPU cores that are being pushed here but rather the GPU core. The OpenCL score is reported at 6266 points under Windows 10. For comparison, a stock clocked Core i7-10700K with UHD Graphics 630 chips that features 24 Execution Units with a clock speed of 1200 MHz scores 6360 points. Once again, like the previous benchmarks, this ES chip is definitely not tuned and optimized as a final retail chip should be. We also saw poor results with the same chip in the previous benchmarks and same is the case here.
Since Rocket Lake is planned for later this year, my guess is that Intel is still prioritizing its mobility Tiger Lake lineup which ships out in a few months before moving to final driver and optimizations delivery on the Rocket Lake desktop platform.
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. So expect more information on Rocket Lake CPUs once Intel has released its 11th Gen Tiger Lake mobility family.
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 |
| 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 | 2026 |
| 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 |
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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