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Intel’s 11th gen desktop processor lineup will feature both Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S “refresh” CPUs


The full list of Intel’s 11th Gen Rocket Lake and Comet Lake “Refresh” desktop CPUs was leaked recently by a Chinese tech news outlet, ijiandao coming via @Harukaze5719. The outlet also reportedly shared the general specifications for both the CPU families which are apparently going to launch under the same 11th-Gen moniker.

Apparently, the 11th Gen Core processors will consist of Rocket Lake-S SKUs at the higher-end, but it will use “refreshed” Comet Lake-S SKUs on the lower-end of stack.

The Intel 11th generation lineup includes 13 Rocket Lake/RKL and a total of 13 Comet Lake refresh Desktop CPUs. As per the source Rocket Lake lineup will feature the core i9, i7 & i5 variants, while the Comet Lake Refresh Desktop CPUs will come in Core i3, Pentium & Celeron variants.

We already know that 11th Gen Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU lineup is going to be based on the Cypress Cove core architecture, but the Comet Lake Refresh Desktop CPUs will be based on the refined Skylake architecture. We would be getting a refresh for the dual-core and quad-core SKUs.

Above all, Rocket Lake will, at last, bring PCIe 4.0 support to an Intel mainstream platform. For more details and specs regarding the RKL CPU lineup please kindly refer to this article.

According to the Chinese publication, the Rocket Lake Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs will use the same core configuration: 8 cores, with 16 threads. Aside from TDP (thermal design power), operating clocks are going to be the biggest differentiator between the processors.

The Core i9 series will feature three SKUs: 11900K, 11900, and 11900T, whereas the Core i7-11700K, core i7-11700 and Core i7-11700T will fall under the i7 SKU category. Both the i9 and i7 SKUs would offer 16MB of cache and Intel’s latest Gen12 Xe-LP GPU with 32 Execution Units.

Intel Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S lineup-1

Here is the list of the main Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs:

  • Core i9-11900K
  • Core i9-11900
  • Core i9-11900T
  • Core i7-11700K
  • Core i7-11700
  • Core i7-11700T
  • Core i5-11600K
  • Core i5-11600
  • Core i5-11600T
  • Core i5-11500
  • Core i5-11500T
  • Core i5-11400
  • Core i5-11400T

Coming to the TDP (thermal design power), the unlocked K series SKUs will feature a base PL1 TDP value of 125W, while the non-K SKUs will feature a TDP of 65W. The ‘T’ series variants which are the lower TDP SKUs will come with a base power envelope of only 35W.

On the other hand, the Core i5 parts will retain the 6 core, 12-thread configuration with 12MB of L3 cache. The 11600 and 11500 series will both offer 32 Xe Graphics GPU cores, while the 11400 series will be limited to 24 EUs.

Intel Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S lineup-2

Moving on to the Comet Lake “refresh” lineup, Intel is repositioning its enhanced Skylake architecture for the mainstream and budget CPU market. The lineup will include the following 13 SKUs:

  • Core i3-11100
  • Core i3-11100T
  • Core i3-11300
  • Core i3-11300T
  • Core i3-11320
  • Pentium G6420
  • Pentium G6420T
  • Pentium G6520
  • Pentium G6250T
  • Pentium G6220
  • Celeron G5930
  • Celeron G5930T
  • Celeron G5950

The Comet Lake Refresh chips will retain the same core and thread specifications, albeit with higher operating clocks. For the Core i3 models, we can expect clock speed improvements that span from 200 MHz to 300 MHz, while the budget entry-level Pentium and Celeron parts will only get limited clock speed uplift between 100 MHz to 200 MHz.

Intel Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S lineup-3Intel Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S lineup-4

The Core i3 models will feature 4 cores and 8 threads but all variants except the Core i3-11100 series will feature 8MB of L3 cache, instead of 6MB of L3 cache. The Pentium CPUs on the other hand will feature 2 cores, 4 threads, while the Celeron lineup will get just 2 cores with no multi-threading support. These chips will also carry 4MB of L3 cache.

The Core i3 and Pentium SKUs will feature the Intel UHD 630 graphics engine with 24 EUs, while the Celeron SKUs will get Intel UHD 610 graphics with 12 EUs.

More importantly, whether it is Rocket Lake or Comet Lake Refresh, these new processors will work fine on current LGA1200 motherboards supporting the Intel 400-series chipset.

Nevertheless, according to Weixin, a Chinese news outlet, Intel will also introduce the 500-series motherboards that are purpose-built for the Rocket Lake CPU lineup. The publication claims that Intel might be releasing new Z590, B560, and H510 chipsets via its board partners before the Rocket Lake launch on January 11.

If this is true, then the motherboard release will coincide directly with CES 2021, which also begins on January 11.

But regardless, Intel’s 400 chipset boards like the current Z490 should also be forwards compatible with Rocket Lake including having PCI-E 4.0 gen support as well, which these CPUs will start supporting. Thus far, there is no solid evidence that Intel will also release graphics-less F-series CPU models, lacking integrated graphics support (iGPU-disabled SKUs).

Unfortunately, the clock frequencies of all these SKUs are yet to be confirmed, but @momomo_us spotted some more information about the Core i7-11700 and the Core i5-11400 models, respectively. The Core i7-11700 CPU seems to come with a 2.5GHz base clock, which boosts up to 4.9GHz, while the i5-11400 has a 2.6GHz base clock, with a boost clock value of 4.4GHz.

Compared to previous 10th Gen Core predecessors, the base clocks are slightly lower, but the turbo clocks have been increased by 0.1GHz.

Intel Rocket Lake-S and Comet Lake-S lineup-6

With Rocket Lake-S Intel touts a “double-digit” percentage IPC performance improvement compared to the previous 10th Gen lineup of CPUs, as a measure of efficiency. Graphics power is also said to be 50 percent higher, though absolute performance figures and benchmark results are yet to be shared.

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Stay tuned for more!