Written by Metal Messiah
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding INTEL’s planned CPU roadmap and the architecture which is going to power the next-gen Core Gaming, mainstream and HEDT CPUs. We already know that next-gen COMET Lake-S CPUs are going to release later this year, and they are also going to offer some compatibility with the upcoming Z490 LGA 1200 socket motherboards, which are going to be hit the shelves soon.
Now, sources over at WccfTech are confirming that the 11’th Gen Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs are also going to be compatible with the upcoming Z490 chipset and LGA 1200 socket motherboards. Speaking of next-gen INTEL processors and platform, GIGABYTE just recently confirmed that their Z490 AORUS lineup of motherboards are going to support limited PCI-E 4.0 capabilities on Comet lake, which seems obvious since the Intel’s incoming 10th generation Comet Lake-S series of processors may not fully support this new PCIe 4.0 standard.
Since hardware-level support for PCIe 4.0 is already built-in these Z490 boards, only Rocket Lake CPUs are going to offer full compatibility of the PCIe Gen 4.0 standard. PCIe- 4.0 has been an AMD-only feature within the consumer market till now, but things might change with the launch of Rocket lake-S CPUs.
Rocket lake-S CPUs are going to support the PCIe 4.0 standard and interface, and as per some rumors Rocket Lake -S might launch at the end of this year, or early 2021. But this places Intel’s Z490 platform longevity in a difficult position, since INTEL won’t be supporting even the LGA 1200 socket for long. LGA 1200 based motherboards are probably not going to stay for a long time, as Z490 is only expected to support Comet Lake-S and Rocket Lake-S CPU series, while Alder Lake-S is already rumored to feature the LGA1700 socket.
For GAMING perspective, both Comet Lake and Rocket Lake are relevant for gamers looking to upgrade their systems, and since AMD has been quite dominant recently with the release of Ryzen CPUs, things are going to get a bit rough on Intel’s side unless INTEL goes for some aggressive pricing policy.
The Rocket lake S desktop platform is going to be based on an advanced 14nm process node. Not much is known about these CPUs, but one thing important for gamers and enthusiasts would be the 20 CPU PCIe 4.0 Lanes support on these processors.
There is one good news with regards to this new LGA 1200 socket and platform though. Noctua, an Austrian hardware manufacturer of CPU coolers and computer fans primarily for the gaming enthusiast market, has just confirmed that some of its current CPU coolers are compatible with the LGA 1200 socket motherboard, so this is one thing gamers need not worry about.
Cooler compatibility seems possible since the LGA 1200 socket has the same dimensions as LGA 1151 socket (37.5mm x 37.5mm), so some CPUs coolers are going to work. Though make a note that Comet Lake is NOT electrically/mechanically compatible with Coffee Lake-based motherboards, due to the shift in the socket keying.
One block diagram highlighting the technical aspect and specs of the Rocket Lake S CPU platform. Image courtesy of Videocardz.
As with any rumor or leak, I suggest you take Wccftech’s article with a grain of salt, unless we get some official info and confirmation from INTE regarding Rocket Lake-S.
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Happy to see METAL MESSIAH writing an article here. As usual, well done MM 😉
i totally agree.
Thanks Maxim ! But no, in my opinion this article isn’t fully perfect though. I made some typing errors, and I didn’t properly word some text as well, lol. Just wrote this casually though.
Nonetheless, thanks for your feedback and support. 😀
By the way, good to see you comment here after a long time. Being busy these days ?
Considering the quality of news sometimes, you did more than good job lol 😛
Anyways, i still use PCI E 2 lol. Will just go to 4 and get the best CPU i can get (when i finally want to pull the trigger)
It looks like “s_fnx” just got butt-hurt & pi**ed after reading your comment, as evident from his down vote, Lol !
He is just frustrated antisemite a-hole i blocked him ages ago
check ur brains before calling anyone derp.
So does this mean short backwards compatible even with 1200 socket ?
Yup
why does intel use LAKE in each and every gen of their processors ? what’s up this “lake” ? FFS they should give it a different naming scheme. This sounds redundant.
Sky lake
Cascade Lake
Kaby Lake.
Coffee Lake.
Rocket Lake.
ALDER lake……..and the list goes on. what’s next SOY LAKE, lol ??
It’s a nanometer generation code name. Lake is Intel’s 14nm codename.
Like their competitor copying 3/5/7 names? 😛
It’s a nanometer generation code name. Lake is Intel’s 14nm codename.
really ?? I didn’t know about this.
Yes. Sandy & Ivy Bridge is 32nm, Haswell is 22nm, Broadwell is kinda weird because that was the first nanometer node shrink(14nm) they did that they didn’t change the name, but then they started doing ‘Lake’ when 14nm got cheap enough to manufacture.
I like how technical your articles are
shamelessly up voting your own pathetic comment, ROFL ! smh
your comments are contradictory. at one time you abuse john, and now Metal. why don’t u write an article instead if you are smart enough, eh ??
i am so happy with my 3600 and 5700 xt . never before in my life i had so smooth gameplay . and i am happy that i support a company who deliver new tech .
That’s a pretty good AMD setup though ! Even my next big CPU upgrade is going to be ZEN 3/4.
On which Monitor/screen are you gaming, 1080p/60Hz, 1440p, or 4K (ouch) !!
Standard 1080p 60hz. Maybe upgrade a 144hz later MAYYBE….
OK…..Even I’m on 1080p/60 hz screen, LOL..Using an RX 480 GPU paired with an Intel i7 4790 non-K CPU.
Wow i did not realize it was an article written by metal messiah!
Congratulations man your professionalism in sharing news has finally paid off!
I wish you good luck in every future endeavors!
Thank you for your kind words and support ! MUCH appreciated. Lol….
who cares about cpu cooler compabilities if you need new motherboard.
My next build(hopefully in fall) is going to be Zen-based!
F*** INTEL!