Intel Rocket Lake-S has the first benchmarks

Intel Rocket Lake-S

10th generation Intel Comet Lake-S processors are still hard to find in Italian e-shops, but we are already talking about Rocket Lake-S. The eleventh generation of Intel Core processors will differ from the Palm Cove architecture of the Skylake family, which has been "refreshed" for five years now. Today, the well-known leaker TUM_APISAK discovered the board of an alleged engineering sample (ES) of a Rocket Lake-S processor.

Intel 11th Gen Rocket Lake-S 8-Core CPU

The test was conducted on 3dmark: the CPU has 8 cores/16 threads and boasts a base frequency of 3.2ghz and a maximum of 4.3ghz. The motherboard (a reference validation platform) identifies it as a Rocket Lake-S processor. The chip was tested with Fire Strike and Time Spy, scoring 1746 and 605 points respectively. The scores are not exceptional, but it is still an ES, so it is too early to come to conclusions.

Unfortunately, that is all. The new Rocket Lake-S processors will be produced once again with the 14nm manufacturing process, but with a new microarchitecture (it is not yet clear whether Willow Cove or Sunny Cove) that will ensure improvements to the IPC (Instructions for Clock)And if they can reach the same frequencies as the Comet Lake-S chips, they could give the Ryzen 4000 a run for their money for Q4 this year.

To date, the plans of the blue giant are unknown: it is rumoured that the microarchitecture of the Rocket Lake-S solutions will be a backporting of Willow Cove at 14nm. However, we know that these processors will benefit from a 10nm igpu based on the new graphics architecture Xe (Gen 12, in this case). In addition, these chips will be compatible with the new Z490 motherboards, and many of them are Pcie 4.0 ready, so consumers can save quite a bit of money by opting for the latter when (and if) the Z590 chipset based counterparts come out.

Intel Rocket Lake-S engineering sample spotted on 3DMark

Rocket Lake-S will also be the company’s latest 14nm CPU family and will be replaced by Alder Lake-S, Team Blue’s first 10nm desktop processors. Ultimately, this discovery is evidence that Intel is already testing the new solutions of eleventh generation, but according to the latest rumors these may not arrive by the end of 2020: despite the fact that the Skus were planned for Q4, a slide leaked on the ROG Forum indicates that the current year will not reserve news other than the current Comet Lake-S, with the Rocket Lake-S probably postponed to Q1 2021.

That said, if you want to buy a powerful CPU now, you can consult our guide to buying the best Cpus of 2020, where you will find the most suitable tips for your needs.