Intel 11th-Gen Rocket Lake, Comet Lake Refresh CPUs Specs Emerge From Overseas

Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake Processor
Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake Processor (Image credit: ijiandao)

Chinese news outlet ijiandao (via Harukaze5719) has reportedly shared the general specifications for Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake and Comet Lake Refresh processors. Apparently, both families will live under the same 11th-Gen moniker.

Rocket Lake, which is the more interesting lineup out of the two, will arrive furnished with Intel's 14nm Cypress Cove cores and Xe graphics. Like AMD, Intel has promised double-digit instruction per cycle (IPC) uplifts. The first leaked benchmark submissions have revealed that there might be some truth to Intel's word. However, Rocket Lake's multi-core performance remains to be seen since the new chips will max out at eight cores, a big regression compared to Comet Lake that pushed the maximum configuration to 10 cores.

Above all, Rocket Lake will, at last, bring PCIe 4.0 support to an Intel mainstream platform. Intel is last to the party since PCIe 4.0 support was already present in AMD's previous-gen Ryzen 3000 (codename Matisse) processors that debuted one year ago.

Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake Specifications

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ProcessorCores / ThreadsL3 Cache (MB)Graphics (EUs)TDP (W)
Core i9-11900K8 / 161632125
Core i9-119008 / 16163265
Core i9-11900T8 / 16163235
Core i7-11700K8 / 161632125
Core i7-117008 / 16163265
Core i7-11700T8 / 16163235
Core i5-11600K6 / 121232125
Core i5-116006 / 12123265
Core i5-11600T6 / 12123235
Core i5-115006 / 12123265
Core i5-11500T6 / 12123235
Core i5-114006 / 12122465
Core i5-11400T6 / 12122435

According to the Chinese publication, the Rocket Lake Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs will use the same recipe: eight cores, 16 threads, and 16MB of L3 cache. Aside from TDP (thermal design power), operating clocks will be the biggest differentiator between the processors. Therefore, you can purchase an unlocked Core i7, and if you're lucky, overclock it to the same specifications as the more expensive Core i9 model. On the other hand, the Core i5 parts will retain the six-core, 12-thread configuration with 12MB of L3 cache. 

Graphics-wise, the Rocket Lake processors wield Intel's Xe solution, but the number of Execution Units (EUs) will vary according to the processor. If the news outlet's information is accurate, the Core i9, Core i7, and the majority of the Core i5 lot will arrive with 32 EUs: The Core i5-11400 and Core Core i5-11400T are the only models limited to 24 EUs.

Thus far, there is no evidence that Intel will release graphics-less F-series models.

Intel 11th Generation Comet Lake Refresh Specifications

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ProcessorCores / ThreadsL3 Cache (MB)Graphics (EUs)TDP (W)
Core i3-111004 / 862465
Core i3-11100T4 / 862435
Core i3-113004 / 882465
Core i3-11300T4 / 882435
Core i3-113204 / 882465

According to the publication, Intel might not release any Rocket Lake Core i3, Pentium, or Celeron models. The publication claims that the chipmaker will simply rewarm the existing Comet Lake silicon. As a result, the Comet Lake Refresh chips will retain the same core and thread specifications, albeit the higher operating clocks. For the Core i3 models, we can expect improvements that span from 200 MHz to 300 MHz, while the entry-level Pentium and Celeron parts will only get a limited treatment spanning between 100 MHz to 200 MHz.

There are mentions of two different graphics solutions for Comet Lake Refresh. The UHD Graphics 630 engine will offer 24 EUs, while the UHD Graphics 610 will be restricted to 12 EUs.

Whether it be Rocket Lake or Comet Lake Refresh, the processors will work fine on current LGA1200 motherboards with the Intel 400-series chipset. In the case of Rocket Lake, some motherboards already come equipped with all the necessary circuitry for PCIe 4.0, so there's no urgency to upgrade. Nevertheless, Intel will likely introduce the 500-series motherboards that are purpose-built for Rocket Lake. Regardless, it doesn't seem like a good idea to invest in a dying platform with Rocket Lake being an interim product before Alder Lake, which demands the new LGA1700 socket.                  

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • hotaru251
    someday intel will give more L3 cache.....how long has it been since they increased it last?
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    Ah yes, less cores. Exactly what we want.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    NightHawkRMX said:
    Ah yes, less cores. Exactly what we want.
    According to steam, about 90% of the market has fewer than 8 cores and 1% has more than 8 cores. Those aren't numbers indicating anyone is clamoring for more than 8 cores. I have yet to see any compelling evidence that even enthusiasts get any tangible benefit either now or in the next few years for more than 16 threads. I am far more interested in faster cores than more cores at this point.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    There are plenty of workloads that benefit from it.
    Sure, it might not benefit a lot of people, but that doesn't mean you aren't getting less for your money and it hurts performance in some cases.
    Reply
  • JayNor
    "Intel is last to the party since PCIe 4.0 support was already present in AMD's previous-gen Ryzen 3000 (codename Matisse) processors that debuted one year ago."

    Intel introduced PCIE4 in Tiger Lake laptop chips. Are those not considered mainstream?
    Reply
  • JayNor
    Intel also introduced PCIE4 in their Stratix 10 DX chips in 2019.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    Yes but no.

    A) tiger lake is mobile not desktop
    B) tiger lake has a whopping 4 pcie 4 lanes. Good enough for storage which is the primary use of PCIe 4, but it doesn't seem like a proper implementation to me.
    C) tiger lake is much newer than zen 2, so yes, Intel is late to the party.
    Reply
  • FakeMike
    JayNor said:
    "Intel is last to the party since PCIe 4.0 support was already present in AMD's previous-gen Ryzen 3000 (codename Matisse) processors that debuted one year ago."

    Intel introduced PCIE4 in Tiger Lake laptop chips. Are those not considered mainstream?
    Tiger Like is a laptop CPU. This article is about PC CPUs.
    Reply
  • Conahl
    spongiemaster said:
    According to steam
    yea, cause everyone that plays games, uses steam.
    Reply
  • neojack
    spongiemaster said:
    According to steam, about 90% of the market has fewer than 8 cores and 1% has more than 8 cores. Those aren't numbers indicating anyone is clamoring for more than 8 cores. I have yet to see any compelling evidence that even enthusiasts get any tangible benefit either now or in the next few years for more than 16 threads. I am far more interested in faster cores than more cores at this point.

    ahah, im sure i can find posts from 2-3 years ago, from people like you, saying 4 cores 8t are enough, and the 8c/16t offered by the 1700/2700 will be useless.

    guess what, now the 8 cores are still enthousiats-class, while the 7700k is considered entry-level, equals the gen10 i3 and ryzen 3100


    as long as speeds are >4ghz, more cores are a great way to futureproofing a build
    Reply