Intel Teases 'First Look' at Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake CPUs During GDC Showcase

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By Nathaniel Mott
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But a first look for whom?

Stock image of engineer holding chip
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Intel may offer more information about its upcoming products soon. The company's hosting a session at GDC Showcase that promises to offer a "first look at the new Tiger Lake H-series notebook and Rocket Lake desktop processors."

It's not clear what exactly Intel plans to share at GDC Showcase, which is essentially the pre-show for Game Developers Conference 2021, especially since we got our "first looks" at Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake in September and October 2020.

We already know Tiger Lake is supposed to introduce a new ultraportable gaming segment; that models with four, six, and eight cores will be available; and that Intel claims these processors will outperform AMD's Ryzen 4000-series "Renoir" chips.

Intel's also claimed that manufacturers have already built more than 150 products around Tiger Lake-H processors, and even though the line is supposed to be limited to notebooks, ASRock's already planning to use the chips in several NUC models.

We also know Rocket Lake is supposed to help Intel claim more spots on our list of the best CPUs with a claimed peak boost speed of 5.3GHz, the introduction of the Cypress Cove architecture, and the inclusion of 12th-gen Xe LP Graphics.

GDC Showcase might have been a good time for Intel to announce Rocket Lake retail availability, but the company's already said enthusiasts should be able to get their hands on the new CPUs on March 30. (Assuming they haven't already bought some.)

But that doesn't mean Intel will show up to GDC Showcase empty-handed. We're still awaiting official specs for eight-core Tiger Lake models, for example, and so far the only information we have about Rocket Lake pricing has come from retailer leaks.

So far as what Intel's said about its plans: The session will purportedly help viewers "learn how Intel empowers software developers with the latest tools and technology helping to make the best gaming and content creation experiences possible."

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

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6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    Unless something significant changes between pre-launch reviews and launch, Rocket Lake will be a somewhat tough recommendation between much less extra performance per core than expected and setting new power draw records. Intel appears to have hit the practical performance ceiling for 14nm+++++.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    I'm not expecting any miracle firmware this close to release. As is usually the case, power usage for typically computing isn't going to be that big a deal, but the peaks the 11700k is showing makes you wonder what the 11900k is going to do. Unless Intel did some insane binning, the 11900k is going to push well into OC'd Intel HEDT power usage territory with just regular boosting.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    spongiemaster said:
    the peaks the 11700k is showing makes you wonder what the 11900k is going to do.
    It going to be the same CPU, same amount of cores, just 100-200Mhz faster at same conditions due to the binning and about $100 more expensive, the only reason intel will even release it is because why wouldn't they take $100 more from people for the same thing.

    Each gen has a maximum that is written in stone, it's PL4 and you can't go over that no matter how much reviewers are going to try.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    TerryLaze said:
    It going to be the same CPU, same amount of cores, just 100-200Mhz faster at same conditions due to the binning and about $100 more expensive, the only reason intel will even release it is because why wouldn't they take $100 more from people for the same thing.

    Each gen has a maximum that is written in stone, it's PL4 and you can't go over that no matter how much reviewers are going to try.
    It's pretty clear, the 11700k is already way out of the efficiency sweet spot for the node it's using. An additional 2-300Mhz is not going to pull the same power. People buying an 11900k are also likely to try and push it beyond stock. Whatever pl4 is is irrelevant as it isn't low enough to prevent people from frying their CPU's. Jayz2cents did an overclocking video for one of Intel's 18 core HEDT CPU's and managed to get system power usage up to 750W running CPU benchmarks. That would put CPU usage past 500W's when stock would be low 200's He wasn't alone. Below is GamersNexus. 248W stock for 7960x, 486W overclocked.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    spongiemaster said:
    It's pretty clear, the 11700k is already way out of the efficiency sweet spot for the node it's using. An additional 2-300Mhz is not going to pull the same power.
    Look up silicon lottery, for both ryzen and intel, higher tier CPUs have better silicon so they get higher clocks with the same power and or less vcore.
    spongiemaster said:
    People buying an 11900k are also likely to try and push it beyond stock. Whatever pl4 is is irrelevant as it isn't low enough to prevent people from frying their CPU's.
    What are you not getting, PL4 is the absolute max you can not go above ,it's hardcoded into the CPU and the review already showed what it is. Overclocking will give higher clocks with that same power limit or the same clocks with less power since the mobo just pumps all the power into the socket that the socket can take while an overclock will only push as much as needed.

    Yes HEDT had even better silicon and server has even better silicon yet, they are made with the best silicon possible.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    TerryLaze said:
    What are you not getting, PL4 is the absolute max you can not go above ,it's hardcoded into the CPU and the review already showed what it is.
    Ok, what was it?
    Reply