Today is the official launch of Intel’s 11th Generation Core processor household, given the interior identify ‘Rocket Lake’. Rocket Lake showcases new efficiency positive factors for Intel within the desktop area, with a uncooked clock-for-clock efficiency uplift in plenty of key workloads.
In order to perform this, Intel has retrofitted its 10nm CPU and GPU designs again to 14nm, as a result of solely 14nm can obtain the frequency required. In trade, the brand new processors to get this efficiency run sizzling, price extra for Intel to supply, have two fewer cores on the excessive finish, however prospects additionally get PCIe 4.zero on Intel’s mainstream desktop platform for the primary time.
In our assessment as we speak, we shall be going over Intel’s new {hardware}, why it exists, and the way it performs, focusing particularly on Intel’s new flagship, the Core i9-11900Okay, which has eight cores and might enhance as much as 5.three GHz
Intel’s Rocket Lake: Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5
The new Intel 11th Gen Core desktop processor household will begin with Core i5, with six cores and twelve threads, by way of to Core i7 and Core i9, each with eight cores and sixteen threads. All processors will help DDR4-3200 natively, and supply 20 PCIe 4.zero lanes in supported motherboards – these lanes will allow graphics and storage direct from the processor, sometimes in an x16/x4 or x8/x8/x4 mixture.
Both the Core i9 and Core i7 this time round have the identical core depend – usually the Core i9 would supply an apparent distinction, resembling extra cores, however for this technology the distinction is extra delicate: Core i9 will supply larger frequencies and Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB). The Core i9-Okay and i9-KF can even function Intel’s new Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT). We’ll go over Intel’s Turbo nomenclature later within the article.
| Intel 11th Gen Core Rocket Lake Core i9 |
|||||||
| AnandTech | Cores Threads |
Base Freq |
1T Peak |
nT Turbo |
TDP (W) |
IGP UHD |
Price 1ku |
| i9-11900Okay | 8 / 16 | 3500 | 5300 | 4700 | 125 | 750 | $539 |
| i9-11900KF | 8 / 16 | 3500 | 5300 | 4700 | 125 | – | $513 |
| i9-11900 | 8 / 16 | 2500 | 5200 | 4600 | 65 | 750 | $439 |
| i9-11900F | 8 / 16 | 2500 | 5200 | 4600 | 65 | – | $422 |
| i9-11900T | 8 / 16 | 1500 | 4900 | 3700 | 35 | 750 | $439 |
At the highest of the stack is the Core i9-11900Okay. Intel has set the 1000-unit pricing of the Core i9-11900Okay at $539. Note that Intel does this 1k unit pricing for OEMs, and the ultimate retail worth is usually $10-$25 larger, however within the case of the Core i9-11900Okay, customers are at the moment taking a look at a $615 worth level at Newegg. This is effectively above AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X at $449 SEP (MSRP), which can be an 8-core processor, and past even the Ryzen 9 5900X at $549 SEP. Intel is stating that together with higher gaming efficiency, this processor additionally presents next-generation built-in graphics, help for brand new AI directions, and enhanced media help for the worth differential.
The Core i9-11900Okay is the spotlight processor of as we speak’s assessment, and it has a base frequency of three.5 GHz, alongside a peak turbo of 5.three GHz in Thermal Velocity Boost mode, 5.2 GHz in any other case on the favored core, or 5.1 GHz on non-favored cores. The all-core frequency is 4.Eight GHz in TVB turbo mode, or 4.7 GHz in any other case, or it may well ‘float’ the turbo as much as 5.1 GHz when ABT is enabled, nevertheless ABT is disabled by default.
The solely processor not getting TVB within the Core i9 household is the i9-11900T, which is the 35 W member of the household. This processor has 35 W on the field as a result of its base frequency is 1.5 GHz, though it should turbo as much as 4.9 GHz single core and three.7 GHz all-core. These T processors sometimes find yourself in OEM programs and mini-PCs which usually tend to strictly observe Intel’s turbo suggestions.
All Core i9 processors will help…
