AMD Ryzen 5000 processors are on the way, landing in-store on November 5. Since the October 8 reveal, though, Intel has been pretty quiet, even though its hold on the single-core performance crown is threatened. However, Intel has finally teased a bit more information on its 11th-generation Rocket Lake-S processors.
We'd first heard official word of Team Blue's next-generation desktop processors back in September 2020, when the company launched a Medium post where it claimed the Intel 11th-generation Rocket Lake-S processors were going to come in 2021.
Beyond the reassurance that these next-generation processors would include PCIe Gen 4 compatibility, it was very light on details.
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However, Intel has just released a tiny sliver of information about these processors ahead of the launch of the AMD Ryzen 5000 processors. One of the key pieces of info is that the new Rocket Lake-S processors are based on the Cypress Cove architecture, which is essentially Ice Lake with Intel Xe integrated graphics.
That means Rocket Lake-S will mark the first desktop processor launch from Intel that will move away from the now-ancient Skylake architecture.
With this shift to a new CPU architecture, Intel is promising a double-digit IPC performance improvement. But, with AMD providing the same level of IPC gains each generation only time will tell if that will be enough for Intel to keep its single-core performance crown. We can't wait to hear more information about these chips in a full reveal, especially because Ice Lake was such a power efficient architecture on mobile.
Until then, we just have to sit and wait. Maybe Intel will have a big CES Rocket Lake-S show to reveal all the mysterious information. And, who knows? Maybe this will show Intel starting to claw back its leadership position in the desktop market.
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