The Intel Core i7-11700 was a desktop processor with 8 cores, launched in March 2021, at an MSRP of $323. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Rocket Lake-S architecture with Socket 1200. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 16 threads. Core i7-11700 has 16 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.5 GHz by default, but can boost up to 4.9 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i7-11700 on a 14 nm production process, the transistor count is unknown. The multiplier is locked on Core i7-11700, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 65 W, the Core i7-11700 consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. Intel's processor supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 3200 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the computer, Core i7-11700 uses a PCI-Express Gen 4 connection. This processor features the UHD Graphics 750 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-11700, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel has added support for the newer AVX2 and AVX-512 instructions, too.