Intel will debut its 500-series desktop motherboard chipset series with its 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors. A leaked alleged roadmap slide possibly from a presentation targeting an Intel ecosystem partner, reveals that the 500-series chipset will debut no sooner than March 2021, which could also mean "Rocket Lake-S" chips themselves could launch around that time, since Intel tends to launch new processor generations alongside new chipsets that are compatible out of the box. Even the 9th Generation "Coffee Lake Refresh" was accompanied by new Z390 and B365 chipsets. That said, Socket LGA1200 motherboards based on the existing 400-series chipset are expected to be compatible with "Rocket Lake-S," with BIOS updates. 500-series chipset motherboards might also support older 10th Gen Core "Comet Lake-S" processors.

The roadmap slide reveals that "Rocket Lake-S" could debut with strictly client-segment chipsets, such as the Z590 targeting overclockers, H570 targeting premium desktops, B560 targeting mid-range desktops, and H510 for entry-level desktops. Later in April, Intel could debut the Q570 chipset for commercial desktops, and W580 for workstations. What sets the 500-series chipset apart from the 400-series, appears to be a standardization of PCI-Express Gen 4, at least for the main PEG slot. Certain premium 400-series chipset motherboards already come with preparation for PCIe Gen 4 PEG. The "Rocket Lake-S" processor sees the first IPC increase by Intel on the desktop platform in five years, as the 14 nm chips are expected to feature new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores, which are a back-port of "Willow Cove" for the older 14 nm process. The chips could also feature a Gen12 Xe iGPU.

NVIDIA at its GeForce "Ampere" launch event announced the RTX IO technology. Storage is the weakest link in a modern computer, from a performance standpoint, and SSDs have had a transformational impact. With modern SSDs leveraging PCIe, consumer storage speeds are now bound to grow with each new PCIe generation doubling per-lane IO bandwidth. PCI-Express Gen 4 enables 64 Gbps bandwidth per direction on M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD has already implemented it across its Ryzen desktop platform, Intel has it on its latest mobile platforms, and is expected to bring it to its desktop platform with "Rocket Lake." While more storage bandwidth is always welcome, the storage processing stack (the task of processing ones and zeroes to the physical layer), is still handled by the CPU. With rise in storage bandwidth, the IO load on the CPU rises proportionally, to a point where it can begin to impact performance. Microsoft sought to address this emerging challenge with the DirectStorage API, but NVIDIA wants to build on this.

According to tests by NVIDIA, reading uncompressed data from an SSD at 7 GB/s (typical max sequential read speeds of client-segment PCIe Gen 4 M.2 NVMe SSDs), requires the full utilization of two CPU cores. The OS typically spreads this workload across all available CPU cores/threads on a modern multi-core CPU. Things change dramatically when compressed data (such as game resources) are being read, in a gaming scenario, with a high number of IO requests. Modern AAA games have hundreds of thousands of individual resources crammed into compressed resource-pack files.

Intel on Thursday was hit by a massive data-breach, with someone on Twitter posting links to an archive that contains the dump of the breach - a 20-gigabyte treasure chest that includes - but not limited to - Intel Management Engine bringup guides, flashing tools, samples; source code of Consumer Electronics Firmware Development Kit (CEFDK); silicon and FSP source packages for various platforms; an assortment of development and debugging tools; Simics simulation for "Rocket Lake S" and other platforms; a wealth of roadmaps and other documents; shcematics, documents, tools, and firmware for "Tiger Lake," Intel Trace Hub + decoder files for various Intel ME versions; "Elkhart Lake" silicon reference and sample code; Bootguard SDK, "Snow Ridge" simulator; design schematics of various products; etc.

The most fascinating part of the leak is the person points to the possibility of Intel laying backdoors in its code and designs - a very tinfoil hat though likely possibility in the post-9/11 world. Intel in a comment to Tom's Hardware denied that its security apparatus had been compromised, and instead blamed someone with access to this information for downloading the data. "We are investigating this situation. The information appears to come from the Intel Resource and Design Center, which hosts information for use by our customers, partners and other external parties who have registered for access. We believe an individual with access downloaded and shared this data," a company spox said.

Screenshots of a SiSoft SANDRA database submission of an alleged Intel 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor machine confirms that the processor introduces PCI-Express gen 4.0 support to Intel's mainstream desktop platform. PCIe gen 4.0 has been rather limited in Intel's product stack, with only 10th Gen Core "Ice Lake-U" and "Ice Lake-Y" mobile processors supporting it so far. The upcoming 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" mobile processors will support it, too. Intel's HEDT product line, currently led by "Cascade Lake-X," as well as the server side of things, let by "Cooper Lake," are limited to PCIe gen 3.0. The SANDRA screenshot shows the "Rocket Lake-S" powered machine running a PCI-Express 4.0 NVMe SSD.

According to alleged "Rocket Lake-S" + Intel 500-series chipset platform maps leaked to the web by VideoCardz, "Rocket Lake-S" will finally take forward strides in the area of I/O. The CPU socket puts out not just its usual PEG slot (16 lanes meant for PCI-Express graphics cards), but also a CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slot with 4 PCI-Express gen 4.0 lanes, much like Socket AM4 motherboards based on AMD X570 or B550 chipsets. What's more, Intel fattened the chipset bus with 8 lanes. While the bus is still DMI 3.0 (with PCI-Express gen 3.0 physical layer), 8 lanes mean a doubling in bandwidth compared to Intel 400-series chipsets (or older). The 500-series PCH itself will still be PCI-Express gen 3.0 based, putting out only gen 3.0 downstream PCIe lanes, unlike the AMD X570, which puts out gen 4.0 downstream general purpose lanes, and uses a PCI-Express 4.0 x4 pipe to the CPU. Quite a few Intel 400-series chipset motherboards have preparation for PCIe gen 4.0 PEG slot when paired with a "Rocket Lake-S" processor.

Intel's 11th Generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors in the LGA1200 package could come with clock speeds that are of the norm these days. Intel appears unwilling to dial down clock speeds in the wake of increased IPC with the new generation "Cypress Cove" CPU cores that drive these processors. Twitter handle "leakbench," which tracks interesting Geekbench results, fished out a database listing for a "Rocket Lake-S" engineering sample with clock speeds of 3.40 GHz base, and 5.00 GHz boost.

The listing has all the telltale signs of "Cypress Cove," such as 48 KB L1D cache, 512 KB per core L2 cache, and 16 MB shared L3 cache for this 8-core/16-thread chip. "Cypress Cove" is rumored to be to be a back-port of Intel's "Willow Cove" CPU core design from its original 10 nm+ node to the 14 nm++. VideoCardz compared this "Rocket Lake-S" ES benchmark result to that of a retail Core i7-10700K, and found its single-threaded performance to be roughly 6.35 percent higher despite a 200 MHz clock-speed deficit, although for some reason, its multi-threaded performance is trailing by over 15 percent.

Intel is struggling with its node development and it looks like next-generation consumer systems are going to be stuck on 14 nm for a bit more. Preparing for that, Intel will finally break free from Skylake-based architectures and launch something new. The replacement for the current Comet Lake generation is set to be called Rocket Lake and today we have obtained some more information about it. Thanks to popular hardware leaker rogame (_rogame), we know a few stuff about Rocket Lake. Starting off, it is known that Rocket Lake features the backport of 10 nm Willow Cove core, called Cypress Cove. That Cypress Cove is supposed to bring only 10% IPC improvements, according to the latest rumors.

With 10% IPC improvement the company will at least offer some more competitive product than it currently does, however, that should be much slower than 10 nm Tiger Lake processors which feature the original Willow Cove design. It shows that backporting of the design doesn't just bring loses of the node benefits like smaller design and less heat, but rather means that only a fraction of the performance can be extracted. Another point that rogame made is that Rocket Lake will run up to 5 GHz in boost, and it will run hot, which is expected.

Intel's silicon fabrication woes refuse to torment the company's product roadmaps, with the company disclosing in its Q2-2020 financial results release that the company's first CPUs built on the 7 nanometer silicon fabrication node are delayed by a year due to a further 6-month delay from prior expectations. The company will focus on getting its 10 nm node up to scale in the meantime.

The company mentioned that the 10 nm "Tiger Lake" mobile processor and "Ice Lake-SP" enterprise processor remains on-track for 2020. The company's 12th Generation Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors won't arrive before the second half of 2021. In the meantime, Intel will launch its 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake" processor on the 14 nm node, but with increased IPC from the new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores. Also in 2H-2021, the company will launch its "Sapphire Rapids" enterprise processors that come with next-gen connectivity and updated CPU cores.

In a clear sign of Intel's 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors being prepared to support the company's 400-series chipsets, including the entry-level H410, the Russian language manual of the company's Infinite 915 pre-built compact gaming desktop that uses an Intel H410 chipset motherboard. The manual references support for the 65 W TDP versions of "CML-S" (10th Gen "Comet Lake-S") and "RKL-S" (11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S") processors in the manual. Besides increased IPC (single-threaded performance) riding on the new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores that are a backport of "Willow Cove" to the 14 nm process, "Rocket Lake-S" features an updated Gen12 Xe iGPU.

Intel just sent out press invites to what is likely an online media event slated for September 2, 2020. The spells nothing other than a one-liner "We have something big to share..." with the September 2 date. Everyone has a theory as to what this could be, depending on who you ask. The Verge has a valid theory pointing to this being a formal launch of the 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" mobile processors on the basis of several notebook manufacturers slating their "Tiger Lake" based notebook launches on "Fall 2020."

We believe this could be a desktop-related unveil, possibly a performance preview or teaser of the company's 11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S" processor. Why September? Because September 2020 is going to be a busy month for AMD and NVIDIA, with both launching their next-gen consumer graphics architectures, product lines; and more interestingly, AMD rumored to launch its "Zen 3" microarchitecture in some shape or form. A Ryzen 4000 "Vermeer" product launch could trigger Intel to at least preview "Rocket Lake-S," as it's the first client-desktop microarchitecture in 5 years to introduce IPC gains on the backs of new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores that are a 14 nm back-port of "Willow Cove." It wouldn't surprise us if Intel shed more light on the performance throughput of its big new Xe graphics processors.

It's been rumored for some time now, that the 14 nm "Rocket Lake-S" silicon has no more than 8 CPU cores, giving Intel's product managers some segmentation headaches between the Core i7 and Core i9 brand extensions. The current 10th Gen Core i9 chips are 10-core/20-thread, and Core i7 8-core/16-thread. The 10th Gen Core i5 chips are 6-core/12-thread, and this won't change with the 11th Gen "Rocket Lake." What will change, however, are the core-counts of the Core i7 and Core i9 processors, according to a leaked roadmap slide scored by VideoCardz.

With no more than 8 "Cypress Cove" cores on the "Rocket Lake-S" silicon, the 11th Gen Core i9 will be 8-core/16-thread. The 11th Gen Core i7, however, will be 8-core/12-thread. We don't know how this would work out, but Intel dropped hints toward it with the current 10th Gen Core "Comet Lake," whereby end-users have the ability to toggle HyperThreading (HTT) on a per-core basis. Older generations of Intel processors only allowed a global toggle of HTT. This would mean 4 out of 8 cores on the Core i7 "Rocket Lake-S" will have HTT permanently disabled. We predict that two of these will likely be the processor's favored cores, capable of sustaining the highest boost clocks under the Turbo Boost Max 3.0 algorithm, to which the OS thread scheduler will send the maximum traffic. The roadmap slide also suggests that Intel could standardize the vPro feature-set to its unlocked "K" processors with the 11th Gen.

The Gen12 Xe integrated graphics component of the upcoming "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor will be slimmer than the one on the upcoming 10 nm "Tiger Lake" silicon, according to a Geekbench hardware detection unearthed by TUM_APISAK. An 8-core/16-thread "Rocket Lake-S" sample surfaced on the Geekbench database, which shows the iGPU to feature 32 compute units as read by the OpenCL benchmark (corresponding with 32 execution units), compared to 96 on the "Tiger Lake-U" mobile processor die. The iGPU is also clocked rather conservatively on this ES, at at 1.15 GHz. The CPU component, on the other hand, ticks at 3.20 GHz, boosting up to 4.30 GHz. It's likely that with the power budget of the desktop platform, the iGPU will be able to sustain boost frequencies better.

Intel's 11th generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor is fascinating as it introduces Intel's first CPU core IPC uptick in about half a decade. Until now, it was rumored that "Rocket Lake-S" features a back-port of Intel's "Willow Cove" CPU cores to the 14 nm silicon fabrication process. It turns out that Intel doesn't want to call these cores "Willow Cove," which make their debut with the 10 nm+ "Tiger Lake" mobile processors later this Summer. Enter "Cypress Cove." A Moore's Law is Dead video presentation sheds light on this mysterious new codename.

Apparently, "Cypress Cove" is the codename Intel is using to refer to the CPU cores Intel is building with its latest CPU core IP on older 14 nm process. Owing to the process, the IPC of these cores may be different from the "Willow Cove" cores on "Tiger Lake," and to avoid confusion, Intel possibly choosing to give it a different internal codename. In other words, Moore's Law is Dead believes that "Cypress Cove" may not offer the alleged 25% IPC gains over "Skylake" that you could expect instead from "Willow Cove" cores in "Tiger Lake."

VLSI engineer and industry analyst, @chiakokhua, who goes by "Retired Engineer" on Twitter, was among the very first voices that spoke about 3rd gen Ryzen socket AM4 processors being multi-chip modules of core- and uncore dies built on different silicon fabrication processes, which was an unbelievable theory at the time. He now has a fantastic theory of what "Rocket Lake-S" could look like, dating back to November 2019, which is now re-surfacing on tech communities. Apparently, Intel is designing these socket LGA1200 processors to be multi-chip modules, similar to "Matisse" in some ways, but different in others.

Apparently, "Rocket Lake-S" is a multi-chip module of a 14 nm die that holds the CPU cores; and 10 nm die that holds the uncore components. AMD "Matisse" and "Vermeer" too have such a division of labor, but the CPU cores are located on dies with a more advanced silicon fabrication process (7 nm), than the die with the uncore components (12 nm).

A roadmap slide from an Intel Partner Connect presentation suggests that the company's client-segment processor lineup will be unchanged for the rest of 2020, with the company briskly launching its 10th generation "Comet Lake-S" desktop processor lineup through May-June, and "Comet Lake-H" a month prior. The Core X "Cascade Lake-X" processor lineup will continue to lead the company in the high core-count HEDT segment, with no indications of new models, at least none higher than 18 cores.

More importantly, this slide dulls expectations of the company refreshing its desktop process segment just before Holiday 2020 with the 11th generation "Rocket Lake-S" silicon that has next-gen "Willow Cove" CPU cores, Gen12 Xe integrated graphics, and PCIe gen 4.0 connectivity, especially with engineering samples of the chips already hitting the radar. Intel is expected to launch 10 nm "Ice Lake-SP" Xeon enterprise processors in 2020, and there was hope for some of this IP to power Intel's next HEDT platform, the fabled "Ice Lake-X," especially with AMD's "Castle Peak" 3rd gen Threadrippers dominating this segment. While there's little doubt that the slide may have originated from Intel, its context must be studied. Partner Connect is a platform for Intel to interact with its channel partners (distributors, retailers, system integrators, etc), and information about future products is far more restricted on these slides, than presentations intended for large OEMs, motherboard manufacturers, etc. Then again, with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing supply chains off rails, it wouldn't surprise us if this slide spells Gospel.

The "Rocket Lake-S" microarchitecture by Intel sees the company back-port its next-generation "Willow Cove" CPU core to the existing 14 nm++ silicon fabrication process in the form of an 8-core die with a Gen12 Xe iGPU. An engineering sample of one such processor made it to the Futuremark database. Clocked at 3.20 GHz with 4.30 GHz boost frequency, the "Rocket Lake-S" ES was put through 3DMark "Fire Strike" and "Time Spy," with its iGPU in play, instead of a discrete graphics card.

In "Fire Strike," the "Rocket Lake-S" ES scores 18898 points in the physics test, 1895 points in the graphics tests, and an overall score of 1746 points. With "Time Spy," the overall score is 605, with a CPU score of 4963 points, and graphics score of 524. The 11th generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" processor is expected to be compatible with existing Intel 400-series chipset motherboards, and feature a PCI-Express gen 4.0 root complex. Several 400-series chipset motherboards have PCIe gen 4.0 preparation for exactly this. The increased IPC from the "Willow Cove" cores is expected to make the 8-core "Rocket Lake-S" a powerful option for gaming and productivity tasks that don't scale across too many cores.

We have been hearing a lot about Intel's Rocket Lake lineup of processors. They are supposed to be a backport of Willow Cove 10 nm core, adapted to work on a 14 nm process for better yielding. Meant to launch sometime around late 2020 or the beginning of 2021, Rocket Lake is designed to work on the now existing LGA1200 socket motherboards, which were launched just a few days ago along with Intel Comet Lake CPUs. Rocket Lake is there to supply the desktop segment and satisfy user demand, in light of lacking 10 nm offers for desktop users. The 10 nm node is going to present only on mobile/laptop and server solutions before it comes to the desktop.

In the latest report on 3D Mark, the hardware leaker TUM APISAK has found a Rocket Lake CPU running the benchmark and we get to see first specifications of the Rocket Lake-S platform. The benchmark ran on 6 core model with 12 threads, that had a base clock of 3,5 GHz. The CPU managed to boost up to 4,09 GHz, however, we are sure that these are not final clocks and the actual product should have even higher frequencies. Paired with Gen12 Xe graphics, the Rocket Lake platform could offer a very nice alternative to AMD offerings if the backport of Willow Cove goes well. Even though it is still using a 14 nm node, performance would be good. The only things that would be sacrificed (from backporting) are die space and efficiency/heat.

PTT leaked some juicy details of the upcoming Intel "Rocket Lake" and "Alder Lake" processor generations. "Rocket Lake" will power Intel's 11th generation Core processor series in the LGA1200 package, and are rumored to be a "back port" of Intel's advanced "Willow Cove" CPU cores to a 14 nm-class silicon fabrication node, with core-counts ranging up to 8. The idea for Intel is to sell high IPC, high clock-speed desktop processors for gaming.

According to the PTT report, there will be three kinds of SKUs for "Rocket Lake" based on TDP: 8-core parts with 95 W TDP rating; and 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core parts in 80 W TDP and 65 W TDP variants. For the 95 W (PL1) parts, the power-levels PL2, and PL4 are reportedly set at 173 W and 251 W, respectively, and a 56-second Tau (a timing variable that dictates how long a processor can stick around at an elevated power-state before retreating to PL1, which is interchangeable with the TDP value on the box). The 80 W TDP parts feature 146 W PL2, 191 W PL3, and 251 W PL4, but a lower Tau value of 28 seconds. For the 65 W parts, the PL2 is 128 W, PL3 is 177 W, and PL4 251 W, and the Tau value 28 seconds.

Maybe it's hard to fathom an Intel chipset that actually supports more than a single generation of CPU designs; and if so, you're forgiven, because it seems the blue giant has mostly forgotten of thinking about platform longevity and upgradeability. However, we might be in for a rare treat, if the words from a Gigabyte representative are to be taken seriously. In a Q&A regarding Gigabyte's latest generation Z490 motherboards, a user questioned the Gigabyte representatives whether their Z490-based platforms would support upcoming Rocket Lake designs. The answer, which came with a caveat of "I don't know if this should be made public", was that yes: Z490 will support Rocket Lake-S.

If true, this may shed some light on why motherboard manufacturers have given so much importance to PCIe 4.0 marketing on their Z490 motherboards... Whose chipset doesn't support PCIe 4.0 from the get-go. However, with next-generation Rocket Lake-S expectedly sporting the same 14 nm fabrication process albeit with a new microarchitecture, a wider DMI 3.0 8x band, Intel's high-performance Xe graphics architecture design and PCIe 4.0 support on a platform level, it does begin to make sense that manufacturers would mention PCIe 4.0 support on the current Z490. Because if CPU compatibility is maintained, that means that users looking to drop-in a Rocket Lake-S CPU will at the very least be able to enjoy 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0 in these ready-made motherboards.

Intel's i225 "Foxville" family of 2.5 Gbps wired Ethernet controllers have a design flaw that affects performance, according to an official advisory sent by Intel out to its motherboard- and OEM PC partners (notebook- and pre-built desktop manufacturers). There are no security implications of this advisory. The i225 family of 2.5 GbE chips are being extensively implemented in upcoming motherboard, desktop and notebook designs. The i225 "Foxville" family consists of the i225-V targeted at motherboards and notebooks with Intel chipsets that have integrated MAC; while the slightly pricier i225-LM has an embedded MAC, and targeted at other platforms (extensively found in high-end and upcoming AMD motherboards).

According to the advisory, there is a variance in the inter-packet gap (IPG), the interval between data packets transmitted on the physical layer. This variance can cause packet loss, resulting in reduced throughput (i.e. a performance loss). Interestingly, the IPG variance is seen only when the PHY is networked with select kinds of 2.5 GbE compliant routers and switches. Specific models of Netgear, Juniper, and AQuantia infrastructure chipsets exhibit this variance, while those by Cisco, Huawei, Buffalo, and Aruba, don't. Intel is continuing to re-evaluate the chip with more 2.5 GbE devices, and will update the list in the slide below as needed. There is no mitigation, besides manually setting the controller to work in 1 GbE mode in Intel Network Connections driver control panel. Intel is working on a new stepping of these chips, but those will come out only in the second half of 2020, aligned with "Rocket Lake-S" entering mass-production. This slide inadvertently confirms that its next-generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" processor will enter production in 2H-2020.

Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake-S desktop platform is expected to arrive sometime later this year, however, we didn't have any concrete details on what will it bring. Thanks to the exclusive information obtained by VideoCardz'es sources at Intel, there are some more details regarding the RKL-S platform. To start, the RKL-S platform is based on a 500-series chipset. This is an iteration of the upcoming 400-series chipset, and it features many platform improvements. The 500-series chipset based motherboards will supposedly have an LGA 1200 socket, which is an improvement in pin count compared to LGA 1151 socket found on 300 series chipset.

The main improvement is the CPU core itself, which is supposedly a 14 nm adaptation of Tiger Lake-U based on Willow Cove core. This design is representing a backport of IP to an older manufacturing node, which results in bigger die space due to larger node used. When it comes to the platform improvements, it will support the long-awaited PCIe 4.0 connection already present on competing platforms from AMD. It will enable much faster SSD speeds as there are already PCIe 4.0 NVMe devices that run at 7 GB/s speeds. With RKL-S, there will be 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes present, where four would go to the NVMe SSD and 16 would go to the PCIe slots from GPUs. Another interesting feature of the RKL-S is the addition of Xe graphics found on the CPU die, meant as iGPU. Supposedly based on Gen12 graphics, it will bring support for HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a connectors.

Intel's upcoming 400-series desktop chipset will lack support for PCI-Express gen 4.0. The motherboards will stick to gen 3.0 for both the main x16 PEG slots wired to the LGA1200 socket, and general purpose PCIe lanes from the PCH, according to a Tom's Hardware report. It was earlier expected that 400-series chipset motherboards will come with preparation for PCIe gen 4.0, so even if the upcoming 10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors lacked gen 4.0 root-complexes, the boards would be fully ready for the new bus standard in 11th gen "Rocket Lake" desktop processors.

10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors are built on 14 nm process, and implement Intel's current-gen CPU core design Intel has been implementing since 6th gen "Skylake." It's only with 11th gen "Rocket Lake" that the mainstream desktop platform could see a new CPU core design, with the company reportedly back-porting "Willow Cove" CPU cores to the 14 nm process. "Rocket Lake" is also expected to feature a small Gen12 iGPU with 32 execution units, and a new-gen uncore component that implements PCIe gen 4.0. PCIe gen 4.0 doubles bandwidth over gen 3.0, and while only a handful GPUs support it, the standard is made popular by a new generation of M.2 NVMe SSDs that are able to utilize the added bandwidth to push sequential transfer rates beyond M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 limitations.

Today Intel's CPU based on yet unannounced architecture got revealed in the SiSoft benchmark database. Featuring six cores and twelve threads running at 3 GHz, it appears like a regular 14 nm CPU that's already available, however, when digging through the details, many things are revealed. The newly submitted CPU has a different L2 cache configuration from previous CPU offerings, with this chip featuring 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, it is unlike anything else Intel currently offers. Ice Lake mobile chips feature 512 KB, while the highest amount of L2 cache is currently present on i9-10980XE, which features 1 MB of L2.

It is unknown where this CPU fits in the whole 14/10 nm lineup, as we don't know if this is an iteration of 10 nm Tiger Lake or the rumored 14 nm Rocket Lake CPU. All we know is that this CPU features new architecture compared to Skylake iterations that are currently being used, judging by L2 cache bump, which usually happens on new architectures. The platform used for benchmarking this CPU was SuperMicro X12DAi-N SMC X12 dual-socket motherboard, which featured two of these new CPUs for a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.

The "Willow Cove" CPU core design succeeds "Sunny Cove," Intel's first truly new CPU core design in close to 5 years. "Sunny Cove" is implemented in the 10 nm "Ice Lake" microarchitecture, and "Willow Cove" cores are expected to debut with the 10 nm+ "Tiger Lake." It turns out that Intel is working to adapt "Willow Cove" CPU cores onto a 14 nm microarchitecture, and "Rocket Lake" could be it.

Twitter user @chiakokhua, a retired VLSI engineer with high hit-rate on CPU microarchitecture news, made sense of technical documents to point out that "Rocket Lake" is essentially a 14 nm adaptation of "Tiger Lake," but with the iGPU shrunk significantly, to make room for the larger CPU cores. The Gen12 iGPU on "Rocket Lake-S" will feature just 32 execution units (EUs), whilst on "Tiger Lake," it has three times the muscle, with 96 EUs. "Rocket Lake" also replaces "Tiger Lake's" FIVR (fully-integrated voltage regulation) with a conventional SVID VRM architecture.

Intel's 11th generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor will come in core-counts only up to 8, even as its predecessor, "Comet Lake-S," goes up to 10. Platform descriptors for Intel's next four microarchitectures surfaced on the web, detailing maximum values of their "S" (mainsteam desktop), "H" (mainstream notebook), "U" (ultrabook), and "Y" (low power portable) flavors. Both "Comet Lake-S" and "Rocket Lake-S" are 14 nm chips. "Comet Lake-S" comes with core counts of up to 10, a TDP of up to 125 Watts, Gen 9LP iGPU with 48 execution units, and native support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-2667.

The "Rocket Lake-S" silicon is interesting. Rumored to be yet another derivative of "Skylake," it features up to 8 CPU cores, the same 125 W maximum TDP, but swanky Gen12 iGPU with 32 execution units. The memory controller is also upgraded, which supports DDR4-2933 natively. There is no "Ice Lake-H" or "Ice Lake-S" in sight (no mainstream notebook or mainstream desktop implementations), ditto "Tiger Lake." For the foreseeable future, Intel will only make quad-core designs of the two 10 nm microarchitectures. "Rocket Lake-S" is slated for 2021 when, hopefully, we'll see Intel escape the 14 nm black hole.

Intel in a quick rebuttal to the earlier reports from Monday, clarified that desktop processors based on the 10 nm silicon fabrication node are still on the company's roadmap. "We continue to make great progress on 10 nm, and our current roadmap of 10 nm products includes desktop," the company said in its one-liner. Monday's reports predicted a horror story where Intel would drag its 14 nm "Skylake" derived microarchitecture through to 2022, at which point it would be 7 years old.

The Tom's Hardware report that posts the statement, however, pins 14 nm to still last till 2021, if not the 2022 date predicted in the HardwareLuxx report. Intel will sell "Comet Lake" through 2020, succeeded by "Rocket Lake," which takes up much of 2021. Towards the end of 2021, Intel will release a desktop processor based on its matured 10 nm++ silicon fabrication node, which will lead the company into 2022, when it finally launches 7 nm EUV-based desktop chips.