Rocket Lake; chip shortage reaches phones; cameras hacked; more.

Intel’s desktop chips finally get a new core

IT FEELS as though we’ve been waiting an age for this. Intel has finally released a desktop CPU with a new microarchitecture: Rocket Lake. It carries a Cypress Cove core, a derivation of Sunny Cove, which was first unveiled in 2018. Originally destined to be a 10nm design, due to myriad technical reasons, Intel had to change tack and “back port” the design to 14nm. So, what we have is the CPU from an Ice Lake chip, combined with Tiger Lake’s GPU, all rejigged on to a 14nm die. It’s a clumsy compromise. AMD smoothly moved to 7nm nearly two years ago. Officially, the new arrivals are 11th Generation S-Series processors.

Whenever a new CPU microarchitecture arrives, the 14nm lives on—it’s not what Intel planned, but at least we get a version of Sunny Cove on the desktop. first question is: What is the IPC (Instructions Per Clock) improvement? Intel claims it is 1.19. This is reasonable, and comparable to the steps AMD’s Zen design has made. The next question is: How many cores? This is one of AMD’s strong suits, of course. All the new Core i9 and i7 chips have eight cores, while the Core i5 range has six. Intel reckons the IPC lift should compensate for the lower core count in the Core i9s, while it should give a reasonable bump for the Core i7 and i5 chips, where the core count is the same. AMD’s 16-core beast is $260 on top of Intel’s best, but the 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X is only $10 extra for four more e co cores. es Luckily uc yo for Intel, game performance currently cu tends to stutter after you yo reach eight cores, but for content creation creation, it’s a real advantage. adv Why st stop at eight cores? Apparent Apparently Intel ran out o of space on the die, die if this is to be be believed.

There are 20 or s so new versions, versions all middle and highend models. models The Core i3, Pentiu Pentium, and Celeron brands are ar being refreshed, with slightly higher clock rates, but no Cypress C Cove cores or other goodies. g At the top of the tree is t the Core i9-11900K, with a base clock of 3.5GHz, an all-core boost of 4.8GHz, and a maximum single-core boost of 5.3GHz given perfect conditions. Intel has a confusing number of “boost” technologies; it lists four variations for the i9-11900 chips in the promotional material. These include a new Adaptive Boost Technology, which can dynamically boost speeds given enough thermal headroom. There has been little real movement in clock rates, bar a modest 100Hz here and there, so this is one area where Intel does score—sometimes there is no substitute for raw clock speed.

There are three unlocked versions, available with or without integrated graphics. These have a TDP of 125W. The rest of the range is a more modest 65W, apart from the slowest “T” variants, which come in at 35W, thanks to significantly slower clocks. As ever, these TDP numbers are little more than a rough guide—pressure a 65W chip and it’ll soon draw much more than that. Rocket Lake also brings us integrated Intel Xe graphics, dubbed Intel UHD 750 or 730, and PCIe 4.0 support. Prices range from $157 to $540. There are some small price increases over the old models. New processors mean new motherboard chips, too. If you have a 400-series board, you may well be able to upgrade; if not, there’s a new set of 500-series boards sporting the required LGA 1200 socket, PCIe 4.0 lanes, and more.

Is this a solid response to AMD’s Ryzen? Well, it’s an answer of sorts, but even hardened Intel adherents won’t be cheering too loudly. Intel has kept pace, but not much more. The new microarchitecture is welcome, but without a corresponding shrink, it hasn’t delivered the jump Intel planned. As clock speeds and core count haven’t moved much, it all boils down to that IPC improvement. It’s too early to judge this yet, but not every early benchmark shows the kind of improvement Intel is talking about. Intel still can’t match AMD’s finest clock for clock. There have also been early worries over thermal performance; these chips can get hot under load. The design is intended for 10nm and there have been compromises.

In today’s climate, concerns about relative performance aren’t too important in the big picture. Both Intel and AMD can sell what they make. Intel has lots of experience at 14nm, and has its own fabrication plants, which should help with costs. It also means it doesn’t have to book production slots at busy fabricators. AMD has to compete with Apple and Nvidia for time at TSMC plants. Intel has done enough to stay king of the single thread, but by most other metrics, it’s only holding its own. Rocket Lake chips are in our test rigs now, so you’ll have the full story next month.