Please note that this post is tagged as a rumor.
Intel has recently changed the launch window for Rocket Lake to March 2021.
Intel Rocket Lake-S now expected in March 2021
Intel Rocket Lake-S is (hopefully) the last consumer desktop 14nm Core processors series due to launch December or January 2021. We have heard a lot of rumors that the series could be unveiled at CES 2021, but that does not seem to be the case. Intel has recently updated the launch window to week 10 of 2021.
Intel Rocket Lake-S processors will be socket compatible (LGA1200) with existing 400-series motherboards. The motherboards that were advertised as ‘hardware-ready’ for PCIe Gen4, should fully utilize the interface with Rocket Lake-S CPUs.
Intel is also planning to launch a new wave of 500-series motherboards, such as Z590 or B560. Motherboard makers had 500-chipset specs for a now, but there has recently been a change to that as well. Intel is allegedly adding memory overclocking support to the B560 series, currently an exclusive feature to the Zx70/x90 series.
Intel Rocket Lake-S will feature a new core architecture (rumored Cypress Cove) and Intel Xe Gen12 graphics (Xe-LP). The series is considered a feature upgrade to Comet Lake, with PCIe 4.0 support for graphics and storage – both rapidly developing Gen4 markets.
Interestingly, the series would top at 8-core/16-thread configuration with TDP at 125W. The current flagship LGA1200 CPU (i9-10900K) features 10-cores and 20 threads.
Intel Rocket Lake-S is likely to compete with AMD Ryzen 5000 (Zen3) series processors which will be announced in just 2 days.
| INTEL Mainstream CPU Series Specs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | Coffee Lake-S | Comet Lake-S | Rocket Lake-S | Alder Lake-S | Meteor Lake-S |
| Launch Year | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 | 2H 2021 | 2022-2023 |
| Fabrication Node | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 10nm SuperFin | 7nm SuperFin? |
| Core µArch | Skylake | Skylake | Cypress Cove | Golden Cove + Gracemont | Ocean Cove + Gracemont |
| Graphics µArch | Gen9 | Gen9.5 | Gen12 | Gen12 TBC | Gen 13 TBC |
| Max Core Count | up to 8 cores | up to 10 cores | up to 8 cores | up to 16 (8+8) | TBC |
| Socket | LGA1151 | LGA1200 | LGA1200 | LGA1700 | LGA1700 |
| Memory Support | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR5 | DDR5 |
| PCIe Gen | PCIe 3.0 | PCIe 3.0 | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 5.0 |
| Intel Core Series | 8th/9th Gen Core-S | 10th Gen Core-S | 11th Gen Core-S | 12th Gen Core-S (?) | 13th Gen Core-S (?) |
| Motherboard Chipsets | Intel 300 (eg. Z390) | Intel 400 (eg. Z490) | Intel 500 (Z590) | Intel 600 (eg. Z690) (?) | Intel 700 (eg. Z790) (?) |
