According to Intel, its upcoming 11th gen Core S-series desktop CPUs, codename Rocket Lake-S, will feature 19 percent gen-over-gen instruction per cycle (IPC) improvement, bringing even more performance to gamers and PC enthusiasts when it launches in the first quarter of 2021.
Based on Cypress Cove core architecture, which will top at 8-core/16-thread SKU configuration, the new 11th gen Core S-series desktop CPUs will bring a whole new memory controller with support for DDR4-3200, new Intel UHD Graphics based on Xe graphics architecture, offering up to 50 percent higher performance compared to Gen9, new PCIe 4.0 support, various engine and game optimizations, new AI capabilities, and more.
Showcased during the presentation was the flagship Core i9-11900K 8-core/16-thread SKU, which was compared to the Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core CPU.
Both were running with Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card and similar configuration, showing an improvement in games of anywhere between 2 percent in Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 1080p-Very High settings, four percent in Cyberpunk 2077, five percent in Gears of War 5 and Metro Exodus, and up to eight percent in Total War Three Kingdoms.
Intel's upcoming 11th gen Core S-series desktop CPUs show a lot of potential, but AMD has a head start on the market, and Intel is now playing a catch-up game. Although it manages to beat AMD in gaming scenarios, it is left to be seen how well it will cope in other scenarios, especially more multi-threaded ones, and AMD still has a flagship Ryzen 9 5950X as the flagship in the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors lineup.
