Rocket Lake: Intel’s Ryzen 5000 Counter-Attack Launch Date Leaked

Intel itself limited the release window for the new Rocket Lake processors to the first half of 2021 some time ago. Wccftech now wants to know the official release date. In addition, it should already be known which mainboards are supported.

In the contest for the CPU throne, Intel is positioning itself with the new Rocket Lake processors like the x86 counterpart to AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs. As Wccftech claims to have learned exclusively, Intel plans to release the processors, which are still manufactured in 14 nanometers (nm), for March next year.

Capacities for 10 nm production are insufficient

Since Intel apparently does not see itself logistically in a position to cover the potential demand for Rocket Lake processors with its own 10 nm production process, the next generation of CPUs will also appear as 14 nm production. With its new flagship chip for the mainstream desktop, the Californian company is likely to defend its dominance in the market for x86 CPUs and at the same time want to aggressively compete with the AMD line-up .

Cypress Cove: The New Architecture

Obviously, Intel is doing everything in its power to ensure that the Rocket Lake CPUs do not have to hide from 10 or 7 nm models in terms of performance. Unlike older generations, the chips will use an updated Sunny Cove (Ice Lake) based architecture called Cypress Cove. They are equipped with up to eight cores, are the company’s first mainstream architecture to support the PCIe 4.0 standard and have a current Xe-12 graphics chip. In boost mode, the processors should clock up to 5.0 gigahertz.

Z490 motherboards also compatible

Although Intel has already announced that there will be new motherboards with 500 chips for the Rocket Lake CPUs, Z490 models will continue to support the upcoming Intel Core generation. Good news for all owners of Z490 motherboards, because a BIOS update will most likely be enough to be compatible with the new Rocket Lake processors.