Intel is introducing its eleventh-generation Core processors for desktops, aka  Rocket Lake-S. The new CPUs have a new architecture for the first time since Skylake in 2015, which means they have to offer a 19 percent higher IPC.

11th Gen Intel Core™S-series desktop processors (code-named “Rocket Lake-S”) push desktop gaming performance to the limits with up to 5.3 GHz with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost delivering the most immersive experiences for players everywhere. Featuring 19% gen-over-gen instructions per cycle improvement for the highest frequency cores and headlined by the Intel Core i9-11900K, these processors bring even more performance to gamers and PC enthusiasts. The Rocket Lake-S processors support PCI-Express 4.0, of which four additional lanes are available so that you can also connect an M.2 SSD directly to the CPU.

The flagship processor is the Core i9-11900K, which comes with the promise of offering better gaming performance than the competition, thanks to IPC improvements of up to 19% and frequencies of up to 5.3 GHz. The Core i9-11900K has 8 cores / 16 threads and will work with a base frequency of 3.50 GHz and a boost of up to 5.30 GHz, for a price of $ 548 EUR

Intel is listing the procs at 125 Watt, not bad at all for a fast 8-core part. However, as comparison a Ryzen 9 5950X with its 16 cores is rated 105 Watts on TDP. Next to that, Intel is using several 'weird' power states. That TDP might be 125 Watt, but the flagship Rocket-Lake-S processor has a secondary PL2 state there is can utilize 250 Watts of power for almost a minute.  But yeah, most of us don't really care too much about TDP, performance is where it's at. The generational increase for RKL brings new benefits to the eco-system as well, AVX512 units, support for 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and faster memory. The new Z590 chipset-based motherboards have native USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps), and get a doubled up bandwidth link from CPU to the chipset, moving from DMI x4 to DMI x8, but still a PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 link.

The first official reviews will go up late this month, the same goes for official availability.