Intel's flagship 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPU, the Core i9-11900K, has once again been benchmarked & this time, the results come from a Chinese YouTuber (via Videocardz) who got early access to an engineering CPU sample of the chip.
Intel Core i9-11900K, Flagship 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPU, Benchmarks Leak Out Once Again, Operates at Up To 5.30 GHz
The Intel Core i9-11900K is the flagship chip within the 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU family. It will be the first family after Skylake to make use of a brand new core architecture while still utilizing the 14nm process node. The new Cypress Cove architecture is said to deliver double-digit gains in IPC which should be enough to put Intel back in the single-core performance throne since AMD and it's Zen 3 lineup completely destroyed Intel's Comet Lake CPUs in that department.
Intel Core i9-11900K 8 Core & 16 Thread Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Specifications
The Intel Core i9-11900K will be the flagship 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU. The chip is going to feature 8 cores and 16 threads. This will result in 16 MB of L3 cache (2 MB per core) and 4 MB of L2 cache (512 KB per core). In terms of boost clocks, we have already seen the CPU running at base frequencies of 3.5 GHz but as for boost, the CPU will feature a maximum boost clock of 5.2 GHz (1-core) while the all-core boost frequency will be maintained at 4.8 GHz.
The chip will also feature Thermal Velocity Boost which should deliver a 100 MHz jump in the max clock frequency. This should lead to a single-core boost clock of 5.3 GHz making it the first CPU to ever hit such a high frequency out of the box. However, do remember that regardless of using the Cypress Cove cores, the Core i9-11900K will feature lower cores and threads than the Intel Core i9-10900K. This is partially due to the backporting of Cypress Cove on the refined 14nm process node.
The CPU is said to feature a 1st stage power limit of 125W which is standard for a flagship Intel SKU and the 2nd stage power limit or PL2 is rated at 250W. This means that when hitting its maximum advertised clock speeds, the CPU could indeed be pulling the said amount of wattage from the PSU making it one of the most power-hungry 8-core chips ever produced. This might also explain why Intel didn't go 10 cores and 20 threads on its 11th Gen lineup since it would've turned out to be a power-hungry monster of a chip breaking even past the 250W power limit.
Left: 10th Gen Comet Lake, Right: 11th Gen Rocket Lake
Intel 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Lineup Specs (Preliminary):
| CPU Name | Cores / Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock (1-Core) | Boost Clock (All-Core) | Cache | Graphics | TDP (PL1) | TDP (PL2) | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-11900K(F) | 8 / 16 | 3.50 GHz | 5.30 GHz | 4.80 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 125W | 251W | $539 US (K) $513 US (KF) |
| Core i9-11900(F) | 8 / 16 | 2.50 GHz | 5.20 GHz | 4.70 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 65W | 224W | $439 US $422 US (F) |
| Core i9-11900T | 8 / 16 | 1.50 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 3.70 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 35W | 115W | $439 US |
| Core i7-11700K(F) | 8 / 16 | 3.60 GHz | 5.00 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 125W | 251W | $399 US (K) $374 US (F) |
| Core i7-11700(F) | 8 / 16 | 2.50 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 4.40 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 65W | 224W | $323 US $298 US (F) |
| Core i7-11700T | 8 / 16 | 1.40 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 3.60 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 35W | 115W | $323 US |
| Core i5-11600K(F) | 6 /12 | 3.90 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 125W | 224W? | $262 US (K) $237 US (KF) |
| Core i5-11600 | 6 /12 | 2.80 GHz | 4.80 GHz | 4.30 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 65W | 154W | $213 US |
| Core i5-11600T | 6 /12 | 1.70 GHz | 4.10 GHz | 3.50 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 35W | 92W | $213 US |
| Core i5-11500 | 6 /12 | 2.70 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 4.20 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 65W | 154W | $192 US |
| Core i5-11500T | 6 /12 | 1.50 GHz | 3.90 GHz | 3.40 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 Cores) | 35W | 92W | $192 US |
| Core i5-11400(F) | 6 /12 | 2.60 GHz | 4.40 GHz | 4.20 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 Cores) | 65W | 154W | $182 US $157 US (F) |
| Core i5-11400T | 6 /12 | 1.30 GHz | 3.70 GHz | 3.30 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 Cores) | 35W | 92W | $182 US |
Intel Core i9-11900K 8 Core & 16 Thread Rocket Lake Desktop CPU Benchmarks
Coming to the benchmarks, this particular sample is close to the retail variant (ES2) but still has a few issues when it comes to gaming performance. As such, the main focus should be the general single-thread and multi-thread benchmark results that the user has posted.
In Cinebench R20, the chip scores 636 points in the single-core and 6328 points in the multi-core test. This is a slight lead over the Ryzen 7 5800X which scores around 620-630 points in single-core and around 6100 points in the multi-core test.
The user seems to compare it against the Ryzen 9 5900X which is a 12 core & 24 thread offering and while the Core i9-11900K scores a lead in a single-core bench, it ends up being much slower in the multi-thread tests. The same is true when comparing it to the Core i9-10900K which scores a lower 535 points in the single-core but leads in multi-core tests with a score of 6328 points due to its 10 cores and 20 threads.
In the CPU-z benchmark, the Core i9-11900K scores 708 & 6443 points, respectively. The Core i9-10900K scores 562 / 7078 points while the Ryzen 9 5900X scores 670 and 9710 points in both the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The Ryzen 7 5800X for comparison scores 650 and 6593 points in the same benchmark. Here, we see AMD's 8 core offering being a tad bit faster than the Intel Core i9-11900K.
In rendering tests, the Core i9-11900K is just marginally faster than the Core i9-10900K while the Ryzen 9 5900X scores a massive lead of almost 1 minute. Once again, the gaming performance is not fully demonstrated since the platform was locked at PCIe x16 1.1 instead of the full 3.0 / 4.0 lane. The user also shared some power consumption and temperature figures.
At default loads within Cinebench R20, the chip was hovering at around 77C while sipping in up to 225W of power. With AIDA64 loaded, the chip hovered around 100C and up to 261W power consumption which is much higher than AMD's Ryzen 5000 desktop CPUs. And even more worrisome is the fact that the chip was in no way overclocked but running at its default configuration.
As we reported, the Intel Rocket Lake CPUs will be shipping months after the 500-series boards that will be available on 11th January. The CPUs are expected to be announced at CES 2021 but a hard launch isn't planned till March-April.
