Intel launched its Rocket Lake-S desktop CPUs recently and it has become a hit, to say the least, and now the tech community is focusing on Intel’s next big venture that tis the 12th generation Alder Lake-S chips. And to add fuel to that anticipation, a new leak has surfaced online which gives us the detailed specs of an engineering sample of the Rocket Lake-S Desktop CPUs.
As we know, Alder Lake-S Desktop CPUs is the 12th Gen Core family from intel, and it will be based on the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process node. The CPU will utilize Golden Cove x86 and Gracemonth Atom cores on the same die.
Coming to the specifications, the engineering sample is labeled as the Intel Core-1800 but it may not be the final name for the chip, as it comes with 16 cores and 24 threads. This is the top configuration of the Alder Lake-S lineup. The CPU features 8 Golden Cove cores with 16 threads & 8 Gracemont cores with 8 threads and it has a base clock of 1.80 GHz.
According to the leak, the power limits are kept at a base TDP of 125W which will run for 56 seconds while the PL2 limit is rated at 228W which will operate for 2.44ms. The CPU has a maximum temperature limit (Tj Max) of 100W and is designed around the LGA 1700 socket.
The socket itself is supposed to be featured in the 600-series chipset-based motherboards which will be launched in Q3 of 2021. The leak also mentions that the Golden Cove cores which are labeled as the Big cores will have a max frequency of 4.6 GHz (for up to 2 cores). The frequency will be dependent on the cores and will tone down to 4.4 GHz (3-4 cores), 4.2 GHz (5-6 cores), and 4.0 GHz (7-8 cores). The Gracemont Atom cores will have frequencies of 3.4 GHz (1-4 cores) and 3.0 GHz (5-8 cores).
Following are some of the updates you should expect from Intel’s 2021 architecture lineup:
Intel Golden Cove (Core) Architecture:
- Improve Single-Threaded Performance (IPC)
- Improve Artificial Intelligence (AI) Performance
- Improve Network/5G Performance
- Enhanced Security Features
Intel Gracemont (Atom) Architecture:
- Improve Single-Threaded Performance (IPC)
- Improve Frequency (Clock Speeds)
- Improve Vector Performance
Following is the exact breakdown of the cache subsystem of Intel’s Alder Lake Desktop CPUs:
Golden Cove Cores:
- 32 KB (L1I) Per Core
- 48 KB (L1D) Per Core
- 1280 KB (L2) Per Core
- 3072 KB (L3) Per Core
Gracemont Cores:
- 64 KB (L1I) Per Core
- 32 KB (L1D) Per Core
- 2048 KB (L2) x 4 Cores
- 3072 KB (L3) x 4 Cores
Intel Desktop CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processors Cores (Max) | TDPs | Platform Chipset | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
| Sandy Bridge (2nd Gen) | 32nm | 4/8 | 35-95W | 6-Series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 2.0 | 2011 |
| Ivy Bridge (3rd Gen) | 22nm | 4/8 | 35-77W | 7-Series | LGA 1155 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2012 |
| Haswell (4th Gen) | 22nm | 4/8 | 35-84W | 8-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2013-2014 |
| Broadwell (5th Gen) | 14nm | 4/8 | 65-65W | 9-Series | LGA 1150 | DDR3 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Skylake (6th Gen) | 14nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 100-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2015 |
| Kaby Lake (7th Gen) | 14nm | 4/8 | 35-91W | 200-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (8th Gen) | 14nm | 6/12 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2017 |
| Coffee Lake (9th Gen) | 14nm | 8/16 | 35-95W | 300-Series | LGA 1151 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2018 |
| Comet Lake (10th Gen) | 14nm | 10/20 | 35-125W | 400-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 3.0 | 2020 |
| Rocket Lake (11th Gen) | 14nm | 8/16 | TBA | 500-Series | LGA 1200 | DDR4 | PCIe Gen 4.0 | 2021 |
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | 10nm (ESF) | 16/24? | TBA | 600 Series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | 10nm (ESF) | 16/24? | TBA | 700-Series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2022 |
| Meteor Lake (14th Gen) | 7nm (EUV) | TBA | TBA | 800 Series? | LGA 1700 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2023 |
| Lunar Lake (15th Gen) | TBA | TBA | TBA | 900 Series? | TBA | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2023+ |
