Intel Rocket Lake-S processors hit the market on March 16, 2021, and were the chip giant’s answer to AMD’s Ryzen 5000s. That new generation of high-performance desktop CPUs was the last to use the 14nm node, though applied a “tock” on this to improve IPC by up to 19% over the previous generation, known as Comet Lake-S.
It was a powerful generation, and the jump to the Cypress Cove architecture, which was outlined as an adaptation of the Sunny Cove architecture present in the Intel Ice Lake to the 14 nm node used by the Rocket Lake-S. The improvement in single-thread performance compared to the previous generation allowed Intel to continue offering competitive value, especially in games, and the introduction of technologies such as Thermal Velocity Boost made it possible to get the most out of their clock frequencies.
However, it was a generation with lights and shadows, as we already told you in the analysis of the Intel Core i9-11900K, especially because of its high consumption and high temperatures of work, two negative points that were a direct consequence of having to resort once again to the 14 nm node. All in all, within the Rocket Lake-S series we can find very interesting options to build a cheap but powerful PC, such as the Intel Core i5-11400F For example, what is still one of the best within its price range.
Rocket Lake-S processors still offer an excellent level of performance, thanks to its high IPC, and any 6-core, 12-thread processor within that generation still has a long life ahead of it. Despite this, Intel has decided start the discontinuation process of this generationand has already warned its partners and customers that from the February 23, 2024 They will not accept any more orders. That date will also mark the shipment of the last orders that were previously accepted.
The 400 and 500 series chipsets and Cypress Cove-based Xeon workstation processors will also be discontinued. The availability of all these processors and motherboards will not change in the short or medium term, but it is important to keep in mind that it is likely that, as we get closer to February 23, 2024, this situation changes and that the availability is gradually reduced. If this happens, it’s obvious that prices will eventually rise, and eventually there will come a point where it’s no longer possible to buy a Rocket Lake-S processor.
If you have a motherboard with an LGA1200 socket and a 400 or 500 series chipset and have been wanting to upgrade your CPU for a while now is a good time to do so. Going from a Core i3 Gen10 to a Core i5 Gen11 will give a computer a second lifeand you can enjoy it for many more years.
