Leaked Intel Rocket Lake-S details suggest PCIe 4.0 support and integrated Xe graphics

Although this isn't an official announcement, new information has emerged about Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake-S platform, and VideoCardz states that it could be the “biggest upgrade to the mainstream desktop platform in years”.

Expected for release later this year (though it's not clear whether COVID-19 will affect this), Intel's Rocket Lake-S platform has been a target for rumours for quite a while, but  we are still waiting for some official details. The latest rumour comes from VideoCardz, which claims to have “some concrete information on the new platform” from its sources at Intel.

The diagram (posted below) shows an overview of the upcoming platform and its features. From a quick look at it, if this information is believed to be true, Intel 500-series motherboards will get some unique and interesting features which are definitely an upgrade when comparing to the current-gen 300-series and upcoming 400-series motherboards.

Image credit: VideoCardz

Besides introducing a new core architecture (supposedly Willow Cove cores), the 500-series will come with 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes connected to both GPU (x16) and storage (x4), alongside support for faster DDR4 speeds when compared to its predecessors. The integrated graphics will use the upcoming Xe Graphics architecture (Gen12), with support for DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b. The Rocket Lake-S platform will also introduce new overclocking features and capabilities, and support 12 bit AV1/HEVC and E2E compression.

Additionally, the DMI (Direct Media Interface) will use an x8 link and the SGX has been removed. Rocket Lake-S will also support Thunderbolt 4 and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, featuring speeds of up to 20Gbps. Just like the 400-series, the upcoming platform will come with 2.5Gb Ethernet discrete LAN and Integrated CNVi & Wireless-AX.

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KitGuru says: As always, take these rumours with a ping of salt, but what do you make of the expected feature-set for this upcoming platform?

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