The next Intel processors could adopt one of AMD Ryzen’s most important features
Rocket Lake may finally support PCIe 4.0
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WhenIntellaunched its 10th-generationComet Lake-Sprocessors, one of the biggest things that held us back from recommending them was the lack of PCIe 4.0 support – but that could be changing.
Some leaked SiSoftware Sandra benchmark results have appeared viaVideoCardz, with 11th-generation Rocket Lake-S processors paired with PCIe 4.0 SSDs. If the leaks are real – a pretty big if – it would mean that Rocket Lake would be the first Intel desktop lineup to support the new PCIe standard.
With thePS5andXbox Series Xboth using PCIe 4.0 SSDs, the standard is going to incredibly important for PC gaming going forward, which means Intel really needs to implement support going forward on its premium desktop processors. It’s competitorAMDhas been offering the technology since July 2019 with the release of the Ryzen 3000 lineup, led by the Ryzen 9 3900X.
Only time will tell when 11th-generation Intel Rocket Lake processors will actually hit the market at this point, but we’ve seenprevious speculation that it’ll be pretty soon. Either way, we’ll hear more about Rocket Lake when Intel is ready to share some specific information. Who knows, we may even hear something atIntel’s ‘big’ eventon September 2 – though we suspect that will mainly beTiger Lake.
PCIe 4.0 is the future
One of the biggest things stopping the Intel Core i9-10900K from getting our recommendation is the lack of PCIe 4.0 support. As we mentioned earlier, this technology is going to be key to the next generation of games, as evenEpic Games' Tim Sweeney has claimed that PC gamers are going to need to adopt aPCIe SSD if they want next-generation performance out of their games.
And it’s not like it’s some frivolous upgrade either. The difference in speed that the bump up to PCIe 4.0 offers is incredible. Way back when we reviewed the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, we were blown away by the 29% boost in sequential read speeds over something like theSamsung970 Pro. When you compare that against the speed of SATA-based hard drives and SSDs, we’re talking about a whole other world of performance.
Plus, with its newDGX A100 deep learning system, Nvidia teamed up with AMDbecause of the lack of PCIe 4.0 support with Team Blue’s processors. And, ifAmpereis apparently getting a boost from the standard at the high level, it’s a pretty safe bet that will trickle down to the consumer-facingGeForce RTX 3080when that supposedly releases later this year – if it releases this year.
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If Intel doesn’t want to get completely left behind, the inclusion of PCIe 4.0 compatibility across both its mainstream desktop lineup and its HEDT X-series lineups is necessary. Luckily, all the rumors are pointing to 11th-generation desktop silicon supporting it, and manyZ490 motherboards are ready for the technology, simply waiting for the greenlight from Intel.
Bill Thomas (Twitter) is TechRadar’s computing editor. They are fat, queer and extremely online. Computers are the devil, but they just happen to be a satanist. If you need to know anything about computing components, PC gaming or the best laptop on the market, don’t be afraid to drop them a line on Twitter or through email.
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