Following up on our previous post in which we confirmed that Intel will be launching its 11th Gen Rocket Lake lineup in March, we have received more information from our sources who point out that the Rocket Lake CPUs will go up on pre-order even before the reviews hit the web.
Intel Rocket Lake 11th Gen Core Family To Be Officially Unveiled on 16th March, Sales/Review Embargo Ends on 30th March
The information we have received consists of two different NDAs for Intel's 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPU family. So far, Intel has just teased its Rocket Lake lineup and hasn't made a formal introduction. We only got to see the features of the flagship model, the Core i9-11900K, and some information about the Cypress Cove architecture offering double-digit gains. Since then, we have seen multiple leaks and even full-reviews published ahead of the launch.
Press - Product information unveil, includes pre-order and advertising - Mar. 16th, 2021, at 08:00 AM PT time
Performance review, benchmark, sales - Mar. 30th, 2021, at 06:00 AM PT time
So for Intel's Rocket Lake CPU family, we are first going to get a proper announcement on the 16th of March at 8 AM (Pacific Time). On this date, Intel will allow the press to disclose full information regarding its 11th Gen family which would include CPU information, specs, and prices. Intel will also open up pre-orders for its 11th Gen family on the same day, allowing partners and retailers to start advertising the chips officially.
However, what's interesting is that you won't get any reviews for the said chips until two weeks later. The review and sales NDA ends on the 30th of March at 6 AM (Pacific Time). So for those who will be pre-ordering the chips, you would only have leaked performance numbers to base your purchase decisions upon. Also, you will have to wait two weeks before you can get your processor.
The reason why Intel is delaying reviews and sales of the 11th Gen Intel Rocket Lake lineup is said to be due to the new microcode update. As of now and from what we have already seen in various leaks, the gaming performance of the CPUs is similar to the 10th Gen lineup despite synthetic CPU benchmarks showing huge single-threaded performance gains. Motherboard makers are working with Intel to deliver the new BIOS with the updated microcode before mid-March so to make the launch trouble-free, Intel will be delaying their lineup till the end of March. It still doesn't make any sense as to why they would open pre-orders up so early.
Surely, having no reviews when the pre-orders go live is going to sway away potential buyers but considering that many people have been waiting to buy these chips for a while now, the initial stock of the chips is going to run dry pretty quick. Expect to see more information on the processors in the coming weeks along with pricing updates on when and where you can buy these chips for your 400 and 500-series motherboards.
