What a unbelievable month it has been, with a lot new {hardware} obtainable! However what is that this? It’s Intel, who determined so as to add much more spice with their new Raptor Lake launch! Woohoo!
Potential CPU patrons had already had their choices improved when AMD launched Zen 4 earlier this month, and from Intel’s timing, worth, and efficiency, it’s clear that this can be a response. How good are the brand new selections from Intel?
Allow us to have a look.
The Good
There are three major “Raptor Lake” CPUs on this launch:
- i5-13600K ($330 – 14 cores, 20 threads)
- i7-13700K ($450 – 16 cores, 24 threads)
- i9-13900K ($660 – 24 cores, 32 threads)
We’re going to ignore the i7-13700K for this launch, as most evaluate websites didn’t evaluate it. Within the close to future, as soon as extra 13700K opinions are out, we are going to come again to it.
These new CPUs are unbelievable! In single-threaded (learn: gaming) efficiency they’re the brand new best-in-class possibility, beating Zen 4. The core/thread rely may be very excessive, and Intel’s multi-threaded efficiency meets or beats the competitors.
However everyone knows that nice efficiency alone isn’t the complete story: What about the price? Intel scores one other win right here with some intelligent costs. The Intel i5-13600K beats the AMD R7 7700X whereas costing $70 much less. Equally, the Intel i9-13900K beats (or matches) the AMD R9 7950X whereas costing $40 much less. To rub salt into the wound: AMD’s most reasonably priced launch motherboards have been $300, whereas Intel’s are $200. So, you’re going to save roughly $150 in whole should you go for Intel with no lack of efficiency!
The “Raptor Lake” CPUs use the identical 1700 socket because the predecessors from Intel, and are backward-compatible with the older 600-series motherboards, so long as you replace the BIOS. The brand new CPUs assist each DDR4 and DDR5.
The Meh
The variety of cores stuffed into these CPUs seems very spectacular, however there’s a catch: they don’t seem to be all the identical kind of cores.
Intel continues to be following the same strategy from last generation of blending robust “P”erformance cores and weaker “E”fficiency cores. In case you are evaluating these new CPUs to the older ones, don’t be fooled: All the brand new additional cores are E cores.
Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs do beat the competitors from AMD Zen 4 choices, however the margin is usually extraordinarily small. We’re speaking one thing like 2% or 3% overall, not a dominating win.
The Dangerous
We criticized the unique Alder Lake for its extreme energy draw and excessive temps. We criticized the brand new Zen 4 for its extreme energy draw and excessive temps. And now it’s time to criticize Raptor Lake for its extreme energy draw and excessive temps. It seems like nobody intends to study a lesson any time quickly…
Energy draw: Look, we’re well mannered of us over right here, so we can not immediately level on the official 125W TDP, slap our knees and roar with laughter. No, no, we is not going to be doing something like that, no. What we are able to do is level out that the TDP is formally 125W, however:
So, the 125W TDP may be official, however it’s also “fantasy”. These chips use quite a lot of energy, which brings us to the subsequent difficulty.
Working temperature: The brand new Raptor Lake CPUs are hitting 101C temperatures underneath regular situations, and as high as 117C if you let them. That’s absurd. That’s literal boiling temperature! That is simply not proper. What did we do to deserve this, Intel?
Going ahead
The brand new CPUs have nice efficiency, incomes them a spot in our list. The modifications shall be as observe:
- R7 7700X moved to the Excellent tier
- i5-13600K added to the Distinctive tier
- R9 7900X moved to the Fanatic tier
- i9-13900K added to the Extremist tier
The brand new CPUs in Distinctive/Extremist can have natively suitable motherboards added as nicely. The modifications are reside for the USA desk, and can go reside in different international locations as quickly as doable.
Sources
As standard, our major supply is one in all these megathreads containing a big set of correct sources compiled in a single place. An enormous thanks to the oldsters over at Reddit that put these collectively! These individuals are superior!
