Intel Core i7-11700K reviewed a month early by AnandTech -- gaming disappoints

Intel's Rocket Lake-S launch isn't expected until the end of this month, but a week ago, big German e-tailer Mindfactory was already selling Core i7-11700K processors to customers. We don't know what went wrong with the sales embargo here, but Mindfactory claims they were allowed to sell the product. Benchmarks of the 11700K were eagerly shared on German tech forums and one of these parts ended up in the hands of AnandTech.

It doesn't happen often, but AnandTech has an exclusive here by being the first major tech publication to publish a review of the 11700K -- several weeks before the part's official launch. The 11700K is an eight-core processor with up to 5.0GHz Boost. It uses Cypress Cove cores and features Xe-LP based integrated graphics. Cypress Cove is basically a 10nm Sunny Cove design backported to the 14nm node -- because Intel's 10nm process technology is way behind schedule.

So how does it perform? AnandTech concludes Rocket Lake-S is slightly slower than AMD's Zen 3. It's impressive what Intel manages to squeeze out of its 14nm nodes, but on a core-for-core basis, it's a lot less efficient than what AMD has to offer. During stress testing with AVX-512 workloads, the 125W TDP chip was seen hitting a peak of 292W! Gaming performance is disappointing, to say the least, with performance actually regressing in various tests due to worse core-to-core latency.

Our results clearly show that Intel’s performance, while substantial, still trails its main competitor, AMD. In a core-for-core comparison, Intel is slightly slower and a lot more inefficient. The smart money would be to get the AMD processor. However, due to high demand and prioritizing commercial and enterprise contracts, the only parts readily available on retail shelves right now are from Intel. Any user looking to buy or build a PC today has to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge their way to find one for sale, and also hope that it is not at a vastly inflated price. The less stressful solution would be to buy Intel, and use Intel’s latest platform in Rocket Lake. -- AnandTech

You can check the full review over here.