AMD and Intel are two titans constantly battling it out for the title of top CPU brand. Every year, a new generation of technology gets released and it looks like 2022 has its newest contenders. Intel’s response to AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series announcement is their brand new Intel Raptor Lake series of processors.
Intel’s Improvements From Its Previous Line of Processors
Intel’s new Raptor Lake series is set to have a significant impact on the gaming industry. The processors boast a 15% gain in single-threaded performance and a 41% gain in multi-threaded performance over its predecessor, the Alder Lake series. This translates to an approximate 40% performance increase.
Image provided by Intel.
Raptor Lake Release Date
Intel’s Raptor lake series is expected to be available to consumers around October 20, 2022. The timing is close to AMD’s Ryzen’s 7000 series. As a gamer, I respect Intel’s competitive spirit in keeping the race close with AMD. Everyone loves to see competition and every year, these companies create impressive products because of it.
Pricing
Intel has been able to provide the pricing for all of their 13th gen models. If you’re planning on taking advantage of Intel’s overclocking features, you’ll want to look at their K processor models. The i9-13900K will be priced at $589, the i7-13700K will be priced at $409, and the i5-13600K will be priced at $319. Below you can see the pricing and specs relating to the Raptor Series processors.
Image provided by Intel’s Article: Intel Launches 13th Gen Intel Core Processors
How does it differ from competition?
Between Intel and AMD, many of the improvements were made possible by shrinking the sizes of the components within the CPU. By doing so, they were able to increase the performance capacity of these chips. Intel uses the Intel 7 process to build their processors. This means the Raptor Lake series was built on an improved version of a 7nm design for its semiconductors than its predecessor that was also built using this process. Although AMD found a way to build its chips on a 6nm chip, Intel’s i9 processors come with 16 cores while AMD comes with 12 cores. During Intel’s presentation, they mentioned 6.0 GHz chips would be available for a limited time, however, pricing may be different when considering those chips for purchase.
Another staggering feature for the Raptor Lake series is their backwards compatibility with Alder Lake motherboards and DDR4 memory. Backwards compatibility makes it easier for gamers to upgrade without having to replace the RAM and Motherboard.
Who is the target audience?
As far as target audience goes, this series of CPUs is targeted towards content creators and gamers. With the surplus of cores, however, CPU intensive programs would benefit more from this series of processors. Programs such as Photoshop or AutoCad that require rendering perform better when they have room to separate their processes. Gamers nowadays can easily transition into content creators on platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, and other services. For the gamer that are open to becoming influencers, this processor may be what you need to take your gaming to the next level.
Image provided by Intel.
Conclusion
Intel has been a major CPU supplier since 1968. Over the years, they have built a reputation for building high-quality and reliable processors. However, in recent years, AMD has been creating ripples in the tech world when they introduced their Ryzen processors. So much so, AMD was able to capture a large portions of market shares from Intel.
Having said that, I believe the Raptor Lake series is a unique chip overall. On top of the added benefit of more cores, this processor appears to be backwards compatible with Alder Lake motherboards. This rewards gamers who use the previous generation Intel desktops with a smoother transition into the next gen. It speaks volumes when a company is willing to give budget builders a chance to experience the new without breaking the bank. AMD’s 7000 series processor admittingly has impressive efficiency in terms of performance per wattage. When you include overclocking, this comparison becomes harder to judge. AMD handles heat pretty well. However, the Intel chip currently holds the record for higher clock speed set by Celebrity overclocker Allen ‘Splave’ Golibersuch.
As a gamer, I love to see competition. And AMD’s Ryzen is lighting a fire under Intel! This is evident when we look at Intel’s Arc line of graphics cards. While AMD and NVIDIA have been the primary contenders when it comes to graphics cards, it looks like Intel is the new challenger! Having said that, we can expect great things from both Intel and AMD. I believe the future of gaming looks very bright.