Leaked Core i7 11700K results show AMD Ryzen is still the CPU to beat in 2021

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Some potential Rocket Lake leaks have surfaced with benchmarks featuring the Core i7 11700K pitted against current top CPUs in a variety of games and tests.

The original source, Lab501 (via Videocardz), posted the benchmarks for the 8-core, 16-thread CPU, this morning as a 'preview' on the upcoming chips. 

In PCMark10, the Core i7 11700K is marked as having achieved 7927 and sits sandwiched between the company's own Core i9 10900K (with 7904) and AMD's Ryzen 5600X (with 8018). And in Fire Strike Extreme tests, the 11th gen chip holds a score of 16,572 for the graphics test, and 15844 in the general test. In both cases, it trumps the Ryzen 7 5800X by a hair and falls just short of the Ryzen 5 5600X—though it puts up a good fight.

"It is clear that the Intel Core i7 11700K is the most powerful Intel processor in gaming..."

Monstru, Lab 501

In terms of its capability in handling physics, while chips like the Ryzen 9 5950X and even the Ryzen 7 5800X score in excess of 30,000 points, the Core i7 looks to be lagging behind by quite a margin, barely beating the Ryzen 5 5600Xs score of 25,853 with a relatively meagre 25,984.

What's more, considering the somewhat mediocre scores above, the CPU's power draw is something to behold—and not in a good way. At 286W, the Core i7 11700K draws more power than the 10980XE and is second only to the monster Core i9 10900K's 354W in terms of raw power usage. 

These power consumption numbers would point to the 11th gen chips running pretty hot, but with max CPU temperature readings sitting at 71°C, it looks like the testbed's Noctua NH-D15 cooling has done its job impressively well.

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The chip was also tested for relative game performance at 4K, 1440p, and 1080p. With the overall results rounded up by the following statement:

"It is clear that the Intel Core i7 11700K is the most powerful Intel processor in gaming, but slightly lagging behind the new AMD monsters in the Ryzen 5000 series."

It continues "In GTA V, Shadow of War, Batman AK and Ashes of the Singularity, Intel Core i7 11700K obtains similar results with 10900K, or better, being surpassed by AMD processors from Ryzen 5000 series. In Metro Exodus the processors obtain similar results, Intel Core i7 11700K matching AMD processors."

In fact, in several other games listed, the Intel Core i7 11700K "surpasses all the processors," altogether topping the benchmarks in half of the game tests listed.

So there you have it, the Core i7 11700K—or at least this engineering sample—is looking like quite the beast, though AMD still takes the crown. And remember, although the source article may be extremely detailed, we always warn that even if it is accurate now (which may not be the case), things certainly have the potential to change before it hits the market around late March.

Katie Wickens
Hardware Writer

Screw sports, Katie would rather watch Intel, AMD and Nvidia go at it. Having been obsessed with computers and graphics for three long decades, she took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni, and has been demystifying tech and science—rather sarcastically—for three years since. She can be found admiring AI advancements, scrambling for scintillating Raspberry Pi projects, preaching cybersecurity awareness, sighing over semiconductors, and gawping at the latest GPU upgrades. She's been heading the PCG Steam Deck content hike, while waiting patiently for her chance to upload her consciousness into the cloud.