Intel Core i7-11700K Review: Blasting Off with Rocket Lake
by Dr. Ian Cutress on March 5, 2021 4:30 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- 14nm
- Xe-LP
- Rocket Lake
- Cypress Cove
- i7-11700K
Gaming Tests: Final Fantasy XV
Upon arriving to PC, Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition was given a graphical overhaul as it was ported over from console. As a fantasy RPG with a long history, the fruits of Square-Enix’s successful partnership with NVIDIA are on display. The game uses the internal Luminous Engine, and as with other Final Fantasy games, pushes the imagination of what we can do with the hardware underneath us. To that end, FFXV was one of the first games to promote the use of ‘video game landscape photography’, due in part to the extensive detail even at long range but also with the integration of NVIDIA’s Ansel software, that allowed for super-resolution imagery and post-processing effects to be applied.
In preparation for the launch of the game, Square Enix opted to release a standalone benchmark. Using the Final Fantasy XV standalone benchmark gives us a lengthy standardized sequence to record, although it should be noted that its heavy use of NVIDIA technology means that the Maximum setting has problems - it renders items off screen. To get around this, we use the standard preset which does not have these issues. We use the following settings:
- 720p Standard, 1080p Standard, 4K Standard, 8K Standard
For automation, the title accepts command line inputs for both resolution and settings, and then auto-quits when finished. As with the other benchmarks, we do as many runs until 10 minutes per resolution/setting combination has passed, and then take averages. Realistically, because of the length of this test, this equates to two runs per setting.
| AnandTech | Low Resolution Low Quality |
Medium Resolution Low Quality |
High Resolution Low Quality |
Medium Resolution Max Quality |
| Average FPS |  |
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| 95th Percentile |  |
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In more CPU limited scenarios, the 11700K shows generational improvements over other Intel processors, but as the resolution or quality increases, we end up being GPU limited and all the CPUs even out.
All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
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Hifihedgehog - Friday, March 12, 2021 - link
LOL. Fanboy delusion.First off, let's take a quick looksie at the Cinebench R20 results:
https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hard...
When switching from BIOS version 0402 to 0603, the 11700K's single-threaded performance actually DROPS from a score of 609 to 600. And its multicore performance is still less than the 10900K and the 5800X.
Switching gears, the games are no less unflattering:
https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hard...
The 11700K there, regardless of which of the two BIOS releases it uses, often loses to the 10900K and Ryzen 5000 series. It loses to the Ryzen 5000 series and 10900K in THREE out of the four games: The Division 2, Metro Exodus, The Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
In short: dude, what are you smoking?
Technobile - Friday, March 12, 2021 - link
The 10700K costs a pittance at the minute, and after the final bios and microcode 11700K will be around 15 to 20% faster than it. Both a bargain when the only other option is dealing with the 'quirks' (to be kind) of an AMD systemQasar - Friday, March 12, 2021 - link
" The 10700K costs a pittance at the minute, and after the final bios and microcode 11700K will be around 15 to 20% faster than it " i will believe that, when i see it, honestly, that is hopeful thinking." Both a bargain when the only other option is dealing with the 'quirks' (to be kind) of an AMD system " and intel has had its own quirks over the years.
dsplover - Saturday, March 13, 2021 - link
They’re just doing this to give the impression they’re relevant. It’s safe to assume they’ll retake some market share but AMD took servers, laptop and desktop sectors by storm while Intel keeps moving old designs out the door.AMD 5750G, if it exists will render Intel designs useless this summer, while Intel struggles to get Alder Lake up and running.
Motherboard manufacturers will get tired of chasing new sockets after AM5 comes out.
What happened to these guys? It’s embarrassing and I’m an i7 fan boy..
GeoffreyA - Saturday, March 13, 2021 - link
"What happened to these guys?"My guess would be: complacency, underestimating the enemy, putting eggs in too many dead-end baskets, and management that made a mess of excellent engineering talent.
CiccioB - Sunday, March 14, 2021 - link
When reading this I think some of you just ended their school yesterday (with poor results) and just came here to say the first thing they think it is pro AMD. Just to give a (poor) contribution to what they think is an easy (for everyone) task as beating a dead horse (Intel).
I may shock you if I say that that "chasing designs" effort is the secret trick for motherboard producer too... surprise surprise.. MAKE MONEY!
So they do not get tired to do anything if this means selling more motherboards, and this just happens if you have to change your motherboards every couple of generations.
And I may shock you even more if I say you that those that make an upgrade using the same motherboard is just a so small number that no motherboard producer is really interested in supporting.
Usually when you change your CPU you just do not want only it to go a little faster but you want also the new technological improvements that meantime have been created, from faster bus, new and more connectors (M2 vs SATA), faster USBs, Thunderbolts, better memory support and such.
And this doesn't come if you do not also change the motherboard.
And to have and propose a better motherboard to sell, guess what? Yes, motherboard producer have to play the "chasing designs" game.
rfxcasey - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
Yeah "useless", please, all of this is splitting hairs, none of these processors are even close to being "useless".rfxcasey - Wednesday, March 17, 2021 - link
To me, looks like the i7 10700k holds it's own against the 5800x in gaming performance and is much cheaper.rfxcasey - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
i7 10700K actually beating the 5800x in many game benchmarks. I don't have a preference between AMD and Intel generally, but the i7 10700K is a great gaming processor, Intel did seem to make an embarrassing move with the 11th Gen, but for the cost, the 10700k a top, possibly THE top gaming CPU.quadibloc - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
When an official review comes in, with all the details, things may look a little better. But even now, I see one thing that's being overlooked. Since these chips have AVX-512, where that can be used, that will double their performance compared to processors that only have AVX-256. Except, of course, for the necessary slowdown for thermal reasons. So on workloads that involve a lot of AVX-512, they should really shine instead of being as terribly lackluster as they appear when that isn't taken into account.