Some retailers broke the embargo and started selling Intel Rocket Lake CPUs before they were supposed to. So AnandTech bought one and reviewed it now, far before the official NDA ends on March 30.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/16535/intel-core-i7-11700k-review-blasting-off-with-rocket-lakeThey got their hands on a Core i7-11700K. That is not the top bin, as there is also a Core i9-11900K clocked about 200 MHz higher. But they reviewed what they could.
The top line conclusion is that the 8-core Ryzen 7 5800X beat the Core i7-11700K at nearly everything, and usually comfortably. And the Ryzen CPU did so while using far less power than the Intel CPU. Intel won handily in the AVX-512 test, though it came at the expense of the CPU hitting 104 C with a high-end air cooler.
But you can't buy the Ryzen CPU, you say? It's in stock at MSRP right this second on New Egg:
https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-7-5800x/p/N82E16819113665
Comments
Demand is tapering off some because a lot of the people who were clamoring for one already have it by now. But EPYC Milan is coming soon, which will be another major use for the chiplet, as that should be by far the best server parts on the market. AMD will presumably launch another Threadripper generation at some point, too.
I think that the initial shortage was just caused by extra demand due to pandemic, on top of extra demand due to new product launch, on top of extra demand due to Christmas season. Now that at least Christmas season is over and extra demand due to new product launch is falling off, the inventory is slowly creeping back towards normal.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.