AMD Zen 4 "Raphael" CPUs reportedly launching well ahead of Intel's 13th gen "Raptor Lake" chips and taking the efficiency crown

We previously reported that Intel is planning to introduce the 13^th gen “Raptor Lake” processors in September with availability expected in October. The information correlates with the leaks uncovered by Tom Moore’s Law is Dead a while ago. In his latest video, Tom expounds on the release date of Intel Raptor Lake and AMD Zen 4 “Raphael” chips.

According to Tom, Intel is planning to “paper launch” Raptor Lake CPUs in early or mid-September. But it is not until late October or November that consumers will start seeing the processors on shelves.

On the other hand, AMD is already “sending out NDAs for Zen 4” per the leaker. Zen 4 is supposedly right on schedule and will launch up to a month before Raptor Lake. AMD is also launching all Zen 4 SKUs together along with X670 and X670E motherboards. Cheaper B650 and B650E will reportedly make their way to the market later. Tom also touches on the AM5 motherboard issues that he heard about last month. The leaker claims all issues have been fixed and AM5 platform issues aren’t holding the Zen 4 launch back anymore.

Finally, doubling down on his previous rumors, Tom suspects AMD and Intel to trade blows in single-core and multi-core performance without any company taking home wins in all departments. That said, both companies expect AMD to claim the efficiency crown.

The fight between Zen 4 and Raptor Lake is heating up with rumors pointing towards considerable performance gains for both. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in each department.

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