Ugh, I was hoping for IPC improvements or process node improvements but what we have is just an overgrown Alder Lake with yet more power consumption to get the overclock higher.
I could have given Raptor lake some slack if it resulted in lower-tier models like an i5-13500 that had 6P+8E at reasonable power consuption, but no; The 13600K will be the smallest, cheapest Raptor Lake and that is already high-end enough that only the top 10% of buyers will spend that much. For the remaining 90% of the market, we just get rebranded Alder Lake models from 2021.
Given the global economic recession, cost of living increases, and exponentially rising energy costs, I feel like AMD may still have the upper hand here with far lower power consumption. When A620 boards or budget B650(non-E) boards are available, having a fast modern CPU that doesn't require replacing your PSU and cooling to use are both going to be points in AMD's favour.
