Intel 11th Gen Core i9-11900K & 11600K Review [Part 1]

[Gouhan]

It’s finally here, Intel 11th Gen Core CPUs. Mainly the Core i9-11900K and Core i5-11600K CPU which we review today. Obviously there exists many other SKUs including the 11700K, however this is the 1st part of our 3 part review. Today we look at what Intel has brought us and what we should expect in the latest games and what the 500 series platform brings.

 

[Gouhan]

Okay I only looked at everyone else's benchmarks now in the evening and I must say I disagree with the numbers they have produced.
Or rather I don't doubt their numbers at all, as I can reproduce them but it's most certainly using an older microcode.
My review was delayed and basically I was sleepless because I had to redo all testing (including benchmarks not included here like Spi 32M) with the newest BIOS with the newest microcode that came in Friday evening.

ASRock's BIOS with this same microcode came in literally today as version 1.5 (my board had 1.4 on it)

Either way, the reason the microcode matters is because it alters performance dramatically. Adding anywhere between 2 to 10% in performance and in some instances much more.
on the Hero board, 0610 is the old slow firmware, 0703 is the fast BIOS and I see many of the reviews used with the older BIOS and microcode.

With the results I gathered, the 11th gen really is the fastest gaming CPU on the market. With the older BIOS it was slower even than 10th gen.