But the problem is that the Core i5 13600KF is faster in gaming and faster in non-gaming applications:
OcUK Intel Raptor Lake review thread
Because you can use 8000 ddr5 ram on the Intel, and you can't on AMD? With 3D memory of CPUs and Direct Storage on GPUs, next year is the year RAM goes to die doesn't have any affect on gaming anymoreforums.overclockers.co.uk
Look through the figures - once I compiled the review thread and started reading the reviews I was surprised.
You have to consider its not just 6 "big" cores,but 8 "small" cores with Skylake level performance. Its like having a downclocked Core i7 9700 plonked onto the six core Raptorlake CPU.
The Core i5 13600KF is as fast or faster than a Ryzen 7 7700X in many non-gaming benchmarks. It's frequently beating a Ryzen 9 5900X in video encoding benchmarks and at times can get close to a Ryzen 9 5950X!!
Its not even close in non-gaming scenarios at all,and the Ryzen 5 7600X is consistently slower overall. Even with DDR4 you are seeing at worst about 10% lower gaming and application performance,and a lot of times not even that.
The added problem,is that the Core i5 13600KF is £350ish. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is £420. So even if you get a £100 AM4 motherboard,you can still get a very good B660 DDR4 motherboard for £150~£160. The total price is about the same.
The Core i5 13600KF still wins in value. I can see a Core i5 13600KF lasting much longer. Plus think about gamers who stream or capture video,having 8 Skylake level cores will make a big difference for multi-tasking.
So you really are spending more with a slower Ryzen 5 7600X to try and become "future proof" and as a person who is on B450,AMD tried to stop Zen3 on 400 series motherboards. The amount of arguments I had on here when that happened,and only because of the backlash they relented. But they still removed PCI-E 4.0 from later AGESAs meaning B450/X470 lost partial or full PCI-E 4.0 support.
There is no guarantee that with Zen5 AMD might not have a technical hitch which means it needs newer motherboards. But even it works,a Ryzen 5 7600X will run out of steam quicker anyway which means you need to upgrade quicker. You need to price upgrades very carefully on the same socket otherwise,it does not add up financially. Many don't so it's not always cost effective staying on the same socket. I did,and stuck to my upgrade budget very strictly. If not it is more cost effective to sell what you have and change platforms.
It's a tough one for sure. I'm not sure there is a right option tbh, no doubt the 13600k is attractive but any option is decent here at the mid range and I think you could make arguments either way depending on what you have or if you are starting from scratch. What a time to live in aye, a time where we can actually argue that both are viable for a number of different reasons. Back in bulldozer era I couldn't even imagine having this conversation just a few short years later.