13th generation Core 'Raptor Lake' CPUs should be released later this year, but Intel and its partners are already preparing for its launch, so samples of these processors are in the wild. Someone with access to a Raptor Lake chip ran an Ashes of the Singularity benchmark and submitted its score to the database. The result confirms some of the rumored specifications of the CPU, including its ability to process up to 32 threads simultaneously.
The Ashes of the Singularity benchmark was run with the Min_1080p preset to eliminate the impact of GPU performance (a GeForce RTX 3090 was used) and showcase Intel's 32-thread CPU. Earlier leaks indicate that Intel's next-generation Raptor Lake CPU will pack eight (P)erformance cores with 2-way SMT as well as 16 (E)fficiency cores. So, the benchmark pretty much confirms this configuration.
However, the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark results (discovered by @Benchleaks) do not impress. The Raptor Lake processor scored 13400 points, whereas a similar machine with Intel's Core i9-12900K scored 13300 points.
However, there may be a plausible explanation for this behavior. Ashes of the Singularity is a very old game that can barely take advantage of more than eight CPU cores (or perhaps 16 threads?), and it does not seem to benefit from Intel's efficiency cores. Since Raptor Lake has the same number of P cores as Alder Lake, but more E cores, AOTS may not demonstrate any real performance advantages for the 13th generation processor.
Keeping in mind that we are dealing with a CPU that identifies itself as 'Genuine Intel(R) 0000' (like all early samples do), its benchmark results should be taken with a grain of salt.
While we are not going to make any final judgments about the performance of the Raptor Lake engineering sample, the key takeaway is that the CPU can process up to 32 threads simultaneously, which indirectly confirms 8P + 16E core configuration.
