PC enthusiasts following the gladiatorial match between AMD and Intel for the past few years have regularly enjoyed the fruits of this intense competition. It has led to remarkable changes in the CPU industry, including the addition of more CPU cores, hybrid architectures, and 3D V-Cache, among countless others. All of these changes, in one way or another, have made processors faster for both gaming and productivity. The latest release from Intel comes in the form of the 13th-Gen Raptor Lake desktop CPUs, and it seems to be a preemptive strike designed to dull the AMD party, who recently came out with the Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 processors. But how do the new Intel 13th-Gen processors stack up against the Ryzen 7000 series? Is it a home run or merely a bunt? Let’s find out in this detailed explainer about the newly launched Intel 13th-Gen desktop processors.
The Raptor Lake announcement has presented us with some fascinating details about what Intel wants to do with their new desktop CPUs. In this article, we will explore all the important aspects of the release, from looking at changes in the architecture to pricing and more. This period might just be the most exciting time for a PC fan in over a decade, as multiple battles are taking place all over the industry.
Intel 13th Gen CPU Models and SpecificationsIntel 13th-Gen CPU ArchitectureIntel 13th Gen Processor: New Features
Intel Thread Director 2Updated Intel Extreme UtilityIntel 13th Gen: PerformanceIntel 13th-Gen Raptor Lake Motherboard and ChipsetIntel 13th-Gen Processors: PriceIntel 13th-Gen Processors: Release Date
Intel Thread Director 2Updated Intel Extreme Utility
Intel 13th Gen CPU Models and Specifications
Now before we have a look into the details of the Intel 13th-Gen architecture, let us start with a general overview of the entire CPU lineup. For now, Intel has only released details for six processors from the entire lineup, but they have reiterated that there will be 22 desktop-class processors in total. That said, let’s look at how the announced CPUs are differentiated below:
Processor NameProcessor Cores / ThreadsCache Size (L3/L2)Turbo Frequency (P/E)Base Frequency (P/E)Base Power(in watts)Est. PriceCore i9-13900K24 (8P, 16E) / 3236MB / 32MB5.8GHz/ 4.3GHz3.0GHz/ 2.2GHz125W$589Core i9-13900KF24 (8P, 16E) / 3236MB / 32MB5.8GHz/ 4.3GHz3.0GHz/ 2.2GHz125W$564Core i7-13700K16 (8P, 8E) / 2430MB / 24MB5.4GHz/ 4.2GHz3.4GHz/ 2.5GHz125W$409Core i7-13700K16 (8P, 8E) / 2430MB / 24MB5.4GHz/ 4.2GHz3.4GHz/ 2.5GHz125W$384Core i5-13600K14 (6p, 8E) / 2024MB / 20MB5.1GHz/ 3.9GHz3.5GHz/ 2.6GHz125W$319Core i5-13600KF14 (6p, 8E) / 2024MB / 20MB5.1GHz/ 3.9GHz3.5GHz/ 2.6GHz125W$294
The next CPU in the lineup is the Core i7-13700K, which comes with 16 cores in total (8P and 8E cores). Just like the i9-13900K, Intel Core i7-13700K also gets extra Efficiency cores (bumped up from 4 to 8 cores), along with a similar 0.6 GHz clock speed boost. Priced at around $400, a bit lower than the 13th-Gen Core i9 models, the i7-13700K seems to be the CPU that will be this generation’s “bread and butter” gaming processor. Its 16 cores will be a sweet spot to give optimal performance in video games for at least a few years.
Now that you are familiar with the new models, let’s look at the Intel 13th-Gen CPU architecture. Almost every year, like clockwork, Intel rolls out a new processor generation that is a little bit more powerful than the earlier version and a little more efficient. However, with the introduction of Alder Lake CPUs last year, Intel made a much larger shift than usual and debuted an entirely new chip architecture.
With the 13th-Gen processors, however, we don’t see any fundamental shift in the manufacturing process. Intel’s 13th-Gen CPUs use the same Intel 7 process (Intel’s in-house 10nm manufacturing process) that was used for the 12th-Gen processors. No, the company is yet to catch up to AMD, who is using a 5nm process node for their latest Ryzen 7000 processors.
The architectural improvements have also led to some impressive efficiency gains. A graph presented by Intel (attached above) shows that the Core i9-13900K seems to deliver a similar level of multi-threaded performance to the i9-12900K, at only 65 W, which then increases to 41% at the maximum power consumption of 253 watts. The maximum power consumption of the 13th-Gen i9 chip is a tad higher than the previous-gen, but the fact that Raptor Lake can keep up with Alder Lake when consuming 3x less power is impressive.
Intel 13th Gen Processor: New Features
Now that we have looked at hardware improvements, let’s talk about the additional features that the new 13th-Gen Raptor Lake processors bring in tow. Since the architecture is rather similar, Intel has not included many new features but has enhanced many of the previous ones found in their Alder Lake CPUs. Let’s have a look:
The first feature we will look at is Intel’s new Thread Director 2 tech. What is it, you ask? Thread Director is a hardware-based technology that provides enhanced telemetry data to the Windows scheduler, which then intelligently distributes workloads to the optimal cores. It’s a feature that Intel first released with their 12th-Gen processors to help make the best use of their “Hybrid” architecture. But as many tech experts claim, it didn’t work as well as it should have.
With the 13th Gen CPUs, Intel has made important changes to the Thread Director, and according to a recent hands-on video by PCWorld, the new version of Thread Director seems to perform better, as it is shown to intelligently and rapidly adapt to different kinds of workload. The Intel representatives, however, pointed out that users should be on Windows 11 to make optimum use of this feature, as Windows 10 does not support Thread Director.
Image Credits: Intel
The other impressive feature that sees an upgrade is Intel Extreme Utility, which can now be used along with Intel’s Speed optimizer for easier overclocking. Intel claims that overclocking no longer has to be this complicated task that can only be achieved by tech savvies, but a feature that is accessible to all. There is also enhanced support for Intel’s XMP 3.0, which makes overclocking the memory as simple as overclocking the CPU.
Coming to the performance, we have some estimates of how powerful the new Intel 13th-Gen processor will be, thanks to the several graphs Intel showed off at their announcement. Most of the graphs that Intel showed highlight that the 13th-Gen chips are going to be much faster in gaming and content creation than Zen 3 (yeah, Zen 3 and not Zen 4 as they are not yet available in the market for them to test) and Alder Lake chips. But by how much exactly?
There are many ways in which you can compare the performance of a processor, but the way Intel has tried to break it down is by looking at performance improvements that the new Intel Core i9-13900K see against the i9-12900K, Intel’s previous-gen flagship, and AMD’s last-gen flagship chip, the Ryzen 9 5950X.
In most scenarios, as claimed by Intel, the Core i9-13900K delivers 15 percent better performance in single-threaded applications. But it can go up to 41 percent in multi-threaded tasks over the Core i9-12900K. In a fascinating graph breakdown, Intel further shows us that the difference in single-threaded performance comes from a variety of aspects such as an increase in clock speeds, upgrades in memory speeds, and the addition of extra cache. Whereas the multi-threaded improvements come primarily from the increase in core counts (extra efficiency cores) and boost in frequencies.
Let’s talk about the gaming performance of Intel’s 13th-Gen processors next. In a gaming performance graph shared by Intel, we can see that improvements in both architecture and clock speeds have led to a performance advantage anywhere from 6% in some games like World of Warcraft to over 58% in others like Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered over AMD’s last-gen flagship Ryzen 9 5950X. The performance upgrade is impressive, as 5950X was already a monster in games, so a 50% upgrade over an older-generation flagship is nothing to scoff at.
Apart from gaming, Intel also shared that creative professionals will also see some benefits if they upgrade to the new 13th-Gen processors. Intel claims that the 13th-Gen i9-13900K will be 27 percent quicker than i9-12900K in photo-video workflow applications like Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Photoshop. And up to 34 percent faster in game development applications like Blender and Unreal engine.
During the announcement, Intel also showed us the new motherboard chipset that will accompany the 13th Gen processors – the Z790. At the outset, it doesn’t seem like a significant upgrade from the previous-generation Z690 motherboards, but Intel has revealed that there are some small improvements in the chipset.
Intel 13th-Gen Processors: Price
Now that we have covered the specifications and performance, it is time to move on to the more interesting aspects. Many of you must be wondering – How much will the Intel 13th-Gen Raptor Lake CPUs cost and when will they be released? Well, here’s the answer.
- Core i9-13900K — $589Core i9-13900KF — $564Core i7-13700K — $409Core i7-13700KF — $385Core i5-13600K — $320Core i5-13600KF — $295
Intel 13th-Gen Processors: Release Date
As for availability, Intel has stated that the first six 13th-Gen K-series desktop processors and the Z790 motherboards will be available to buy starting 20th October. Intel also said that this release date will apply to pre-built desktop systems, which will be sold by third-party OEMs like MSI, Asus, and many others. The release date for the other 16 desktop processors has still not been announced till now, but we presume, it is going to be sometime early next year.
Intel has been in great form for the past two years, after being taken by surprise by AMD at the tail end of the 2010s. There was a time when AMD had a lead over Intel in every aspect from the newer manufacturing process to core counts. AMD was set to dominate Intel in the chip market, and for a while, they did. But with the coming of the 12th-Gen Alder Lake CPUs, Intel hit back and took the lead in both gaming as well as productivity performance.
