
Intel’s Thirteenth-generation CPUs are lastly right here, however what will we consider the i9-13900K to date?
Up to date: Oct 20, 2022 2:00 pm
Intel has lastly launched its Thirteenth era Raptor lake CPUs, and what a stir they’ve triggered. On this article, we’ll discover the specs, worth, efficiency, and use case of the 13900K. In addition to giving our opinion on the CPU and era itself.
Now learn: The place to purchase Intel i9-13900K
Within the crosshairs at present is the i9-13900K. Intel’s flagship Thirteenth-generation CPU.


Intel Core i9-13900K
Base velocity
P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz
Increase velocity
P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz
Core i9-13900K CPU specs
The 13900K is designed to be the very best of the very best, it’s Intel’s new flagship CPU for the Raptor Lake era. Intel’s 13900K spares no expense with regards to efficiency.
The specs for the i9-13900K are as follows:
Core i9-13900K what’s new?
Apparently sufficient, regardless of the Thirteenth-generation being similar to the Twelfth-generation CPUs internally, even being constructed on the identical Intel 7 10nm course of node. However Intel has managed to make some fairly critical enhancements over Alder Lake.

Hyperthreaded E-cores
For example, the break up core know-how is right here to remain, solely this time with a really clear distinction. And we’re not simply speaking in regards to the variety of cores.
Half of the 16 E-cores are hyperthreaded this time round, giving the 13900K a critical benefit in core and thread counts over the 12900K and even the 7950X. This implies the general IPC goes to be vastly improved over earlier generations, with out taking over far more area on the CCD.
Many of the new options include the Z790 motherboards, and we’ll cowl that in one other piece. However you may count on PCIe 5.0 help and quicker DDR5 reminiscence help on the Z790 platform.
TDP
The TDP has seen a large improve as much as 253W in some instances, that means you’ll want a fairly beefy cooler to maintain the 13900K cool. That is solely a small improve over Alder Lakes’s finest, however as you’ll quickly see this turns into a problem.
Intel Core i9-13900K efficiency
We examined the i9-13900K on a take a look at bench comprised of solely the most recent and biggest {hardware}. Our take a look at bench was comprised of the next parts:
- Intel Core i9-13900K
- ASUS ROG RYUJIN ii 360 CPU cooler
- ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Excessive
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR5 @5600Mhz
- MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3080
- Fractal Design ION+ 860W
- Samsung 860 Evo
For almost all of the take a look at, we will likely be evaluating the 13900K with the 7900X, we all know it makes extra sense to match with the 7950X, however these two CPUs are nearer in worth.
Intel Core i9-13900K artificial benchmarks
Right here we ran the 13900K by all of the artificial fan favorites, resembling CPU Z, Cinebench R23, and Geekbench 5. Reporting on each single and multi-core efficiency all through. As you’ll quickly see, this 13900K is a beast in its personal proper.

As you may see, the 13900K is kind of the CPU, now onto the outcomes:
CPU-Z
First on the listing is the CPU-Z benchmarks. The 13900K scored a complete of 933 factors within the single-core benchmarks and 16,812 factors within the multi-core benchmarks. That is a lot better than the 7900X’s rating of 789 factors and 11,827 factors respectively.
Cinebench R23
The Cinebench scores present a mighty CPU within the making, tackling the CB single-core render with a rating of two,288 and scoring a large 38,951 factors within the multi-core render. These additional cores and threads are actually serving to the 13900K out in multi-threaded benchmarks.
Geekbench 5
The Geekbench outcomes are the collective single and multi-core outcomes, as they are going to suffice for comparative functions. The 13900K scored a large 2,224 within the single-core benchmarks and introduced house a rating of 25,102. Against this, the 7900X managed 2,259 single and 18,720 multi. Probably because of Ryzen’s proficiency in AI-accelerated workloads.
Intel Core i9-13900K real-world gaming benchmarks
We put the i9-13900K by its paces in not solely artificial workloads however real-world gaming workloads too. Listed below are 5 fashionable video games we opted to check the 13900K in.
We’re once more evaluating the 13900K’s efficiency to that of the 7900X akin to the artificial portion of this text.

These are the video games we examined and the outcomes we discovered whereas benchmarking. The entire video games are examined in 1080p and on low settings, apart from CS:GO which is about on excessive.
Intel Core i9-13900K gaming benchmarks
As you may see from the desk above, the 13900K can maintain its personal with regards to gaming efficiency.
First up, in Cyberpunk 2077, the 13900K managed a 185 FPS common, whereas the 7900X solely managed a 174 FPS common. The upper clock velocity of the 13900K coming to the rescue right here.
In Elden Ring, it’s the same story. The i9-13900K brings in a median of 175 FPS and against this, the 7900X manages a 157 FPS common. The 13900K is the clear winner as soon as once more.
In CS:GO it’s a lot of the identical, with the 113900K bringing house 362 FPS on common. Contrasted by the 7900X’s 389 FPS common. Who’d have thought the 7900X may come out on high, in E-sports titles of all issues?
Lastly, we’ve GTA V, the benchmark portion of GTA V was used to remove discrepancies, and each CPUs rating the very same common FPS. Each the 13900K and the 7900XC managed 157 FPS. seems to be like we’re GPU sure in GTA V. regardless of the low settings.
Intel Core i9-13900K efficiency overview
Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, said at Intel’s newest innovation occasion that the efficiency of the Thirteenth era over Alder Lake can be large, and he wasn’t mistaken.
The projected efficiency improve was round a 15% single-core efficiency uplift and round a 46% efficiency uplift on multi-core capabilities. And he wasn’t far off.

The 13900K manages to dominate in each benchmark apart from the AI and decoding-based Geekebench 5 benchmark.

The 13900K additionally managed to tug extra FPS out of each sport we examined, aside from CS:GO, which is so well-optimized that we’re fairly positive it could actually run on a potato.
The elevated core increase speeds and improve within the variety of cores, threads, and the addition of hyperthreaded E-cores convey the 13900K to the forefront of efficiency. Taking the business by storm.
Intel Core i9-13900K iGPU efficiency.
The iGPU that resides within the Thirteenth-generation of Intel CPUs is the very same one that may be discovered contained in the Twelfth-generation processors. The Intel UHD 770 iGPU.
We additionally examined the Intel iGPU to see if its efficiency has been improved during the last generations utility of it.

To begin with, we examined the iGPU in 3DMARK’s Time Spy. In Time Spy, the 13900K managed to attain a decent 1,388 factors in 1080P, that’s means forward of the 7900X’s 739 factors. Nevertheless, the 7900X solely had two computing items to work with.
Each GTA V and CS:GO really wielded related outcomes, with a 64 FPS common and a 60 FPS common respectively. Not a horrible efficiency, after all, the settings have been set to the bottom of the low in GTA V however set to excessive in CS:GO. Each video games have been examined at 1080P.
These outcomes appear unusual in comparison with the 7900X’s outcomes. Because the 7900X managed 54 FPS in GTA V, however 131 FPS in CSGO, a lot decrease efficiency in GTA V, however a lot larger in CS:GO. We do know simply how highly effective the brand new RDNA 2 structure is, and it’s unusual to see it have such an affinity for older video games.
The Intel Core i9-13900K runs sizzling, too sizzling
We are able to clearly see that Intel has packed lots of efficiency into its new Thirteenth-generation CPUs. However is there such a factor as an excessive amount of?
We ran a take a look at on the 13900K with the ASUS Ryujin ii 360MM CPU cooler, on no account a slouch on this planet of CPU cooling. In actual fact, it’s up there as top-of-the-line we’ve ever examined. Why are we hammering house the effectiveness of the Ryujin ii a lot? Right here’s why.

We ran an AIDA64 stress take a look at, stressing each FPU and CPU, and we managed to drive the 13900K as much as 105°C, with AIDA reporting 13% thermal throttling, we’re positive we don’t must let you know how unhealthy that is, however that proper there’s a 13% lack of CPU effectiveness due to the 13900K’s large TDP.
Now, a stress take a look at is a worst-case situation, and we’re positive no person will ever meet these ranges of CPU stress in regular day-to-day utilization and even heavy gaming. However the reality we will get the 13900K to those temperatures with a £280 360mm AIO CPU cooler is unacceptable.
In case you have an older, smaller AIO CPU cooler and even an air-based cooler, you may most likely kiss proudly owning a 13900K goodbye.
Intel core i9-13900K worth
The Intel Core i9-13900K could be had for a large, large, gargantuan … $589 USD. We checked this thrice, and that’s the precise worth. As we talked about earlier on within the overview, the rationale we’re evaluating to the 7900X is that they’re virtually the identical worth.

Contemplating that the 7950X prices over $100 extra and doesn’t carry out all that higher in even multi-core workloads, it’s getting troublesome to discover a motive to go together with AMD this time round. Strengthened by the actual fact you must purchase a brand new motherboard to help AMD’s latest CPUs. with Intel, that’s not a necessity.
Intel Core i9-13900K professionals and cons
The Intel Core i9-13900K has one obtrusive downside, and for as soon as it’s not the worth. It’s the warmth, the 13900K runs means too sizzling when burdened for our liking and it may even find yourself being detrimental to your {hardware} in the event you run your CPUs near 100% continuously.


Intel Core i9-13900K
Base velocity
P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz
Increase velocity
P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz
Execs
- Highly effective single and multi-core efficiency
- Excessive increase speeds
- improved L2 cache capability
- 32 logical processors
On the flip facet, the 13900K is really a fabulous CPU, simply packed to the brim with efficiency, the additional benefit is, you don’t even have to fret about upgrading your motherboard to get these new ranges of efficiency. It’s simply an possibility.
In the event you upgraded when Alder Lake was launched, you may actually simply whack your new 13900K within the LGA 1700 socket in your motherboard with out having to fret about compatibility (it’s not but sure whether or not you’ll want a BIOS replace, nevertheless).
The 13900K is fairly cost-effective whenever you have a look at it, the flagship prices the identical because the 2nd finest CPU on workforce Purple’s latest line-up. However, is that as a result of we’re trying on the true flagship? Or is that this the 2nd finest in Intel’s class additionally?
Flagship or not?
Is the 13900K Intel’s latest flagship CPU? Properly, ye sit is type of. Nevertheless, CEO, Pat Gelsinger, revealed that there will likely be a flagship CPU able to 6GHz clock speeds out of the field, this clearly have to be referring to the 13900KS.

The i9-13900KS has not been introduced anyplace as of but, however Alder Lake bought the 12900KS so many individuals are skeptical as as to if we’ll see one from Raptor Lake, because the final KS earlier than Alder Lake was again on ninth gen. Solely time will inform.
Ultimate phrase
We predict that the 13900K is completely value each penny in the event you’ve already upgraded to socket LGA 1700, you might have some DDR5 reminiscence already, and a really beefy CPU cooler. In the event you’re a gamer and solely plan on gaming, then you can save a buck or two by choosing one thing a little bit decrease than the flagship that also gives good single-core efficiency.
The warmth points do must be addressed, though we didn’t see any throttling whereas gaming that we may see. The actual fact we will get the 13900K to throttle with such environment friendly cooling {hardware} is worrisome.
In case you have the spare money, and cooling headroom, we expect the 13900K will make a superb 12900K / KS substitute, particularly in the event you’re somebody who makes use of lots of the CPU’s multi-core strengths.