Intel’s 13th Gen processors arrive October 20th with $589 flagship Core i9-13900K

After weeks of teasers and leaks, Intel is yet making its 13th Gen processors authoritative today. Intel’s 13th Gen desktop CPUs volition commencement arriving connected October 20th, led by the flagship Core i9-13900K priced astatine $589. That’s the aforesaid terms arsenic Intel’s erstwhile 12900K flagship, contempt Intel’s warning of terms increases. Intel’s 13th Gen announcement comes conscionable arsenic AMD launches its caller Ryzen 7000 processors contiguous successful a conflict for desktop dominance.

Intel’s Core i9-13900K volition vessel with 24 cores, 32 threads, and timepiece speeds of up to 5.8GHz. Built connected Intel’s 7 process and its x86 show hybrid architecture, 13th Gen processors see Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores) that divided workloads intelligently utilizing Intel’s Thread Director, an embedded microcontroller wrong the CPU that monitors threads and ensures they’re moving connected the close cores.

Intel utilized this aforesaid architecture for its 12th Gen chips past year, and it’s a akin attack to what Apple has been doing with its Arm-based silicon. Instead of cramming caller chips afloat of power-hungry cores, this P-core / E-core divided should beryllium much efficient. Having said that, these 13th Gen chips present devour much powerfulness successful max turbo than their Alder Lake predecessors.

Intel’s 13th Gen of processors volition see 22 successful total, led by today’s Core “K” processors for the precise precocious extremity of user PCs. Intel is promising up to 15 percent amended single-thread show connected its Core i9-13900K and up to 41 percent amended multithreaded performance.

While Intel hasn’t bumped the fig of P-cores disposable connected its 13th Gen processors, the Core i5, i7, and i9 chips each person much E-cores, which should assistance successful multitasking and multithreaded apps. That works retired to 8 much E-cores connected the Core i9 and 4 much connected the Core i7 and Core i5 chips.

The basal frequencies for some types of cores person dropped crossed the Core i5, i7, and i9 chips. Instead, boost frequencies are up, which tin instrumentality the Core i9 each the mode to 5.8GHz. That’s 600MHz much than the 12900K, and connected the latest Core i7, it’s 400MHz more, with the Core i5 astatine 200MHz more. Intel besides teased a 6GHz-capable chip, but the institution isn’t announcing that today.

There’s besides PCIe Gen 5.0 enactment with up to 16 lanes disconnected the processor and DDR5-5600 and DDR5-5200 support. Intel is besides maintaining DDR4 compatibility for motherboard makers that privation to proceed shipping with DDR4 alternatively of DDR5. L3 and L2 cache person some been increased, too.

The existent communicative present is terms and powerfulness draw. Prices connected the Core i9 and Core i7 processors are amazingly the aforesaid arsenic past year, contempt Intel informing of terms increases to its flagship chips earlier this year. The Core i5 is the lone processor getting a terms bump, with the Core i5-13600K moving to $319, up from the $289 pricing of the Core i5-12600K. Similarly, the Core i5-13600KF (without built-in graphics) is priced astatine $294, up from the $264 of past year’s model. It remains to beryllium seen whether we really spot these suggested prices from retailers, though.

While terms increases person lone affected the Core i5 this year, powerfulness requirements are up each around. All Core i5, i7, and i9 chips person a basal powerfulness of 125 watts, but the Core i7 and Core i9 volition some request 253 watts for their max turbo power. That’s a 5 percent leap from the 241 watts connected the Core i9 past year, but it’s a monolithic 33 percent leap for the Core i7, which moves from 190 watts past twelvemonth to 253 watts for the 13th Gen. Intel’s Core i5-13600K present needs 181 watts for max turbo, up 20 percent from the 150 watts connected the Alder Lake version.

The Core i7 and Core i5 powerfulness requirements are surprising, particularly arsenic galore prime these chips for gaming erstwhile they don’t request the earthy powerfulness the Core i9 offers.

Intel’s 13th Gen processors besides motorboat alongside caller 700-series chipsets. Existing 600-series motherboards volition enactment these caller 13th Gen (Raptor Lake) chips, but the caller Z790 motherboards volition connection 8 further PCIe 4.0 lanes, accrued USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gbps) ports, and DMI Gen 4.0 for improved throughput entree to peripherals and networking.

The existent question volition beryllium however good the 13900K performs against AMD’s latest Ryzen 7950X and 7900X chips. Intel hasn’t made those nonstop comparisons yet, but it has offered up a fistful of benchmarks that amusement the 13900K some beating and losing to AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D. We’ll request to trial the 13900K to find retired however it truly performs successful gaming and beyond.

Intel’s 13th Gen desktop processors volition commencement shipping connected October 20th, alongside Z790 motherboards. Intel says it volition stock much details connected the remainder of the 13th Gen processor household “at a aboriginal date.”