Intel Core i9-13900K

amazon Intel Core i9-13900K reviews

Intel’s approach to the Core i9-13900K is significantly different than AMD’s approach to the new Zen 4 processor. While AMD’s Zen 4 design is a big difference from its Zen 3 architecture, Intel’s Raptor Lake design is an iteration of the Alder Lake that preceded it – AMD is pushing performance and efficiency with fewer cores, while Intel is upgrading them and achieving amazing results.

However, the new Core i9 does manage better in all areas, especially in terms of heat and power consumption. But if your top priority is getting the fastest performance possible, then the Core i9-13900K at its current price point is the best processor you can buy.

Design: Alder Lake, but bigger

Intel’s 12th generation processor family, otherwise known as “Alder Lake”, marked a significant change in the way the company builds its processors.

While the Alder Lake Core i9-12900K has eight P-Core and eight E-Core, the new Core i9-13900K contains eight P-Core and 16 E-Core. Intel also increased the size of the L3 and L2 cache on the Core i9-13900K, giving it 36MB of L3 cache and 32MB of L2 cache. The Core i9-12900K’s L3 cache pool isn’t much smaller at 30MB, but its L2 cache is significantly smaller at just 14 MB. Clock speeds are also increased on both processor cores, with the Core i9-13900K’s P-Core performing 600 MHz faster than the Core i9-12900K’s P-Core and the Core i9-13900K’s E-Core operating higher than 400 MHz.

Last but not least, the maximum supported memory speed has also increased from 4,800 MHz on Alder Lake to 5,600 MHz on Raptor Lake. Overall, Raptor Lake is not significant difference from Alder Lake in terms of the overall design. Instead, Raptor Lake gets most of the performance gains simply by running faster and having more cache and cores to do the job.

Chipset Z790

Raptor Lake processors will run fine inside existing Alder Lake motherboards, but Intel has also launched a new Z790 chipset for Raptor Lake. The Z790 chipset can support eight more PCI-E 4.0 lanes compared to the Z690, and it can also support one more USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. The chipset’s built-in Wi-Fi controller is also now based on the Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E design.

Review of CPU performance Core i9-13900K

The AIDA64 cache and cache bandwidth test is a useful tool for evaluating processor capabilities. Keeping a processor fed with data is essential to maximize its performance and prevent outages, but these numbers should be considered carefully. Different processor designs respond differently to changes in cache size and memory bandwidth.

Due to the higher supported memory speeds, the memory bandwidth of the Core i9-13900K is the highest among all the chips. The processor also shows excellent L1 cache bandwidth, much better than the Core i9-12900K. Even so, the Core i9-13900K’s L2 cache performance is not high and lags behind AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X.

When it comes to CPU raw performance, the Core i9-13900K can outperform all the competing CPUs in the ranking. AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X turned the Core i9-13900K back and came close to matching it in some tests, and it took the lead to win lightly in Adobe Premiere Pro’s test. However, in terms of pure CPU performance, the Core i9-13900K is the better of the two chips.

Power Consumption and Temperature

The system with the Core i9-13900K used more power during this test than any other processor we’ve tested so far. The chip also got hot during testing and regularly reached 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), the hottest of these CPUs, but also the officially listed safe maximum operating temperature. While power efficiency certainly seems inferior to the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, we can’t beat the Core i9-13900K because of the high operating temperatures.

Intel Core i9-13900K review: The most powerful processor to date

If you’re looking for something primarily for gaming, there are plenty of other options you can consider, as the Core i9-13900K doesn’t offer much of a performance edge over the Core i5-12600K, such as Core i5-12600K, Ryzen 7 7700X, or even Ryzen 7 5700X.

With the CPU test scores seen, there’s no doubt that Intel’s Core i9-13900K is an impressive CPU so far. Compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, these chips perform similarly in many tests, but the Core i9-13900K is the better choice. Why? Because it costs less, at $589 compared to the $699 for the Ryzen 9 7950X.

If you’re looking for something primarily for gaming, there are plenty of other options you can consider, as the Core i9-13900K doesn’t offer much of a performance edge over the Core i5-12600K, such as Core i5-12600K, Ryzen 7 7700X, or even Ryzen 7 5700X.

Ultimately, if you’re looking at the Core i9-13900K as an upgrade option, it all depends on what you’re currently running. There’s a lot of extra performance in the Core i9-13900K compared to even the likes of the Core i5-12600K or the Core i9-11900K. If you have a PC running an 11th-generation processor or higher, or you have a lower-end Alder Lake CPU, the Core i9-13900K could be a great upgrade.

where can you get a Intel Core i9-13900K online

Intel Core i9-13900K Desktop Processor 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) 36M Cache, up to 5.8 GHz: Buy it now

Intel Core i9-13900KF Desktop Processor 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) 36M Cache, up to 5.8 GHz: Buy it now

Intel Core i9-13900K Desktop Processor 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) 36M Cache, up to 5.8 GHz: Buy it now

Intel Core i9-13900KF Desktop Processor 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) 36M Cache, up to 5.8 GHz: Buy it now