Amusing name aside, Intel’s new i9-13900KF Raptor Lake processor seems to be more than capable of offering extreme overclocking with its mid-range processors.
The CPUs and the leaks
Confirmed on Gygabyte, the Intel Z790 have all been listed on their site with the full specs and details on the updated chipsets. Not only that, but they have confirmed the full line-up of Intel CPUs from the new 13th Gen Core series even before Intel has. Officially, Intel is set to launch six models with both integrated and non-integrated graphics. Intel have not yet commented on any other models, but it is expected that at least sixteen other processors are to be released, as noted by Gygabyte. For now, we know that the 13th Gen K-Series is set to release this week, on October 20th.
Benchmarks
Leaving AMD fans in the lurch who are struggling to find low-end AM5 mainboards, Intel’s proof is in the pudding with their prices and benchmarking: the new i9 processor almost hit 6 GHz on a B660-based mainboard. Hungarian user ARABUS has taken the i9 processor and ASUS ROG STRIX B660-F GAMING WIFI mainboard and reached a speed of 5,974 MHz, all done whilst keeping the voltage levels between 1.55 and 1.57. For a mid-priced CPU, this is very impressive.
At an even bigger blow to AMD users, Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 chips need much more expensive mainboards to aim for this level of performance. The Ryzen 9 7950X is on average about 17% slower than the overclocked Intel Core i9-13900KF, but costs significantly more ($135) and requires more expensive mainboards for serious overclocking.
The Future
Should AMD be worried? Competition is always important, and we shouldn’t read too much into a single benchmark test or leaks not from the horse’s mouth. Intel’s Core i5-13600K is about 17% faster than the Ryzen 7700X and just over 50% quicker than the 7600X, with Intel’s price tag on their mid-range CPU at around $319 versus $399 and $299 for the AMD processors respectively. For the Intel being around 50% faster whilst by being only a little more expensive than the 7600X in this particular benchmark. Also, comparing the 13700K to the 7900X, the AMD processor may not be much more than 5% quicker whilst being 30% pricier. This is leading to speculation that AMD may be wise to readjust their prices for the future if they are to remain in stiff competition with their rivals.
The Raptor Lake launches on October 20th, and with it, we’ve prepared some brand new builds you can pre-order right now.
