Intel Core i9-13900K review – Is the 13900K worth it?
Intel’s 13th-generation CPUs are finally here, but what do we think of the i9-13900K so far?
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Intel has finally released its 13th generation Raptor lake CPUs, and what a stir they have caused. In this article, we will explore the specifications, price, performance, and use case of the 13900K. As well as giving our opinion on the CPU and generation itself.
Now read: Where to buy Intel i9-13900K
In the crosshairs today is the i9-13900K. Intel’s flagship 13th-generation CPU.
Intel Core i9-13900K
Cores
24
Threads
32
Base speed
P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz
Boost speed
P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz
Cache
36MB
TDP
125 W / 253 W boost.
Core i9-13900K CPU specifications
The 13900K is designed to be the best of the best, it’s Intel’s new flagship CPU for the Raptor Lake generation. Intel’s 13900K spares no expense when it comes to performance.
The specifications for the i9-13900K are as follows:
- Cores: P-cores 8 / E-cores 16
- Threads: 32
- Base clock frequency: P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz
- Boost clock frequency: P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz
- L3 cache: 36MB
- Default TDP: 125 W / 253 W boost.
- iGPU: Intel UHD graphics 770
Core i9-13900K what’s new?
Interestingly enough, despite the 13th-generation being very similar to the 12th-generation CPUs internally, even being built on the same Intel 7 10nm process node. But Intel has managed to make some pretty serious improvements over Alder Lake.
Hyperthreaded E-cores
For instance, the split core technology is here to stay, only this time with a very clear difference. And we’re not just talking about the number of cores.
Half of the 16 E-cores are hyperthreaded this time around, giving the 13900K a serious advantage in core and thread counts over the 12900K and even the 7950X. This means the overall IPC is going to be vastly improved over previous generations, without taking up much more space on the CCD.
Most of the new features come with the Z790 motherboards, and we’ll cover that in another piece. But you can expect PCIe 5.0 support and faster DDR5 memory support on the Z790 platform.
TDP
The TDP has seen a massive increase up to 253W in some cases, meaning you’ll need a pretty beefy cooler to keep the 13900K cool. This is only a small increase over Alder Lakes’s best, but as you’ll soon see this becomes an issue.
Intel Core i9-13900K performance
We tested the i9-13900K on a test bench comprised of only the latest and greatest hardware. Our test bench was comprised of the following components:
- Intel Core i9-13900K
- ASUS ROG RYUJIN ii 360 CPU cooler
- ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR5 @5600Mhz
- MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3080
- Fractal Design ION+ 860W
- Samsung 860 Evo
For the majority of the test, we will be comparing the 13900K with the 7900X, we know it makes more sense to compare with the 7950X, but these two CPUs are closer in price.
Intel Core i9-13900K synthetic benchmarks
Here we ran the 13900K through all the synthetic fan favorites, such as CPU Z, Cinebench R23, and Geekbench 5. Reporting on both single and multi-core performance throughout. As you will soon see, this 13900K is a beast in its own right.
As you can see, the 13900K is quite the CPU, now onto the results:
CPU-Z
First on the list is the CPU-Z benchmarks. The 13900K scored a total of 933 points in the single-core benchmarks and 16,812 points in the multi-core benchmarks. This is much better than the 7900X’s score of 789 points and 11,827 points respectively.
Cinebench R23
The Cinebench scores show a mighty CPU in the making, tackling the CB single-core render with a score of 2,288 and scoring a massive 38,951 points in the multi-core render. Those extra cores and threads are really helping the 13900K out in multi-threaded benchmarks.
Geekbench 5
The Geekbench results are the collective single and multi-core results, as they will suffice for comparative purposes. The 13900K scored a massive 2,224 in the single-core benchmarks and brought home a score of 25,102. By contrast, the 7900X managed 2,259 single and 18,720 multi. Possibly due to Ryzen’s proficiency in AI-accelerated workloads.
Intel Core i9-13900K real-world gaming benchmarks
We put the i9-13900K through its paces in not only synthetic workloads but real-world gaming workloads too. Here are five popular games we opted to test the 13900K in.
We are again comparing the 13900K’s performance to that of the 7900X akin to the synthetic portion of this article.
These are the games we tested and the results we found while benchmarking. All of the games are tested in 1080p and on low settings, except for CS:GO which is set on high.
Intel Core i9-13900K gaming benchmarks
As you can see from the table above, the 13900K can hold its own when it comes to gaming performance.
First up, in Cyberpunk 2077, the 13900K managed a 185 FPS average, whereas the 7900X only managed a 174 FPS average. The higher clock speed of the 13900K coming to the rescue here.
In Elden Ring, it’s a similar story. The i9-13900K brings in an average of 175 FPS and by contrast, the 7900X manages a 157 FPS average. The 13900K is the clear winner once again.
In CS:GO it’s much of the same, with the 113900K bringing home 362 FPS on average. Contrasted by the 7900X’s 389 FPS average. Who’d have thought the 7900X could come out on top, in E-sports titles of all things?
Finally, we have GTA V, the benchmark portion of GTA V was used to eliminate discrepancies, and both CPUs score the exact same average FPS. Both the 13900K and the 7900XC managed 157 FPS. looks like we’re GPU bound in GTA V. despite the low settings.
Intel Core i9-13900K performance overview
Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, stated at Intel’s latest innovation event that the performance of the 13th generation over Alder Lake would be massive, and he wasn’t wrong.
The projected performance increase was around a 15% single-core performance uplift and around a 46% performance uplift on multi-core functions. And he wasn’t far off.
The 13900K manages to dominate in every benchmark other than the AI and decoding-based Geekebench 5 benchmark.
The 13900K also managed to pull more FPS out of every game we tested, apart from CS:GO, which is so well-optimized that we’re pretty sure it can run on a potato.
The increased core boost speeds and increase in the number of cores, threads, and the addition of hyperthreaded E-cores bring the 13900K to the forefront of performance. Taking the industry by storm.
Intel Core i9-13900K iGPU performance.
The iGPU that resides in the 13th-generation of Intel CPUs is the exact same one that can be found inside the 12th-generation processors. The Intel UHD 770 iGPU.
We also tested the Intel iGPU to see if its performance has been improved over the last generations application of it.
First of all, we tested the iGPU in 3DMARK’s Time Spy. In Time Spy, the 13900K managed to score a respectable 1,388 points in 1080P, that’s way ahead of the 7900X’s 739 points. However, the 7900X only had two computing units to work with.
Both GTA V and CS:GO actually wielded similar results, with a 64 FPS average and a 60 FPS average respectively. Not a terrible performance, of course, the settings were set to the lowest of the low in GTA V but set to high in CS:GO. Both games were tested at 1080P.
These results seem strange compared to the 7900X’s results. As the 7900X managed 54 FPS in GTA V, but 131 FPS in CSGO, much lower performance in GTA V, but much higher in CS:GO. We do know just how powerful the new RDNA 2 architecture is, and it’s strange to see it have such an affinity for older games.
The Intel Core i9-13900K runs hot, too hot
We can clearly see that Intel has packed a lot of performance into its new 13th-generation CPUs. But is there such a thing as too much?
We ran a test on the 13900K with the ASUS Ryujin ii 360MM CPU cooler, by no means a slouch in the world of CPU cooling. In fact, it’s up there as one of the best we’ve ever tested. Why are we hammering home the effectiveness of the Ryujin ii so much? Here’s why.
We ran an AIDA64 stress test, stressing both FPU and CPU, and we managed to drive the 13900K up to 105°C, with AIDA reporting 13% thermal throttling, we’re sure we don’t have to tell you how bad this is, but that right there is a 13% loss of CPU effectiveness because of the 13900K’s massive TDP.
Now, a stress test is a worst-case scenario, and we’re sure nobody will ever meet those levels of CPU stress in normal day-to-day usage or even heavy gaming. But the fact we can get the 13900K to these temperatures with a £280 360mm AIO CPU cooler is unacceptable.
If you have an older, smaller AIO CPU cooler or even an air-based cooler, you can probably kiss owning a 13900K goodbye.
Intel core i9-13900K price
The Intel Core i9-13900K can be had for a massive, huge, gargantuan … $589 USD. We checked this three times, and that is the actual price. As we mentioned earlier on in the review, the reason we’re comparing to the 7900X is that they’re practically the same price.
Considering that the 7950X costs over $100 more and doesn’t perform all that better in even multi-core workloads, it’s getting difficult to find a reason to go with AMD this time around. Reinforced by the fact you have to buy a new motherboard to support AMD’s newest CPUs. with Intel, that’s not a necessity.
Intel Core i9-13900K pros and cons
The Intel Core i9-13900K has one glaring problem, and for once it’s not the price. It’s the heat, the 13900K runs way too hot when stressed for our liking and it could even end up being detrimental to your hardware if you run your CPUs close to 100% constantly.
Intel Core i9-13900K
Cores
24
Threads
32
Base speed
P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz
Boost speed
P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz
Cache
36MB
TDP
125 W / 253 W boost.
- Powerful single and multi-core performance
- High boost speeds
- improved L2 cache capacity
- 32 logical processors
- pricey
- runs VERY hot
On the flip side, the 13900K is truly a marvelous CPU, just packed to the brim with performance, the added benefit is, you don’t even have to worry about upgrading your motherboard to get these new levels of performance. It’s just an option.
If you upgraded when Alder Lake was released, you can literally just whack your new 13900K in the LGA 1700 socket on your motherboard without having to worry about compatibility (it’s not yet certain whether you’ll need a BIOS update, however).
The 13900K is pretty cost-effective when you look at it, the flagship costs the same as the 2nd best CPU on team Red’s newest line-up. But, is that because we’re looking at the true flagship? Or is this the 2nd best in Intel’s class also?
Flagship or not?
Is the 13900K Intel’s newest flagship CPU? Well, ye sit is kind of. However, CEO, Pat Gelsinger, revealed that there will be a flagship CPU capable of 6GHz clock speeds out of the box, this obviously must be referring to the 13900KS.
The i9-13900KS has not been announced anywhere as of yet, but Alder Lake got the 12900KS so many people are skeptical as to whether we’ll see one from Raptor Lake, as the last KS before Alder Lake was back on 9th gen. Only time will tell.
Final word
Intel Core i9-13900K
We think that the 13900K is absolutely worth every penny if you’ve already upgraded to socket LGA 1700, you have some DDR5 memory already, and a very beefy CPU cooler. If you’re a gamer and only plan on gaming, then you could save a buck or two by opting for something a little lower than the flagship that still offers good single-core performance.
The heat issues do need to be addressed, although we didn’t see any throttling while gaming that we could see. The fact we can get the 13900K to throttle with such efficient cooling hardware is worrisome.
If you have the spare cash, and cooling headroom, we think the 13900K will make an excellent 12900K / KS replacement, especially if you’re someone who utilizes a lot of the CPU’s multi-core strengths.
