Intel Launches 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs: Core i9-13900K, Core i7-13700K, Core i5-13600K Now Available With Z790 Motherboards

Intel is officially launching its 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPU family today including the Core i9-13900K, i7-13700K & i5-13600K alongside Z790 motherboards.

On paper, Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs look to be an optimized version of the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs. They will be based on the same 10nm ESF 'Intel 7' process node, utilize the same P-Core & E-Core design, & will be supported on existing motherboards. But there's a lot that's changing with Raptor Lake and we are going to detail everything, from official details to rumored information that we know about Alder Lake so far and what you could expect from Intel's next desktop lineup which will be pitted right against AMD's next Ryzen CPU lineup for desktops too.

Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake Desktop CPUs Expected Features:

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So starting with the specifications, Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs will utilize the hybrid core design, featuring a mix of Performance-Optimized 'P' and Efficiency-Optimized 'E' cores. For the new chips, Intel will be using a brand new P-Core known as Raptor Cove which will replace the Golden Cove cores featured on the Alder Lake CPUs. For The E-Core, Intel will retain the existing Gracemont core architecture but it will come with minor improvements.

Intel Core i9-13900K 24 Core Raptor Lake CPU Specs

The Intel Core i9-13900K is the flagship Raptor Lake CPU, featuring 24 cores and 32 threads in an 8 P-Core and 16 E-Core configuration. The CPU is configured at a base clock of 3.0 GHz, a single-core boost clock of 5.8 GHz (1-2) cores, and an all-core boost clock of 5.5 GHz (all 8 P-Cores). The CPU features 68 MB of combined cache and a 125W PL1 rating that goes up to 253W. The CPU can also consume up to 350W of power when using the "Unlimited Power Mode" which we detailed here.

Intel Core i7-13700K 16 Core Raptor Lake CPU Specs

The Intel Core i7-13700K CPU will be the fastest 13th-Gen Core i7 chip on offer within the Raptor Lake CPU lineup. The chip features a total of 16 cores and 24 threads. This configuration is made possible with 8 P-Cores based on the Raptor Cove architecture and 8 E-Cores based on the Grace Mont core architecture. The CPU comes with 30 MB of L3 cache and 24 MB of L2 cache for a total combined 54 MB cache. The chip was running at a base clock of 3.4 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The all-core boost is rated at 5.3 GHz for the P-Cores while the E-Cores feature a base clock of 3.4 GHz and a boost clock of 4.3 GHz.

Intel Core i5-13600K 14 Core Raptor Lake CPU Specs

The Intel Core i5-13600K features a total of 14 cores which include 6 P-Cores based on the Raptor Cove and 8 E-Cores based on current Gracemont cores. That's the same P-Core count as the Intel Core i5-12600K but the E-Core count has been doubled. So we are looking at a 40% core count bump and a 25% thread count bump vs the Alder Lake Core i5-12600K. The CPU comes with 24 MB of L3 and 20 MB of L2 cache for a combined total of 44 MB cache. Clock speeds are set at 3.5 GHz base, 5.2 GHz boost, and 5.1 GHz all-core boost while the E-Cores operate at 3.5 GHz base & 3.9 GHz boost clocks.

Intel is sticking with its LGA 1700 platform for at least one more CPU lineup and that's Raptor Lake. Chipzilla confirmed that Raptor Lake CPUs will be compatible with the existing LGA 1700 motherboards based on the 600-series chipset. But like each generation, motherboard makers will be offering a brand new lineup of motherboards based on the 700-series chipset which will come with higher I/O lanes. In addition to that, Raptor Lake chips will be supporting DDR5-5600 speeds which is a nice bump over the native DDR5-5200 speeds that Alder Lake supports.

This offers a nice upgrade path to users who are currently running a mainstream Core i3 or Core i5 CPU and want to upgrade to a higher-end chip. They can simply replace their existing 12th Gen CPU with a higher-end Core i7 or Core i9 SKU which will increase the overall performance of their PC.