The first 13th generation Intel Core processors contain few surprises, but many cores

If there’s one thing that Intel has excelled at over the past few years, it’s improved CPU architecture. Between 2015 and 2020, manufacturing issues pushed Intel to release not one, not two, but five generations of processors based on iterations of the sixth generation Skylake core, while managing to increase clock speeds and core counts to remain competitive in most cases. time interval.

This is the approach Intel is returning to for its 13th generation Core processors, the first of which were officially announced today. Codenamed Raptor Lake, Intel says it has made some improvements to the CPU architecture and manufacturing process of the Intel 7, but the strategy to improve their performance is time-tested and easy to understand: add more cores and make them run at higher clock speeds. speed.

Intel is announcing three new processors today, each with and without integrated graphics (as usual, non-GPU models have an “F”at the end): Core i9-13900K, Core i7-13700K, and Core i5-13600K will launch on October 20th together with new chipsets and motherboards Z790. They will also work on all current generation 600 series motherboards if your motherboard manufacturer has provided a BIOS update and will continue to support DDR4 and DDR5 memory.

Raptor Lake uses a hybrid architecture that Intel introduced last year with its 12th Gen Alder Lake chips, a combination of large performance cores (P-cores) for fast gaming and other performance-sensitive applications, plus clusters of smaller efficient cores (E-cores) that consume less power – although it’s clear in our testing of laptops and desktops that “efficiency”has more to do with the number of cores that can fit in a given area on a CPU die, rather than lower overall system power. consumption.

There were also several other additions. The amount of L2 cache per core has nearly doubled, from 1.25MB to 2MB per P core, and from 2MB to 4MB per cluster of E cores (E cores always cluster in clusters of four). Processors will officially support DDR5-5600 RAM over the current maximum of DDR5-4800, though this DDR5-4800 maximum can easily be surpassed with XMP memory kits on 12th generation motherboards.

The maximum officially supported DDR4 RAM speed remains DDR4-3200, although the caveat about XMP applies here as well.

In terms of core counts and frequencies, the Core i5 and Core i7 processors each get one additional E-core cluster, up from four E-cores to eight. The Core i9 gets two new E-core clusters, increasing the number of cores from eight to 16. All E-cores have a maximum clock speed of 400 MHz higher than before. The number of P-cores remains the same across the lineup, but the maximum clock speed is increased by 600MHz, 400MHz, and 200MHz for the Core i9, i7, and i5, respectively. Like the K-series chips, they are all unlocked for overclocking when used with Z690 or Z790 motherboards.

The starting price for the Core i5 models will rise by $30, but remain unchanged for the other two. As usual, Intel does not include CPU coolers with K or KF series chips. Here’s how each processor differs from its predecessor:

Together, these changes will increase the i9-13900K’s single-threaded performance by about 15 percent, according to Intel, with most of the improvement coming from the increase in P-core clock speed. That’s down from the 29 percent AMD achieved with the Zen 4 lineup and will be lower for the i7 and i5. But it’s respectable enough for a yearly increase. Multi-threaded performance is where you’ll see the biggest gains: the added cache, higher clock speeds, and more E-cores all combine to boost the i9-13900K’s performance by 41 percent over the i9-12900K (although, again, that number could be less impressive for i7 and i5).

Since the manufacturing process is only marginally improved at best, the price you pay for extra clock speed and core count is higher power consumption. Intel is keeping the base power of these 13th generation processors unchanged at 125W, but the maximum Turbo power figures have increased slightly: the Core i9-13900K’s maximum power of 253W is the maximum power officially supported by the LGA1700 socket, although it is possible that some high-end motherboards allow you to increase it even more.

But this does not mean that Intel completely abandons energy efficiency. With a TDP cap of 65W, Intel says Raptor Lake improvements will allow the chips to run multi-threaded workloads as fast as the 241W Core i9-12900K. This has become the norm for such high-performance processors. -end, they will run at high performance and high power consumption by default, but users can limit them if they wish.

As for the companion Z790 chipset, it has a few improvements over the previous generation Z690, but it’s probably not worth upgrading if you’re already using a 600-series motherboard you like. The chipset now has a total of 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes for SSDs and other accessories, plus eight PCIe 8.0 lanes – the Z690 has 12 PCIe 4.0 lanes and 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, so it’s clear that Intel is just tipping the balance towards faster interconnects. The Z790 also supports one additional 20Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port, for a total of five, and eliminates support for basic USB 2.0 ports entirely. The platform’s PCIe 5.0 lanes for next-generation GPUs and SSDs are still built into the processor rather than the chipset itself.

Intel didn’t announce any other 13th generation CPU models today, but teased that the standard range of chips will arrive in the coming months – cheaper, less powerful desktop components, as well as laptop processors designed for everything from thin and lightweight ultrabooks to bulky LED-backlit gaming laptops. Intel says we can expect other desktop processors in the lineup to also get more E-cores, as previous rumors have suggested. We expect to learn more about these chips at CES in January.