After months of leaks and speculation, Intel has officially announced its 13th Gen Intel Core processors and has given us (and rival AMD) a glimpse of what to expect.
Formerly known as “Raptor Lake”, Intel’s 13th generation processors will reuse Intel’s hybrid design, combining Performance and Efficient cores that smartly run depending on the type of processor task being performed, and Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology helps identify the most efficient Performance Cores ( P-Core).
Intel’s previous 12th-generation “Alder Lake” processors also benefited from this design, but the company says the next-gen will use more high-performance cores (E-Core) that will allow more Intel Smart Cache (L3) to be used. Performance improvements, especially with large data sets, and the L2 cache has been increased to speed up data transfer between cache and memory. This again can lead to an improvement in performance.
Specifications
13th Gen Intel Core processors will support up to 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes and will support DDR5 memory up to 5600 MT / s. Unlike competitor AMD, which only supports the new RAM standard on the new Ryzen 7000 chips, 13th Gen Intel processors will continue to support DDR4 RAM.
Integrated Intel UHD Xe graphics will support up to 8K at 60Hz or up to four 4K screens at 60Hz, as well as integrated Wi-Fi support for Wi-Fi 6 and newer Wi-Fi 6E standards.
The flagship Intel Core i9 chips will ship with 24 processor cores consisting of eight P cores and 16 E cores, while the i7 chips will ship with 16 cores (eight P cores and eight E cores) and the i5 chips will have 14 cores ( six P cores and eight E cores).
Full specification can be found in the table below:
| Intel Core i9K and i9KF | Intel Core i7K and i7KF | Intel Core i5K and i5KF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum turbo frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.8 | Up to 5.4 | Up to 5.1 |
| Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.7 | Up to 5.4 | not applicable |
| Core capacity Maximum Turbo frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.4 | Up to 5.3 | Up to 5.1 |
| Efficient Core Maximum Turbo Frequency [GHz] | Up to 4.3 | Up to 4.2 | Up to 3.9 |
| The fundamental frequency of the performance core [GHz] | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| The effective base frequency of the core [GHz] | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| CPU cores (P cores + E cores) | 24 (8P + 16E) | 16 (8P + 8E) | 14 (6P + 8E) |
| The total number of processor threads | 32 | 24 | twenty |
| Intel Smart Cache Size (L3) [MB] | 36 MB | 30 MB | 24 MB |
| Total L2 cache size [MB] | 32 MB | 24 MB | 20 MB |
| Enhanced Intel UHD graphics based on Xe architecture | i9K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i9KF: No. | i7K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i7KF: No. | i5K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i5KF: No. |
Analysis: The pressure is on Intel
The premiere of the 13th Gen Core takes place at a crucial moment for Intel. While it is still undoubtedly the market leader in the processor field, that lead has been weakened over the years by a resurgent AMD that launched a series of critically acclaimed processors.
In fact, just a day before Intel’s 13th generation announcement, reviews for AMD’s 7000 series processors had plummeted – and AMD continued its winning streak, with both the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X receiving rare five-star reviews from us, the latter, which we consider to be the best processor you can buy right now.
So Intel really needs to impress us with its 13th generation. There are some interesting differences between them. For one thing, Intel is continuing the hybrid project while AMD sticks to a more traditional approach which it claims gives it a performance advantage.
However, in an interesting turn of events, supporting cheaper DDR4 RAM and allowing 13th generation processors to be installed in both new 700 series motherboards and older 600 series motherboards, Intel makes upgrading to new processors easier and cheaper.
Meanwhile, if you want to use a new AMD CPU, you’ll need to purchase new DDR5 RAM and a new motherboard, which could seriously raise the potential price of this upgrade.
It all comes down to price and performance. AMD has entered the market with a new generation of processors that perform brilliantly and cost less than their predecessors.
Meanwhile, Intel will be selling its flagship Core i9-13900K processor for $ 589 starting October 20, which is the same suggested price suggested by Alder Lake Core i9-12900K, so the Core i9-13900K will sell for $ 110 less than AMD’s flagship. The Ryzen 9 7950X, but for $ 40 more than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X.
We won’t know how well these chips are performing until we get them into our full reviews, but the 13th Gen Core processors will have to do their best if they are to stop AMD’s momentum.