Intel is preparing for the launch of a new generation platform, and the closer to the release, the more information about its chips appears. Chinese user Extreme Player on video platform bilibili even managed to test the processor Intel Core i9 13900K and compare its performance with Core i9 12900KF, writes PC Gamer. And while the chip’s launch is still weeks away, and benchmark performance may vary due to optimization, even the early results are pretty telling.

The Intel Core i9 13900K is an evolutionary upgrade of the 12900K, its main distinguishing features being the additional eight E cores and a higher frequency. Thanks to the additional cores, the E 13900K is a 24-core/32-thread processor. There are some other improvements, including support for faster DDR5 memory and increased cache size. Dedicated PCIe 5.0 M.2 lanes seem to be missing. Specifics will have to wait until the manufacturer’s embargo on information is lifted.

Extreme Player tested the 13900K in eight games, as well as 3DMark with additional testing to measure peak power consumption. Its benchmark is good for CPU testing. The MSI RTX 3090 Ti graphics card and Team DDR5-6400 memory are good choices to minimize bottlenecks, allowing the processor’s potential to come to the fore.

Starting with the 3DMark results, we can see that the additional E cores provide excellent performance in the physics test. These results show the sum of the raw results of the levels completed within 90 seconds. The scaling constant aligns the score to traditional 3DMark score levels. Extreme Player only shows CPU and overall results.

What is relevant is the game tests. The 1080p results are where you can expect to see the biggest differences between the 12th and 13th generation processors. From what immediately catches the eye, at 1080p performance increases by about 4-5%. Minimal numbers look best. If you ignore the results of RDR2 and PUBG, a gain of around 10% looks pretty good.

Moving up to 1440p and 4K, the load shifts more and more to the GPU with low single-digit FPS gains. Although the minimum FPS still shows a good increase compared to the 12900KF. We also don’t know the specifics of the game’s settings, so it’s hard to put too much emphasis on these early results.

It looks like the 13900K’s advantages may come down to clock speed more than any architecture. The extra E cores will benefit apps that can use them, but when it comes to gaming, the fact that the CPU doesn’t matter as much as the GPU is fair.

Finally, there is an indication of peak power consumption. Here the results show that the 13900K potentially needs a lot more power than the 12900KF. Although these are peak results. Average long-term energy consumption is likely to be lower, but still, energy consumption becomes a key characteristic. And not in the best sense.

Again, it’s important to note that the launch is still weeks away. The final version of the processor that will go on sale may offer slightly different performance.