Intel introduced 13th generation processors (Raptor Lake)

Intel has officially introduced 13th generation processors (Raptor Lake) for desktop computers, which will go on sale from October 20. This year, the company’s flagship chip will be the Core i9-13900K, which has a recommended price of $589. Compared to the previous flagship Intel 12900K, the cost has not changed, despite the fact that the company warned about price increases. The announcement of Intel’s 13th generation took place at the same time that AMD is launching new Ryzen 7000 processors, so it is safe to say that the market for PC components is finally returning to fierce competition, from which consumers should first benefit.

The flagship Intel Core i9-13900K processor received 24 cores, 32 threads and a clock frequency of up to 5.8 GHz. Built on Intel’s 7th technology process (as the company calls its improved 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin technology process) and x86 hybrid architecture, the 13th generation processors include performance cores (P-cores) and efficient cores (E-cores) that intelligently allocate workloads using the Intel Thread Director, a built-in microcontroller inside the chip that tracks threads and ensures they are running on the right cores.

Intel used the same architecture for its 12th generation chips last year, and it’s a similar approach to what Apple is doing with its Arm-based chips. Instead of stuffing new processors with power-hungry cores, this division into P-cores / E-cores should be more efficient. However, the 13th generation chips now consume more power at full speed than their Alder Lake predecessors.

There will be a total of 22 13th Gen Intel processors, led by Core “K” processors for high-end PCs. Intel promises up to 15% better single-threaded performance for the Core i9-13900K and up to 41% better multi-threaded performance.

While Intel hasn’t increased the number of P-cores available in 13th-generation processors, the Core i5, i7, and i9 chips have more E-cores, which should help with multitasking and multi-threaded applications. This means that the Core i9 has more than eight E-cores, while the Core i7 and Core i5 have four each.

Base frequencies for both types of cores have decreased for Core i5, i7 and i9 chips. Instead, boost frequencies have increased, which can overclock the Core i9 to 5.8 GHz. That’s 600 MHz more than the 12900K, the new Core i7’s 400 MHz, and the Core i5’s 200 MHz more.

There is also a support of PCIe Gen 5.0 frame with 16 lanes outside the processor and DDR5-5600 and DDR5-5200 memory. Intel also supports DDR4 compatibility for motherboard manufacturers who want to continue to ship DDR4 instead of DDR5. The L3 and L2 caches have also been increased.

Prices for the Core i9 and Core i7 processors have surprisingly remained at last year’s level, despite Intel’s warning that the price of the flagship chips would rise earlier this year. The Core i5 is the only processor to see a price increase, with the Core i5-13600K rising to $319, compared to $289 for the Core i5-12600K. Similarly, the Core i5-13600KF (without integrated graphics) costs $294, down from $264 for last year’s model. However, it is not yet known whether we will actually see such prices in stores.

Although this year’s price increase only affected the Core i5, power consumption requirements increased for all models. The Core i5, i7, and i9 chips all have a base power of 125W, but the Core i7 and Core i9 require 253W to reach maximum turbo power. That’s up 5% from last year’s Core i9’s 241W, and it’s also a massive 33% jump for the Core i7, which goes from 190W last year to 253W for the 13th generation. The Intel Core i5-13600K now requires 181W for maximum turbo mode, which is 20% more than the 150W in the Alder Lake-based version.

Intel’s 13th-generation processors are also coming to the market along with the new 700 series chipsets. Existing 600 series motherboards will support 13th generation (Raptor Lake) chips, but the new Z790 motherboards will offer eight additional PCIe 4.0 lanes, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) ports, and DMI Gen 4.0 for improved access bandwidth to peripherals and the network.