Intel announces 13th Gen Core unlocked desktop processors

Today during Intel Innovation, the company officially unveiled its line-up of unlocked “Raptor Lake” processors. The initial line-up focuses on desktop, offering K-series and KF-series options, headlined by the new Core i9-13900K. 

With its 12th Generation “Alder Lake” CPUs, Intel introduced the new hybrid architecture, combining performance cores with efficiency cores. With 13th Gen “Raptor Lake” chips, Intel has refined the hybrid architecture to deliver more performance. Naturally, the Core i9-13900K is the flagship, once again aiming to deliver the “world's best gaming experience”.

The Core i9-13900K has double the E-cores compared to the 12900K, faster boost speeds (up to 5.8GHz), and more cache, with 2MB per P-core and 4MB per E-core cluster.

As you can see in the presentation slides above, Intel has also made improvements to overclocking with the Extreme Tuning Utility and Intel Speed Optimiser.

Intel's presentation also includes some comparisons between the Core i9-13900K and the Ryzen 9 5950X. In titles like World of Warcraft, Intel's CPU scrapes through with a 6% performance lead, according to the company's own benchmarks. In games like Far Cry 6 and Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, the performance differential jumps to 31% and 58% respectively. Of course, it is worth noting that the Core i9-13900K's main competition will be the Ryzen 9 7950X, which just became available this week.

The new platform also introduces improvements to DDR5, with speeds increasing from 4800 MT/s to 5600 MT/s. This means we can expect a wider variety of DDR5 memory modules over the next year.

You can see the full line-up of Intel 13th Gen Core Desktop CPUs and their specs in the table below:

Intel did not reveal its suggested pricing prior to the Innovation event. However, early Amazon UK listings spotted this week point to a £750 price tag for the Core i9-13900K, around £550 for a Core i7-13700K and around £350 for a Core i5-13600K.

Intel's 13th Gen Core desktop processors will be launching in October, so expect to see plenty of reviews and performance comparisons next month.

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KitGuru Says: Are you planning on upgrading your PC soon? Will you be opting for an Intel 13th Gen build? 

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