Intel 13th Gen has now officially launched and we’re bringing you all the need-to-know information you need to make the most of Raptor Lake. Continue reading to find out whether it’s worth upgrading to the next generation of team blue’s processor line.
One thing is for sure, as far as Intel 13th Gen and Ryzen 7000 go, there’s going to be some incredibly stiff competition in the fight for the best CPUs for gaming. If you’re on the fence about which processor line is right for you, we’ve also written our Intel Raptor Lake vs Ryzen 7000 piece, too.
Need something more granular? Check out our Core i7-13700K vs Ryzen 7 7700X guide, or our piece on the top-of-the-pack clash, the Core i9-13900K vs Ryzen 9 7950X.
Intel 13th Gen release date
After being formally unveiled, as rumored, at the yearly Innovation event on September 27, the chipset manufacturer has announced that Intel 13th Gen will be released on October 20. So imminently, and more exciting is that a total of six processors will be launching on this date.
Intel 13th Gen launched on October 20, having originally been unveiled around a month earlier at the annual innovation event. As with other chipset debuts from the company, there are a fair few models to choose from. We’re getting more into the price and performance down below so you can find which variant is right for you.
The full list of Intel 13th Gen processors available now:
- Intel Core i5-13600K
- Intel Core i5-13600KF
- Intel Core i7-13700K
- Intel Core i7-13700KF
- Intel Core i9-13900K
- Intel Core i9-13900KF
Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake prices
Intel’s Innovation event gave us the price tags for Intel 13th Gen and things are consistent with previous leaks and discourse. The respective MSRPs of Raptor Lake are exactly the same for the 12th Gen Alder Lake. This is good news for those wanting the second generation of Hybrid Architecture processors for less, especially as support has confirmed to work for LGA 1700 mobos.
Now that Raptor Lake is out, these are the confirmed MSRPs to keep in mind when browsing trusted retailers:
- Intel Core i5-13600KF – $294
- Intel Core i5-13600K – $319
- Intel Core i7-13700KF – $384
- Intel Core i7-13700K – $409
- Intel Core i9-13900KF – $564
- Intel Core i9-13900K – $589
Intel 13th Gen Quick Links
US
- Best Buy – Intel Core i9 13900K
- Best Buy – Intel Core i7 13700K
- Best Buy – Intel Core i5 13600K
UK
- Scan – Intel Core i9 13900K
- Scan – Intel Core i9 13900KF
- Scan – Intel Core i7 13700K
- Scan – Intel Core i5 13600K
CA
- Newegg CA – Intel Core i9 13900K
- Newegg CA – Intel Core i9 13900KF
- Newegg CA – Intel Core i7 13700K
- Newegg CA – Intel Core i5 13600K
Intel 13th Gen specs
The official specs for Intel 13th Gen prove the Raptor Lake rumors were largely correct. As predicted by prior correspondence, the frontrunner here is the flagship chipset featuring 24 cores and 32 threads. This is unprecedented in the world of chipsets, meaning the latest i9 has some serious grunt under the hood, especially for a 125W base TDP.
Handily, we’ve compiled a table below of all the information that you need at a glance. This includes not only the core counts and threads but also how effectively the revised hybrid architecture works in tandem, too. Just the facts here to help you make an informed decision on launch day.
| CPU | Intel Core i9-1300KF | Intel Core i9-13900K | Intel Core i7-13700KF | Intel Core i7-13700K | Intel Core i5-13600KF | Intel Core i5-13600K |
| Core/threads | 24c / 32t | 42c / 32t | 16c / 24t | 16c / 24t | 14c / 20t | 14c /20t |
| P-core base/boost | 3.0 / 5.8GHz | 3.0 / 5.8GHz | 3.4 / 5.4GHz | 3.4 / 5.4GHz | 3.5 / 5.1GHz | 3.5 / 5.1GHz |
| E-core base/boost | 2.2 / 4.3 GHz | 2.2 / 4.3 GHz | 2.5 / 4.2 GHz | 2.5 / 4.2 GHz | 2.6 / 3.9 GHz | 2.6 / 3.9 GHz |
| Cache | 68MB | 68MB | 54MB | 54MB | 44MB | 44MB |
| TDP (base/turbo) | 125W / 253W | 125W / 253W | 125W / 253W | 125W / 253W | 125W / 181W | 125W / 181W |
The focus on the next processor generation appears to be on the clock speeds, as all three of the release day K-series models are capable of exceeding 5 GHz, with the flagship featuring a boost clock closer to 6 GHz. We’ve seen a real push towards single-threaded performance, and clock speeds this high would certainly be beneficial for high-end gaming.
Intel 13th Gen performance
Now that Raptor Lake has now launched we know just how capable the latest processor generation is. While we’ve done deep dives on the specific models pitted against their AMD alternatives, as you’ll find below, the 13th Gen is seriously fast, easily holding its own against or outperforming Zen 4 in synthetic benchmarks.
As you can see from the table above, the flagship 13th Gen model steamrolls the Ryzen 9 alternative in both single and multi-core performance. We’ve gone into the specifics in dedicated Vs articles down below. What we can tell you, in brief, is that the Raptor Lake delivers on its promises in terms of increased performance on 10nm silicon.
What is Intel 13th Gen?
Intel 13th Gen is the latest range of processors coming from Intel, offering more P (performance) and E (efficient) cores, as well as other improvements in clock speed and DDR5 support up to 5600 – going beyond 12th Gen’s 4800 support.
By all accounts, Raptor Lake (Intel 13th Gen) is a stepping stone to the Meteor Lake range of processors, which are believed to be arriving in 2023. You can think of this generation as the evolution of what worked with Alder Lake’s architecture dialed up to the extreme.
Is Raptor Lake as fast as Zen 4?
Now that Raptor Lake is out, we’re able to touch on this question. In some instances, the 13th Gen is actually faster than Zen 4. We’ve seen the official benchmarks thanks to some in-house testing and secondary research and things need to be seen to be believed. You can find examples of this with our 13900K vs 7950X, 13700K vs 7700X, and 13600K vs 7600X features.
Will Raptor Lake support DDR4 and DDR5 memory?
It has been confirmed that 13th Gen Intel will support both DDR4-3200 and DDR5-5600 as the LGA 1700 chipset is in use. This means existing, and new, motherboards will be able to utilize both generations of memory.
Should I buy a new cooler and PSU for Raptor Lake CPU?
Any existing LGA 1700-compliant air and water coolers should fit onto existing motherboards as the socket type is the same. If the rumored specs are true, then there is no major increase in the TDP requirements either, so your existing PSU and CPU cooler should be fine still in terms of fit.
Having said that, we don’t yet know quite how Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs throttle under continual load. So if you are likely to stress a CPU with use, we’d recommend waiting until there are verified thermal and throttling results. That way you can choose an appropriate solution as needed.
