Intel Core i9-13900K 3 GHz 24-Core LGA 1700 Processor | BX8071513900K

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The Intel Core i9-13900K is a desktop processor with 24 cores, launched in September 2022. It is part of the Core i9 lineup, using the Raptor Lake architecture with Socket 1700. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 32 threads. Core i9-13900K has 36MB of L3 cache and operates at 3 GHz by default, but can boost up to 5.8 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i9-13900K on a 10 nm production process, the transistor count is unknown. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i9-13900K, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.

With a TDP of 125 W, the Core i9-13900K consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory with a dual-channel interface. ECC memory is supported, too, which is an important capability for mission-critical systems, to avoid data corruption. For communication with other components in the computer, Core i9-13900K uses a PCI-Express Gen 5 connection. This processor features the UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i9-13900K, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.

With the 13th Gen "Raptor Lake" desktop processors, Intel is increasing core-counts generationally, but only with the E-core counts. The number of P-core remains the same; although Intel has updated the P-cores themselves with higher IPC. The 13th Gen Core i9 SKUs, such as the i9-13900K in this review, come with 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores (8P+16E), an increase from the 8P+8E configuration of the previous-gen i9-12900K. The 13th Gen Core i7 chips, such as the i7-13700K, will have an 8P+8E loadout, an uplift from the 8P+4E one of the i7-12700K, and matching that of the i9-12900K. The Core i5 K-series gets an upgrade too, which is now 6P+8E, compared to 6P+4E of the previous generation.

The "Raptor Lake" silicon feature eight "Raptor Cove" performance cores that offer higher IPC, as well as operate at significantly higher clock-speeds than the "Golden Cove" cores on "Alder Lake." The dedicated L2 caches of these cores have been enlarged in size to 2 MB, compared to 1.25 MB of the previous generation. The "Gracemont" E-cores are unchanged in architecture from the previous-generation, although Intel has enlarged their L2 caches, from 2 MB per 4-core cluster, to 4 MB, and increased their clock speeds. The L3 cache shared between P-cores and E-core clusters has been generationally enlarged across the board, it's 36 MB on the Core i9 chips, 30 MB on Core i7, and 24 MB for the Core i5 K-series.

Intel increased the size of the L3 and L2 caches on the Core i9-13900K as well, giving it 36MB of L3 cache and 32MB of L2 cache. The Core i9-12900K’s L3 cache pool isn’t much smaller at 30MB, but its L2 cache is significantly smaller at just 14MB. Clock speeds have also increased on both types of processor cores, with Core i9-13900K’s P-Cores operating 600MHz faster than the P-Cores in the Core i9-12900K, and the E-Cores on the Core i9-13900K operating 400MHz higher.