Intel Core i9-13900K and i5-13600K Review: Raptor Lake Brings More Bite
by Gavin Bonshor on October 20, 2022 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup: Updating Our Test Suite for 2023
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's highest officially-supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the highest official frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance.
While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC-supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
The Current CPU Test Suite
For our Intel Core i9-13900K and Core i5-13600K testing, we are using the following test system:
| Intel 13th Gen Core System (DDR5) | |
| CPU | Core i9-13900K ($589) 24 Cores, 32 Threads 125 W TDP Core i5-13600K ($319) 14 Cores, 20 Threads 125 W TDP |
| Motherboard | MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WIFI (BIOS E7D89) |
| Memory | SK Hynix 2x16 GB DDR5-5600B CL46 |
| Cooling | EKWB EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB 360mm |
| Storage | SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX1000 |
| GPUs | AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, 31.0.12019 |
| Operating Systems | Windows 11 22H2 |
As we are in a transitional period between our current CPU 2021 suite and data, and optimizing our CPU 2023 suite with different data comparisons required, we have included a varied selection of benchmarks for this review. This ranges from our traditional un-updatable Google Octane 2.0 web test, through a variety of rendering benchmarks such as CineBench R23 and Blender, to encoding, and all the way to our more scientific-related tests.
With our processor reviews, especially on a new generational product such as AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X, we also include SPEC2017 data to account for any increases (or decreases) to generational single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. It should be noted that per the terms of the SPEC license, because our benchmark results are not vetted directly by the SPEC consortium, it is officially classified as an ‘estimated’ score.
Our CPU 2023 Suite: What to Expect
Looking ahead to our updated CPU 2023 suite, we've updated some of our existing benchmarks to the latest and current release versions (as of Sept '22), such as Blender 3.3, C-Ray 1.1 rendering, as well as adding more scientific-based workloads such as SciMark 2.0 and Primesieve 1.9.0. We have also decided to add UL's latest Procyon suite which measures overall system performance when doing tasks such as office-based tasks, as well as video and photo editing.
Meanwhile we've also carried over some older (but still relevant/enlightening) benchmarks from our CPU 2021 suite. This includes benchmarks such as Dwarf Fortress, Factorio, and Dr. Ian Cutress's 3DPMv2 benchmark.
We have also updated our pool of games going forward into 2023 and beyond, including the latest F1 2022 racing game, the CPU-intensive RTS Total War: Warhammer 3, and the popular Hitman 3.
Our aim is to provide varying levels of data points across a variety of different workloads, instruction sets, and tasks. Going forward, we will keep our CPU 2023 suite updated as frequently as possible, and when we have a consistent and suitable number of data points, it will feature on our Bench database as we continue testing new and older CPUs for varying data points.
The CPU-focused tests featured specifically in this review are as follows:
Power
- Peak Power (y-Cruncher using AVX)
Office & Web
- Octane 2.0: More comprehensive test (but also deprecated with no successor)
- UL Procyon Office: Various office-based tasks using various Microsoft Office applications
- UL Procyon Photo Editing: Covers a variety of different photo editing tasks such as batch processing
Science
- 3D Particle Movement v2.1 (Non-AVX + AVX2/AVX512)
- y-Cruncher 0.78.9506 (Optimized Binary Splitting Compute for mathematical constants)
- SciMark 2.0: Part of the Phoronix Suite, and measures across a variety of scientific-based workloads
- Primesieve 1.9.0: This test generates prime numbers using an optimized sieve of Eratosthenes implementation
Simulation
- Dwarf Fortress 0.44.12: Fantasy world creation and time passage
- Dolphin 5.0: Ray Tracing rendering test for Wii emulator
- Factorio v1.1.26 Test: A game-based benchmark that is largely consistent for measuring overall CPU and memory performance
- John The Ripper 1.9.0: A password cracker simulation that scales well with core and thread count, as well as IPC performance
Rendering
- Blender 3.3: Popular rendering program
- Corona 1.1: Ray Tracing Benchmark
- POV-Ray 3.7.1: Another Ray Tracing Test
- V-Ray: Another popular renderer
- CineBench R23: The fabled Cinema4D Rendering engine
Encoding
- x264: Encoding video files at 1080p and 4K resolutions
- 7-Zip: Open-source compression software
- WinRAR 5.90: Popular compression tool
Legacy
- CineBench R10
- CineBench R11.5
- CineBench R15
- CineBench R20
- Geekbench 5: Single and multi-threaded
- Handbrake 1.32: Popular Transcoding tool
SPEC (Estimated)
- SPEC2017 rate-1T
- SPEC2017 rate-nT
We have also added new games to our games suite for 2023. Our current games in our CPU testing and those featured in this review are as follows:
- Civilization VI: 480p, 1080p, 1440p and 4K (both avg and 95% percentile)
- World of Tanks: 768p, 1080p, and 4K (both avg and 95% percentile)
- Borderlands 3: 360p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- Grand Theft Auto V: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- Red Dead Redemption 2: 384p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- Cyberpunk 2077: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- F1 2022: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- Hitman 3: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (both avg and 95th percentile)
- Total War Warhammer 3: 720p, 1080p, 1440p and 4K (only avg fps measured)
Out of all the games we test, we measure both the average frame rate at each resolution/preset using the default benchmarking option, eg Bahrain map on F1 2022 and Battle Mode in Total War: Warhammer 3. The only game we don't measure 95th percentile framerates (5% lows) is Total War Warhammer, as this currently doesn't allow third-party software to directly take framerate metrics.
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Bruzzone - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
Raptor ask first day in the open market;13900K = $845 + 43% over i$1K
13900KF = $1187 + 110%
13700K = $393 (-12.5%) some assemblance of reality in the world
13700KF = $415 + 8%
13600K = $393 + 23%
13600KF = $415 + 34%
Raphael R7K fifth week of supply open market;
7950X = $933 + 33.6%
7900X = $695 + 26.6%
7700K = $477 + 19.5%
7600X = $422 + 41.3%
In July Intel signaled a +20% price increase and AMD ignored Intel counsel and the channel will settle that question by Black Friday Cybor Monday. The question has already been answered for dGPU in the market for RTX 4090?
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Wrs - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
That's why I usually buy new hardware a bit after Xmas. That wouldn't have worked for several reasons in 2020-21, but other years it's served me well. ReplyBruzzone - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
Prior gen CPU and dGPU production overage run end absolutely a "bit after Christmas".New primary dGPU a Pareto distribution curve and that does not explain it the situation assessment fully for all consideration.
On new CPU production AMD ignoring Intel + 20% price increase offer it's a CPU new primary price war unless the channel disagrees bringing normalcy to cost : price / margin assessment on cost : price / margin realities.
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Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - link
Like any other CPU launch, the only prices we have at the start are the prices provided by the manufacturers. Retail prices can and will vary, especially at the very start when chips are in short supply.It's best to consider it guidance rather than hard numbers. Reply
allenb - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - link
Now this is what we want to see! Proper, vicious, dog-eat-dog competition from Intel and AMD. I've rarely seen a clearer example of why competition is good and entrenched monopolies (or near monopolies) are bad. Hats off to both competitors. ReplyOxford Guy - Friday, October 28, 2022 - link
Duopoly is hardly adequate competition. ReplySilver5urfer - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - link
I will keep it short.Buy Intel get it under AIO and get ready for 340W load on 13900K while AMD Zen 4 is at 95C but its significantly lower power at 230W only max. The flagship parts need AIOs no Air coolers, but with AMD some of the Air coolers can work without problem since the heat is only factor but not the high power as the Temp target can be set on AMD platform from 95C to 92C. Intel 12900K and up aka 13700K, 13900K cannot be tamed on Air coolers esp when you tune them. So a mild win to AMD.
The I/O is a win for Intel due to DMI is 4.0x8 while X670E is PCIe4.0x4 like X570 bummer from AMD perhaps PCIe5.0 redrivers and layers cost.
IMC wise Intel is winning, but with DDR5 in this infancy stage even buying 7000MHz low Latency DRAM won't benefit RPL at all. AMD stuck to 6000MHz EXPO why did you not review on that ? I think AT should have stuck to XMP for Intel and EXPO for AMD as AMD will have better performance with better DRAM since the Zen 2 days. Ultimately IMC is bragging right for Intel DDR5 RPL now, the socket is EOL and you cannot install new Kits and expect magic just like 8th gen vs 10th gen IMCs you will need a new Chip.
Socket is dead end for Intel nothing extra is coming, you are locked out. AM5 will get Zen 4D and Zen 5 and 5D as well. Much better longevity past 2025+ if AMD launches Zen 6 then it's insane on this AM5 socket. Also Z790 will have CPU socket bending issues note that as well.AMD wins here.
Performance wise, both are neck to neck. High clocks on both high MT workloads on both camps, this is very interesting market for R9 and i9 parts. Coming to i5 and R5 parts, Intel has more performance but AMD has better pricing. However the most parts shipped will be this range only I think Intel may win more Client sales vs AMD due to DDR4. No winner but it's a great consumer choice. One point to note, AMD has higher Base Freq vs Intel this means better performance for AMD on all workloads and not just demanding. Esp with Zen 4 which is a solid chip than Zen 3 with it's lower clocks annoying IOD crapping out and IMC being subpar.
AVX512 is dead, big shame to Intel. They are wasting 30% of the die space in the RPL processors P cores, ultimate pathetic move. AMD is a champion with dual AVX256 making it solid no AVX offset performance unlike Intel 11th and 12th gen. AMD wins here. Reply
WaltC - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - link
I hope this sad excuse from Intel shuts the facial orifices of those who thought the power draw of the 7950X was "too high"...;) These CPUs should sell well in colder climes, no doubt (for people who can afford the power bills...;)) ReplyWrs - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
For workload efficiency it's mainly about the process tech. AMD with TSMC are at 5nm, Intel is still at 7nm (or you can say TSMC is around Intel's 7nm, while Intel is using its 3rd-gen 10nm).I like my P-cores on 12900k, thank you, they are the reason I didn't stick with Zen 3. A desktop computer needs to be highly responsive and it needs throughput when called for. I weigh those as 50% ST:50% MT, but everyone should personalize their ratio to what they really do. 90% ST:10% MT? Get a laptop. 10% ST:90% MT? A workstation or remote server/cloud.
I also have no issue with a D15 air cooler. The processor automatically tamps down to 250W sustained, but if I want something intense done, it'll blitz through the first second or two. As for power bill considerations, the Zen 3 did idle pretty high and I noticed. But on my desktop I rarely ever idle. It was more that a year ago, Zen 3 and Alder Lake were the same process generation, and Alder Lake hands down won the ST. Reply
yh125d - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - link
So top of the line Raptor Lake trades blows/equals on average to Zen 4. But only if you have a motherboard/cooler capable of delivering and cooling 300+w, which means top of the line hardware. By the time you factor in the cost of a top notch MB and 360 AIO, you erase the price advantage of the processor itself.Limit i9 to similar power levels, and the performance would reduce more than just a few % I'd wager, so for those sticking with air cooling or smaller AIO's, Zen 4 has a clear advantage. This also points out that Raptor Lake doesn't have much headroom above this to go, where Zen 4 (if allowed 250w+) would clearly outperform RL at same power levels
Overall, this generation is much closer than I'd thought it would be, which as always is great for consumers Reply