Intel Core i9-13900K and i5-13600K Review: Raptor Lake Brings More Bite
by Gavin Bonshor on October 20, 2022 9:00 AM ESTZ790 Chipset: More I/O Than Z690, But Same Performance
One of the main talking points surrounding all processor launches at present is platform affordability. When Intel launched its 12th Gen Alder Lake core series processors towards the tail end of 2021, it enabled users to utilize the higher bandwidth DDR5 memory in a desktop platform. As DDR5 memory supply was low and consumer demand was high during Alder Lake’s initial launch, this sky rocketed prices and it made it near impossible for users to buy a DDR5 kit to use with 12th Gen. Intel did offer support for both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200, but motherboards (600-series) could only support one or the other.
Although this hasn’t changed with Intel’s latest Z790 chipset, Intel does offer support for both DDR5 and DDR4 with its 13th Gen Raptor Lake Core processors; something AMD doesn’t do with Ryzen 7000 series, much to consumer’s angst. Even though Intel has opted for a higher DDR5 memory speed (5600 MT/s versus 4800 MT/s) compared to Alder Lake, DDR4 memory support remains at DDR4-3200.
| Intel Z690, Z590, and Z490 Chipset Comparison | ||||
| Feature | Z790 | Z690 | Z590 | Z490 |
| Socket | LGA1700 | LGA1700 | LGA1200 | LGA1200 |
| PCIe Lanes (CPU) | 16 x 5.0 4 x 4.0 |
16 x 5.0 4 x 4.0 |
20 x 4.0 | 16 x 3.0 |
| PCIe Lanes (Chipset) | 20 x 4.0 8 x 3.0 |
12 x 4.0 16 x 3.0 |
24 x 3.0 | 24 x 3.0 |
| PCIe Specification (CPU) | 5.0/4.0 | 5.0/4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Memory Support | DDR5-5600B DDR4-3200 |
DDR5-4800B DDR4-3200 |
DDR4-3200 | DDR4-2933 |
| PCIe Config | x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x4 |
x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x4 |
x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x4 |
x16 x8/x8 x8/x8+x4 |
| DMI Lanes | x8 4.0 | x8 4.0 | x8 3.0 | x4 3.0 |
| Max USB 3.2 (Gen2/Gen1) | 10/10 | 10/10 | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) | Y (5) | Y (4) | Y (4) | ASMedia |
| Total USB | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Max SATA Ports | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Memory Channels (Dual) | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Intel Optane Memory Support | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel Rapid Storage Tech (RST) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Integrated Wi-Fi MAC | Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 6 |
| Intel Smart Sound | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Overclocking Support | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel vPro | N | N | N | N |
| ME Firmware | 16 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| TDP (W) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Looking at the Intel chipset comparison table above, one could really question what’s actually different about Z790 when compared directly to Z690, especially given that Z690 does allow full support for 13th Gen processors; yes, there is no hidden secret sauce or performance unlocking features, Z690 and Z790 will perform the same in compute and gaming.
The key differences are that Z790 offers an additional 8 x PCIe 4.0 lanes from the chipset, but at the cost of 8 x PCIe 3.0 lanes. This means Z790 still offers a total of 28 x PCI lanes when compared to Z690, but it gives vendors further flexibility to utilize the extra PCIe 4.0 lanes for high bandwidth M.2 slots and additional Thunderbolt 4 controllers, while still offering a few PCIe 3.0 lanes for devices such as additional NICs, streaming cards, and other non-bandwidth critical devices.
Intel says Goodbye to Optane Memory (Cache), No Support on Z790
One thing to note with Z790 is that along with Intel’s decision to kill its Optane business; this chipset will NOT support Intel's Optane Memory, Intel's Optane-based drive caching solution. Using Z690 combined with 12th Gen should still yield the same level of support as before, but using Z790 will not allow Optane Memory to be used, which is understandable as Intel winds down its Optane and 3DXpoint storage division.
The main benefit for opting for Z790 over Z690 is essentially down to PCIe 4.0 I/O capabilities, with support for one more additional USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port compared to Z690. Having spoken to Intel directly about processor performance with either chipset, they made it clear that they do not expect compute or gaming performance to be any different regardless of whether you’re using the new Z790 or the existing Z690 chipset.
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adenta180 - Friday, June 23, 2023 - link
Did you guys ever get to the bottom of this SPECint rate GCC regression on 13900K? ReplyAvalon - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
I think it's starting to become a little disingenuous to list the default TDP in the benchmarks, when it's become increasingly obvious over the past few generations that Intel chips run nowhere in the stratosphere of those TDPs.When you see a "125W" $589 chip virtually tied with a "170W" $699 chip it makes it seem like Intel is a no brainer. Might be time to start putting actual power draw in each of the tests in there, or simply leave stock TDP out, because listing a Core i9 at "125W" when it's running 50-100W higher than an equivalent AMD chip doesn't make much sense any longer. Reply
WannaBeOCer - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
Did you even read the article? Intel advertises the 13900k as a 253w chip. It drew 32% more than it advertised while AMD advertises its 7950x as a 170w and it drew 30% more than they advertised. On all of Intel’s slides“Processor Base Power
125 W
Maximum Turbo Power
253 W” Reply
bcortens - Saturday, October 22, 2022 - link
Doesn’t matter if they advertise it. The charts are misleading because the W number at the left of the chart has nothing to do with the power consumed to get the performance indicated in the chart.They should really just leave the W number off or show a measured average W required to complete the test. Then the number would have meaning. As it stands, for the purposes of the graph, the number doesn’t mean much. Reply
Avalon - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
And, to be fair to Intel, why are some of the IGP gaming benchmarks only showing the 12th and 13th gen Intel vs AMD APUs? There's really nothing to be gleaned from this; of course APUs will be faster in IGP tests. If you can't do like for like, then either just publish the Intel scores or don't publish at all. ReplyIketh - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
In your closing comments about power consumption, I was reminded about the AMD article that compared the performance difference between 230W and 65W. I think you should also mention that in this article. I'm holding out for AMD mobile parts. Those laptops will be nice. ReplyIketh - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
125W on Intel 7 process, when it's actually 325W on 10nm lmao... pure marketing ReplyWannaBeOCer - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
Did you even read the article? Intel advertises the 13900k as a 253w chip. It drew 32% more than it advertised while AMD advertises its 7950x as a 170w and it drew 30% more than they advertised. On all of Intel’s slides“Processor Base Power
125 W
Maximum Turbo Power
253 W” Reply
bcortens - Saturday, October 22, 2022 - link
Reviews shouldn’t care about the advertised power, or what it says in the bios when you set the “limit” to 65 watts, reviews should actually measure and report the real power draw.We don’t read reviews to read intel and amd marketing numbers, we want to know the real numbers for a given workload Reply
Iketh - Sunday, October 23, 2022 - link
what on earth does that have to do with my statement Reply