Raptor Lake Spreads Its Wings to six.0 GHz

Initially talked about throughout their Innovation 2022 opening keynote by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel has unveiled its extremely anticipated 6 GHz out-of-the-box processor, the Core i9-13900KS. The Core i9-13900KS has 24-cores (8P+16E) inside its hybrid structure design of efficiency and effectivity cores, with the precise basic specs of the Core i9-13900K, however with a powerful P-core turbo of as much as 6 GHz.

Primarily based on Intel’s Raptor Lake-S desktop sequence, Intel claims that the Core i9-13900KS is the primary desktop processor to succeed in 6 GHz out of the field with out overclocking. Out there from right now, the Core i9-13900KS has a barely increased base TDP of 150 W (versus 125 on the 13900K), 36 MB of Intel’s L3 sensible cache, and is pre-binned by a novel choice course of to make sure the Core i9-13900KS’s particular version standing for his or her highest degree of frequency of 6 GHz in a desktop chip out of the field, with out the necessity to overclock manually.

Intel Core i9-13900KS: 6 GHz P-Core Turbo For $699

The Core i9-13900KS has been a long-awaited entrant to Intel’s Raptor Lake-S for desktop sequence, with earlier reviews from Intel throughout their Innovation 2022 keynote {that a} 6 GHz out-of-the-box processor was on the horizon for this 12 months. As Intel highlights, the Core i9-13900KS represents a big milestone for desktop PCs, with its 6 GHz out-of-the-box P-Core turbo frequency. This makes it one of many quickest desktop x86 processors, a minimum of from the attitude that customers needn’t overclock something to realize these ridiculous core frequencies.

This screenshot is taken straight from Intel’s Core i9-13900KS promotional video

From Intel’s sneak peek video on YouTube printed on Jan tenth, the Core i9-13900KS appears to be like to have reached 6 GHz on two of the eight efficiency (P) cores, with a clock pace of as much as 5.6 GHz on the remaining six cores, which may be very spectacular. One of many changes Intel wanted to make to energy limitations to realize these frequencies is considerably hazy.

Intel hasn’t specified if the Core i9-13900KS is a particular binned half, however from earlier KS launches, this has been the case, and it is anticipated that it’s nonetheless the case. The reviews of Core i9-13900K chips being overclocked to six GHz at ambient are few and much between, with solely the perfect examples and people with very aggressive and premium ambient cooling options able to this.

Whereas we all know the Core i9-13900KS has a base TDP of 150 W, up 25 W from the Core i9-13900K (125 W base TDP). Apparently, from their promotional video, Intel’s Technical Advertising Engineer Jason Xie acknowledged that all the pieces was at inventory settings in Intel’s Excessive Tuning Utility (XTU). Whereas watching the video, we noticed a breeze by the XTU display screen itself, highlighting that the PL1 and PL2 limits have been set to 300 W. Intel hasn’t clarified the specifics concerning the PL1 or PL2 limits on the Core i9-13900KS. Nonetheless, the video states all the pieces is at default settings.

Intel’s present Intel thirteenth Gen Core i9 Sequence stack stands as follows (as of 01/12/23):

*PL1/PL2 restrict of 300 W is predicated on Intel’s promotional video printed on Jan tenth on its YouTube channel.

Evaluating the Core i9-13900KS particular version processor on to the common Core i9-13900K, it has a 200 MHz enhance on the P-core turbo to realize the 6 GHz purpose that Intel supposed to make for its Raptor Lake-S particular version chip. The opposite specs, such because the E-core base and turbo clock speeds, stay at 2.2 and 4.3 GHz, respectively. The Core i9-13900KS additionally advantages from 36 MB of L3 cache and consists of Intel’s UHD 770 built-in graphics processor. 

Intel hasn’t clarified what number of Core i9-13900KS components will probably be out there throughout the life cycle of Raptor Lake-S. As we have seen with earlier iterations of its KS version SKUs (the S denotes it’s a particular version), there’s sometimes a restricted variety of processors produced. Whether or not this is because of binning out samples to make sure the 6 GHz P-core turbo frequency is achievable or if Intel has a extra refined choice of binning strategies.

Intel Consumer Computing Group (CCG) Supervisor Marcus Kennedy acknowledged that “The Core i9-13900KS continues our thirteenth Gen Intel Core desktop processor household excellence, showcasing the brand new efficiency heights made doable by our efficiency hybrid structure“. He additionally stated, “Excessive players and lovers can now push their on a regular basis efficiency additional than ever earlier than with the primary desktop processor within the PC business to supply 6.0 GHz speeds at inventory”.

The Intel Core i9-13900KS is that can be purchased now at most retailers, with an MSRP of $699. That is $40 cheaper than the earlier Core i9-12900KS ($739) that launched final 12 months. Primarily based on present MSRP pricing, the Core i9-13900KS is $110 greater than the present Core i9-13900K. 

Supply: Intel