Intel Core i9-13900K and Core i5-13600K review: The beast and the mid-tier champion

Codenamed Raptor Lake, Intel's 13th Generation processors build on the foundation laid out by Alder Lake, the previous generation Intel silicon that put the company back in the fight against Team Red.

Like Alder Lake, the new Intel CPUs use a hybrid architecture - a combination of performance and efficiency cores (P-Cores and E-Cores) that split tasks between them for better overall performance.

If Alder Lake was the start of something new, Raptor Lake feels like a refinement of those ideas.

Architectural Changes

Like their predecessors, Raptor Lake CPUs use Intel's 10nm process (Intel 7) for fabrication, and like Alder lake, house P and E Cores.

Superficial similarities aside, numerous changes have been made to squeeze as much performance out of the architecture as possible.

For starters, the core count has significantly increased. The Core i9-13900K is now a 24-core processor, split into eight performance cores clocked at a base speed of 3.0GHz with a boost up to 5.8GHz, and sixteen efficiency cores with a base clock of 2.2GHz that is capable of boosting to 4.3GHz.

The Core i5-13600K has six performance cores clocked at 3.5GHz that can boost to 5.1GHz and eight efficiency cores with a base clock of 2.6GHz, that can rev up to 3.9GHz.

The cache sizes have also increased. The Core i9 now has 68MB of cache, split between 32MB of L2 cache and 36MB of L3 cache. The Core i5 has 44MB (20MB L2 + 24MB L3).

To sum it up, the newer processors have higher clock speeds, extra E-Cores and additional L2 caches. The Core i9 chip also benefits from Intel's Adaptive Boost Technology, which allows the chip to boost to higher frequencies based on the headroom available.

Both chips also support PCIe 5.0 and DDR 5 Memory up to DDR5-5600. Support for DDR4-3200 is also present. Raptor Lake also supports existing Alder Lake motherboards, but you might have to consider an upgrade to Intel's Z790 chipset motherboards for the full suite of features.

Another thing to be aware of is Intel's Thread Director technology built right into the chip. In simple terms, a microcontroller inside the chip enclosure monitors workloads and assigns them to the appropriate cores.

Technically, the newer chips work just fine on Windows 10, but for efficient usage of the cores, you need to update to Windows 11. Intel recommends Windows 11 version 22H2 or higher for the best results.

Benchmark Rig

Motherboard - GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Elite AX  

Cooler - GIGABYTE AORUS Waterforce X 360

RAM - GIGABYTE AORUS 32GB DDR5-5200 (2 x 16GB)  

Graphics Card - Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 OC Edition

PSU - XPG CORE Reactor 850G Modular Power Supply 

Storage - Western Digital WD Black SN 770 1TB NVMe SSD  

Operating System - Windows 11  

Intel Core i9-13900K: A hot-headed war beast with a thirst for power

The Core i9-13900K is the cream of the crop for Intel's Raptor Lake line-up. It is also the fastest CPU you can buy but not without some trade-offs.

The increased performance comes at the cost of power draw and higher thermals, and the temperature ramps considerably.

Even with a 380mm liquid cooler, temps regularly hit more than 90C, even going up to 100C for sustained periods.

To be clear, this is normal behaviour and Intel provisions for the chips to perform at high temperatures, but this also means you will need a beefy cooler to keep them in check. Otherwise, you may run into throttling.

With that out of the way, let's start our benchmarks with the 7-zip compression test. The Core i9 blazed through the test, scoring an impressive 184420 on compression tests and 194019 on decompression tasks.

Next up is PCMark 10. The Core i9 scored 15459 points in digital creation tests, which test the processor with workflows that require video and photo editing and rendering.

In productivity tests that stress the CPU with workloads used for writing, the Core i9 scored 11499.

In the essentials test that burdens the CPU with processes involving web browsing and conferencing, the Core i9 managed a score of 11455.

Now on to Crossmark benchmarks. The Core i9 scored 2785 in content creation tasks while scoring 2349 for productivity tasks and 2498 in system responsiveness.

To test game performance, we installed Cyberpunk 2077, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Borderlands 3 and Far Cry 6.

In Cyberpunk 2077, our test rig managed an impressive 92 fps at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings with DLSS turned off.

Far Cry 6 is a better-optimized game than Cyberpunk 2077, and we could push an average of 103 fps at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings.

Borderlands 3 proved no challenge to the Core i9 and registered an average frame rate of 96 at 1920 x 1080 Ultra Settings.

Shadow of The Tomb Raider was no exception either, with an average frame rate of 154 at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings, with RTX and DLSS both turned off.

While these numbers may seem low, you should remember that we are working with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070.

Pairing this CPU with a premium GPU like the RTX 3090 or the RTX 4090 will showcase much better results.

Intel Core i5-13600K: The mid-tier champion

Straight off the bat, you can see a big difference in thermals between the i9-13900K and the i5-13600K. The Core i5 managed to stay within comfortable temp ranges and recorded a high of 76C under full load.

In the 7-zip compression tests, the Core i5-13600K scored 122245 on compression while scoring 125209 in decompression tests.

In PCMark 10, we scored 13899 in digital content creation tests, 10765 in the essentials test and 10740 in productivity runs.

In CrossMark, the Core i5-13600K scored 2382 for creative tasks, 2264 for productivity tests and 2198 in the responsiveness test.

While testing Cyberpunk 2077, the Core i5 managed an average FPS of 75 at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings.

Far Cry 6 managed an average of 87 fps at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings, while Shadow of The Tomb Raider gave us an average of 138 at Ultra 1920 x 1080.

Borderlands 3 held a fairly consistent average of 82 frames per second at 1920 x 1080 Ultra settings.

Should you buy the new Intel processors? 

Yes. Depending on your budget, both Intel Core i9-13900K and Intel Core i5-13600K offer a lot of bang for your buck.

There are a few caveats to keep in mind. The Core i9 runs hot and draws a lot of power but offers the fastest CPU money can buy.

The Core i5, on the other hand, runs a lot cooler at the cost of the premium performance that the Core i9 brings to the table.

The Core i9 is the enthusiast chip recommended for high-end premium rigs where compromise is not an option. You are also going to need a beefy cooler.

The Core i5 is for mid-tier rigs, which play well with a balance of power and efficiency.

Regardless, you cannot go wrong with either option.

Intel has started the 13th Generation party off with a bang, and with the promise of more SKUs due to arrive, we cannot wait to see what else the Blue Team has up its sleeves.

The Intel Core i9-13900K is retailing at Rs 59,399. The Core i5-13600K will cost you Rs 33,159.