A Canadian electronics retailer’s listing of what looks like the Intel 13th Gen Core Raptor Lake lineup has surfaced online.list found on twitter momomo_usis for Intel Core i9-13900K/KF, Core i7-13700K/KF, Core i5-13600K/KF. Think of these prices with a pinch of salt. It may just be a placeholder for an upcoming CPU. However, it looks like Intel’s new processors could cost about 15% more than the previous generation.
Looking at the launch flagships first, the Intel Core i9-13900K is advertised for $941 CAD. That’s about $725 using today’s exchange rate. The same site lists the 12900K for $818 CAD, or about $630. Intel has previously said it would raise CPU prices because of inflation.
Maybe there’s more than just inflation here. Intel Raptor Lake CPUs will feature larger dies with more cores (except for the rumored 4C/8T Core i3-13100 and below). The i9-13900K/KF has 33% more CPU cores than the i9-12900K/KF (although all the added cores are Efficiency cores). Does the extra silicon/core justify the noticeable premium? It depends on your view and the tasks you need your computer to do.
|
number of cores |
max boost |
USD price |
Price hike by generation |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Core i9-13900K |
24C/32T |
5.8GHz |
$725 |
15% |
|
Core i9-13900KF |
24C/32T |
5.8GHz |
$695 |
17% |
|
Core i7-13700K |
16C/24T |
5.4GHz |
$511 |
17% |
|
Core i7-13700KF |
16C/24T |
5.4GHz |
$483 |
17% |
|
Core i5-13600K |
14C/20T |
5.1 GHz |
$355 |
16% |
|
Core i5-13600KF |
14C/20T |
5.1 GHz |
$327 |
19% |
Data from a list of Canadian retailers, convert CAD to USD
The KF variant is a bit cheaper (about $30 less per SKU) and has a non-functional iGPU fused in. Besides being cheaper, the inactive GPU portion of the die is sometimes believed to help keep heat down. A drawback of KF is that it still requires a graphics card to be installed for display. Additionally, it means you cannot use the iGPU as a fallback option for troubleshooting your system.
Some Alder Lake platform upgradeers might find these 13th Generation Core CPUs attractive for upgrades as they can be directly inserted into an existing 600-series motherboard setup. AMD, on the other hand, is migrating to a completely new platform on a similar timescale. That means you’ll need to get a new motherboard and DDR5 RAM to do the upgrade.
According to the latest rumors, Intel 13th Gen Core Raptor Lake processors are expected to launch in late September or October for desktops.
