Intel has added two F-series chips to its 13th Generation Raptor Lake lineup. The new Core i7-13790F and Core i5-13490F will likely be exclusive to the Chinese market and will compete on the list of best CPUs for gaming.
The Core i7-13790F has a similar recipe as the Core i7-13700F. The 16-core, 24-thread chip has 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores. The P-core clock speed is the same for both processors. It runs at a base clock of 2.1 GHz and a boost clock of 5.2 GHz. On the contrary, Core i7-13790F’s E-core features 100 MHz higher base clock than Core i7-13700F.
Along with slightly improved clock speeds, the Core i7-13790F has a larger L3 cache. Intel bumped it up to 33MB, 10% larger than his L3 cache on the Core i7-13700F. This is an unconventional number and the chipmaker has worked his magic to reach 33MB with the Core i7-13790F. The legacy Core i7-13700F features 8 Raptor Cove clusters and 2 Gracemont clusters. Note that each Raptor Core and Gracemont have 3MB of L3 cache, the latter containing 4 E-cores. On the Core i7-13790F, Intel basically used one full Gracemont cluster and partially enabled his other two Gracemont clusters. As a result, the Core i7-13790F is 8 E-cores with 9MB of L3 cache.
In terms of power consumption, the Core i7-13790F shares the same 65W PBP and 219 MTP as the Core i7-13700F. Intel’s 65W SKU doesn’t support overclocking, but motherboard vendors are finding ways around it. Neither the Core i7-13790F nor the Core i5-13490F use an iGPU, so consumers will have to pair the chip with one of the best graphics cards for their gaming system. The processor will drop onto existing LGA1700 motherboards, but may require a simple firmware update.
Core i7-13790F, Core i5-13490F Specifications
| processor | Street / MSRP | core/thread | P core / E core | P-Core Base/Boost (GHz) | E-Core Base/Boost (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | PBP/MTP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i7-13790F | $441 | 16/24 | 8/8 | 2.1/5.2 | 1.5/4.1 | 33 | 65/219 |
| Core i7-13700F | $369 | 16/24 | 8/8 | 2.1/5.2 | 1.4/4.1 | 30 | 65/219 |
| Core i5-13490F | $235 | 10/16 | 6/4 | 2.5/4.8 | 1.8/3.5 | twenty four | 65 / 148 |
| Core i5-13400F | $196 | 10/16 | 6/4 | 2.5/4.6 | 1.8/3.3 | 20 | 65 / 148 |
| Core i5-12490F | $199 | 6/12 | 6/0 | 3.0/4.6 | none | 20 | 65/117 |
| Core i5-12400F | $194 | 6/12 | 6/0 | 2.5/4.4 | none | 18 | 65/117 |
The Core i5-13490F, the successor to the Core i5-12490F, is equipped with 10 cores and 16 threads consisting of 6 P cores and 4 E cores. The base clock speeds of the Core i5-13490F’s P-core (2.5 GHz) and E-core (1.8 GHz) match the Core i5-13400F. On the other hand, the boost clock speed of the former is 200 MHz faster than the latter.
Like the Core i7-13790F and Core i7-13700F, the Core i5-13490F also sports a more generous L3 cache. The new chip has 4MB more L3 cache, which equates to a 20% increase. Additional L3 cache comes from a Core i5-13490F utilizing two partial Gracemont clusters. Despite the higher clocks and larger L3 cache, the Core i5-13490F’s power metrics remain unchanged compared to the Core i5-13400F. PBP and MTP remain at 65W and 148W respectively.
Core i5-13490F is priced at $235.96 (opens in new tab) Price tag; while the Core i7-13790F sells for $441.62. (opens in new tab)20% more expensive than the Core i5-13400F and Core i7-13700F respectively. Initial results show that the Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F can deliver over 10% more performance than their existing counterparts. However, this was a single benchmark and not very reliable. Whether the Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F are worth the premium remains to be seen.
