Raptor Lake Spreads Its Wings to 6.0 GHz

First mentioned in the opening keynote of Innovation 2022 by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel has unveiled its highly anticipated 6 GHz off-the-shelf processor, the Core i9-13900KS. The Core i9-13900KS has 24 cores (8P+16E) within a core hybrid architecture design for performance and efficiency, with the exact base specs of the Core i9-13900K but with an impressive 6 GHz max. It has a P core turbo. .

Based on Intel’s Raptor Lake-S desktop series, Intel claims the Core i9-13900KS is the first desktop processor to reach 6 GHz without overclocking right out of the box. The Core i9-13900KS available today features a slightly higher base TDP of 150W (versus 125 for the 13900K), 36MB of Intel’s L3 smart cache, and the Special Edition status of the Core i9-13900KS is , the highest frequency of any desktop chip out of the box at 6 GHz, without the need for manual overclocking.

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

The Core i9-13900KS is the long-awaited entrant to Intel’s Raptor Lake-S for desktop series, and an earlier report from Intel during its Innovation 2022 keynote said a 6 GHz off-the-shelf processor would be for this reason. was on the horizon. Year. As highlighted by Intel, the Core i9-13900KS is a significant milestone for desktop PCs with an out-of-the-box P-Core turbo frequency of 6 GHz. This makes it one of the fastest desktop x86 processors, at least in terms of users not needing to overclock anything to achieve these ridiculous core frequencies.

This screenshot Promotional video for Intel’s Core i9-13900KS

from Intel sneak peek video on YouTube The Core i9-13900KS unveiled on January 10th appears to hit 6 GHz on 2 of its 8 Performance (P) cores, with clock speeds up to 5.6 GHz on the remaining 6 cores. Very impressive. One of the adjustments Intel has to make to power limits to achieve these frequencies is somewhat obscure.

Intel hasn’t specified if the Core i9-13900KS is a special binned part, but from previous KS launches this was the case and we expect it to be the case today. There are very few reports of the -13900K chip being overclocked to 6 GHz in ambient, only the best examples and those with very aggressive and premium ambient cooling solutions capable of this.

We know that the Core i9-13900KS has a base TDP of 150W, which is a 25W increase from the Core i9-13900K (125W base TDP). Interestingly, Jason Xie, his marketing engineer at Intel Technical, says in a promo video that everything is set to standard in Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU). While watching the video, I noticed that the XTU screen itself was a breeze, with PL1 and PL2 limits he set at 300W. Intel hasn’t revealed any details about his PL1 or PL2 limitations of the Core i9-13900KS. Still, the video states that everything is on default settings.

Here’s Intel’s current Intel 13th Gen Core i9-series stack (as of 01/12/2023):

*PL1/PL2 300W limit is based on a promotional video published on Jan 10th on Intel’s YouTube channel.

Comparing the Core i9-13900KS Special Edition processor head-to-head with the regular Core i9-13900K, we can see that Intel’s intended 6 GHz target for its Raptor Lake-S special edition chips requires 200 MHz on the P-Core Turbo. there is an increase. Other specs like E-core base and turbo clock speeds remain at 2.2 GHz and 4.3 GHz respectively. The Core i9-13900KS also benefits from 36MB of L3 cache and features Intel’s UHD 770 integrated graphics processor.

Intel has not disclosed how many Core i9-13900KS parts will be available during the Raptor Lake-S lifecycle. As we saw in previous iterations of KS edition SKUs (S stands for special edition), there are usually a limited number of processors produced. Is this because the samples are binned to ensure a P-core turbo frequency of 6 GHz is achievable, or is it because Intel can choose a more sophisticated binning method.

Intel Client Computing Group (CCG) Manager Marcus Kennedy said:The Core i9-13900KS continues the excellence of the 13th Generation Intel Core desktop processor family and showcases new performance heights enabled by a performance hybrid architecture.he also said, “Extreme gamers and enthusiasts can take their everyday performance to a new level with the first desktop processor in the PC industry to offer 6.0 GHz speeds off-the-shelf.”.

The Intel Core i9-13900KS is available now at most retailers with a suggested retail price of $699. That’s $40 less than the previous Core i9-12900KS ($739) that launched last year. Based on the current MSRP, the Core i9-13900KS is $110 more than the current Core i9-13900K.

Source: Intel