Intel’s 13th Gen ‘Raptor Lake’ CPUs bring a new level of performance to the desktop, taking the crown for both gaming and application performance, outperforming AMD’s more expensive Ryzen 7000 series. while actually reducing costs significantly. And when you combine the exorbitant prices of motherboards and memory required by AMD ($290+), Intel looks even better value for money.
Our review of the Intel Core i9-13900K and Core i5-13600K pointed out that the previous chip achieved a full 155 fps in the 1440p gaming suite. What’s surprising is that the Core i5-13600K and Core i7-13700K are just a few fps behind, beating all the top AMD chips. We were also able to overclock the Core i5 and i9 models to a blistering 5.6 GHz. This is a record with a water cooling system.
The first three Raptor Lake chips launched with the Intel Core i9-13900K, Core i7-13700K and Core i5-13600K. There’s also a KF version (e.g. 13900KF) that costs a few dollars less and omits the integrated graphics. These chips are brand new, so not all stores have them in stock or listed yet. To help you with your purchase, we browsed top US online retailers for inventory and pricing.
Intel Core i9-13900K: Where to buy
| Retail company | model | price | availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Core i9-13900KF | $743 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| B&H | Core i9-13900KF | $629 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
| B&H | Core i9-13900K | $659 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
| new egg | Core i9-13900K | $659 (opens in new tab) | back order |
| new egg | Core i9-13900KF | $629 (opens in new tab) | sold out |
| best buy | Core i9-13900K | $689 (opens in new tab) | sold out |
| best buy | Core i9-13900KF | $659 (opens in new tab) | sold out |
| Ebay | Core i9-13900K | $797 (opens in new tab) | in stock (probably) |
Intel’s top-of-the-line CPU, the Core i9-13900K / KF, features 24 cores and 32 threads, with eight performance cores and a max boost clock of 5.8 GHz. At the time of writing, both the Core i9-13900K and 13900KF are priced well above the suggested retail price of $589 / $564 and were not readily available at most major retailers.
It is important to note the difference between “sold out”, “backorder” and “pre-order”. Both back-ordered and pre-ordered items are available for purchase today, but will not be shipped until the seller receives them in stock.
Intel Core i5-13600K: Where to Buy
| Retail company | model | price | availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Core i5-13600KF | $309 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| Amazon | Core i5-13600K | $339 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| new egg | Core i5-13600KF | $309 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| new egg | Core i5-13600K | $329 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| best buy | Core i5-13600K | $339 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| best buy | Core i5-13600KF | $309 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| B&H | Core i5-13600K | $329 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
| B&H | Core i5-13600KF | $309 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
Like its predecessor, the Core i5-12600K, the Core i5-13600K is the best value in Intel’s stack. For a suggested retail price of $319 / $294 (for K and KF models), the Core i5-13600K offers 14 cores (6P + 8E) and 20 threads with a boost clock of 5.1 GHz. We had no problem overclocking this chip to 5.6 GHz on all high performance cores. I’ve also heard that even 5.7 GHz is common.
Fortunately, all major retailers sell both KF and K varieties. KF starts at $309 and is available at Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, or B&H. Note, however, that $309 is still higher than the KF’s MSRP of $294, and the 13600K’s $329 is $10 more than the MSRP.
Intel Core i7-13700K: Where to buy
| Retail company | model | price | availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Core i7-13700K | $472 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| Amazon | Core i7-13700KF | $418 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| new egg | Core i7-13700K | $449 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| new egg | Core i7-13700KF | $429 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| best buy | Core i7-13700K | $489 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| best buy | Core i7-13700KF | $459 (opens in new tab) | in stock |
| B&H | Core i7-13700KF | $429 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
| B&H | Core i7-13700K | $439 (opens in new tab) | pre order |
If you need more threads than the Core i5-13600K, but can’t afford the expensive and hard-to-find Core i9-13900K/F, the Core i7-13700K may be a good fit. The chip has a suggested retail price of $409 / $384 for the K and KF versions and features 16 cores (8P + 8E cores) and 24 threads. The stock boost clock maxes out at 5.4 GHz.
The Core i7-13700K is easy to find in stock, but at a slightly higher MSRP. The best deal is Amazon with a Core i7-13700KF. Only $418 (opens in new tab)However, if you want a version with integrated graphics, B&H, which has pre-orders, is the best choice. $439 (opens in new tab).
Which Raptor Lake processor should I get?
Below you can compare the three CPUs. The more you pay, the more cores, higher boost clocks, and more cache you get. However, all Raptor Lake CPUs support DDR4 or DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0 SSDs.
| Manufacturer’s suggested retail price | Cores/Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | E-Core Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP/PBP/MTP | memory | |
| Core i9-13900K/KF | $589 (K) – $564 (KF) | 24/32 (8+16) | 3.0 / 5.8 | 2.2/4.3 | 68MB (32+36) | 125W/253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i7-13700K/KF | $409 (K) – $384 (KF) | 16/24 (8+8) | 3.4/5.4 | 2.5/4.2 | 54MB (24+30) | 125W/253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i5-13600K/KF | $319 (K) – $294 (KF) | 14/20 (6+8) | 3.5/5.1 | 2.6/3.9 | 44MB (20+24) | 125W/181W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
As you can see in the graph below, all chips outperformed AMD at 1440p. I was also able to overclock up to 5.5 or 5.6 GHz without breaking a sweat.
Ultimately, the CPU you choose should be based on your budget and the number of threads you think you will need. For games and low-thread-count apps, the Core i5 chip offers nearly as strong performance as the Core i9.
Also note that you will need a motherboard for Raptor Lake chips. Luckily, all of these CPUs connect using Intel’s Socket 1170, so they’re perfectly compatible with older, cheaper 600-series motherboards. See our list of the best motherboards to help you choose.
