Intel announces 13th Gen Core 'Raptor Lake' desktop CPU series

The new processor family includes six new unlocked desktop processors with up to 24 cores

Intel has unveiled its much awaited 13th Gen Core processors, codenamed 'Raptor Lake', which the chipmaker claims offer the 'world's best gaming experience' for enthusiasts.

The new 13th Gen Intel Core family contains six new unlocked desktop processors with up to 24 cores, 32 threads, and clock rates up to 5.8 GHz, which promise high performance for all types of users, particularly those looking for the best gaming, recording and streaming experience.

"We are raising the standards of PC performance once again with our latest generation of flagship 13th Gen Intel Core Processors," said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group at Intel.

"The 13th Gen Intel Core family is the latest example of how Intel is enabling amazing experiences to happen on the PC - at scale and across all PC product segments. Combine this with an industry-leading partner ecosystem and new solutions like Intel Unison, and together we are showing the world what's truly possible with the PC experience going forward," she added.

According to Intel, the 13th generation outperforms the 12th generation in terms of single- and multi-threaded performance by up to 15% and 41%, respectively.

The new processors are built on Intel's 7 process and its x86 performance hybrid architecture, featuring Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores) that intelligently divide tasks using Intel's Thread Director. Last year's 12th Gen CPUs from Intel were built using the same architecture.

The Core i9-13900K, which has eight P-cores and 16 E-cores for a total of 24 cores, is at the top of the stack. It has 68 MB in total of combined L2 and L3 cache. The E-cores can boost up to 4.3GHz while the P-cores can reach a staggering 5.8 GHz. The CPU has a 125W base power and a 253W maximum turbo power.

The price of the Core i9-13900K, which comes with integrated UHD Graphics 770, is $589. Despite Intel's warning about price hikes, it is the same price as the 12900K flagship processor.

Additionally, Intel is offering a "KF" edition for $564 that eliminates the integrated GPU in order to save cost.

Next is the Core i7-13700K, which has a total of 24 threads and 16 cores (8 P-cores and 8 E-cores). It features 30 MB of L3 cache and 24 MB of L2 cache. The P-cores and E-cores can boost up to 5.4 GHz and 4.2 GHz, respectively. The maximum Turbo power is 253W, while its base power is 125W.

The 13700K will retail at $409, while 13700KF variant will be available at $384.

Lastly, the 'Raptor Lake' desktop CPU series includes Core i5-13600K that features a total of 20 threads and 14 cores (6 P-cores and 8 E-cores). It has 20 MB L2 cache and 24 MB L3 cache. The processor has a maximum Turbo power of 181W and a base power of 125W. The 13600K will sell at $319 while the 13600KF variant will be available for $294.

According to Intel, each of the six variants has 20 CPU PCIe lanes, support for both DDR5 5600 and DDR4 3200 memory.

The 13th generation CPUs will launch alongside the new 700-series chipsets. While existing 600-series motherboards support new 13th Gen processors, the new Z790 motherboards will include DMI Gen 4.0, eight more PCIe 4.0 lanes and an increased number of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gbps) ports.

Intel's 13th Gen desktop CPUs will be available for purchase with Z790 motherboards starting October 20.

The company says it will provide further information on the rest of the 13th Gen processors at a later date.