Intel's 13th Generation Core 'Raptor Lake' processors are weeks away from their launch, when they're expected to join the ranks of the best CPUs for gaming. In the meantime, Intel (apparently accidentally) disclosed some of their specifications of unlocked parts on its own website, clearing some confusion created by various unofficial leaks.
On its ‘How to Choose a Gaming CPU’ page (discovered by @momomo_us) that gives some basic understanding about Intel’s CPU nomenclature and their capabilities, Intel revealed core counts and the P-core Max frequencies for its Core i5-13600K, Core i7-13700K, and Core i9-13900K processors. These are aimed at enthusiasts who dare to overclock their PCs and therefore need CPUs with unlocked multipliers. (Note that the post has since been updated to show 12th Gen CPUs.)
As expected, the Core i9-13900K features an impressive 24 cores (eight Raptor Cove high-performance cores and 16 Gracemont energy-efficient cores) in total and can process up to 32 threads simultaneously, the Core i7-13700K has 16 cores (8P+8E) and can process up to 24 threads at once, and the Core i5-13600K sports 14 cores (6P+8E) and can process up to 20 threads at once.
Perhaps more importantly, Intel disclosed P-core Max turbo frequencies of the unlocked 13th Generation Core processors for desktops: 5.40 GHz for the i9-13900K, and 5.30 GHz for the i7-13700K.
Intel's P-core Max is not the absolute maximum frequency that the company's modern CPUs can run on. For example, the Core i9-13900K will be able to work at 5.70 GHz in Turbo Boost Max 3.0 mode as well as at 5.80 GHz in Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) mode, provided that they have enough power and appropriate cooling. Meanwhile, it looks like the top-of-the-range Core i9-13900KS will hit 6.0GHz, but we are speculating.
Intel doesn't normally pre-announce specifications of its upcoming products, though there might be reasons why Intel might want to publish some of Raptor Lake's specifications before launch. AMD is about to start selling its next-generation Ryzen 7000-series processors based on the Zen 4 microarchitecture and obviously Intel would like to steal some of AMD's thunder here. Also, the world's largest maker of CPUs might want to reaffirm that it plans to offer a 32-core processor for desktops just weeks after its arch-rival rolls-out its new 16-core Ryzen products.
While the page listing the specs has since been edited, the details aren't surprising and the cat — or dinosaur — is now officially out of the bag. Raptor Lake CPUs are rumored to launch on October 17.
