Core i9-13900K Uncovered In New Die Shots

Fritzchens Fritz has published detailed die shots of Intel's Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake processor with 24 cores total. The new CPU is noticeably bigger than its Alder Lake predecessor, with 16 cores, which is pretty much expectable given the higher core count of the latest GPU and its larger cache.

Intel's latest top-of-the-range 13th Generation Raptor Lake for desktops has a die size of 252.65 mm^2, up from 215.25 mm^2 in the case of Alder Lake CPU for desktops. In addition, the new Raptor Lake processor packs eight high-performance Raptor Cove cores and 16 energy-efficient Gracemont cores. In contrast, its predecessor only has eight Golden Cove cores and eight Gracemont cores. Furthermore, the new chip carries 32MB of L2 cache in total and a 36MB L3 cache, whereas its ancestor features 14MB of L2 cache and a 30MB L3 cache.

As expected, P-cores are considerably larger than Efficiency cores: without L2/L3 caches, each occupies 7.429 mm^2 of die space, whereas the smaller core without L2/L3 caches is only 1.58 mm^2 large. More detailed photos are available at Fritzchens Fritz's Flickr. 

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Meanwhile, both CPUs depend on the same Intel 7 (formerly known as Intel 10nm Enhanced SuperFin) fabrication technology, so the newer one should have a considerably bigger die size and higher cost. 

Besides the number of cores, bigger caches, and larger die size; Raptor Lake has much in common with Alder Lake. Both CPUs use a ring bus interconnect to link their cores with the graphics engine, input/output interfaces, and memory controller. In addition, the high-performance cores are organized as an array of eight cores, whereas energy-efficient cores are grouped into quads. While Intel's flagship Core i9-13900K has all 24 cores enabled, cheaper models will disable some of the cores.